The Vietnam War, Part I: Early Years and Escalation

Alan Taylor
Fifty years ago, in March 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines landed in South Vietnam. They were the first American combat troops on the ground in a conflict that had been building for decades. The communist government of North Vietnam (backed by the Soviet Union and China) was locked in a battle with South Vietnam (supported by the United States) in a Cold War proxy fight. The U.S. had been providing aid and advisors to the South since the 1950s, slowly escalating operations to include bombing runs and ground troops. By 1968, more than 500,000 U.S. troops were in the country, fighting alongside South Vietnamese soldiers as they faced both a conventional army and a guerrilla force in unforgiving terrain. Each side suffered and inflicted huge losses, with the civilian populace suffering horribly. Based on widely varying estimates, between 1.5 and 3.6 million people were killed in the war. This photo essay, part one of a three-part series, looks at the earlier stages of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as the growing protest movement, between the years 1962 and 1967. Tomorrow, a look at the later years as the war wound down. Warning: Several of these photographs are graphic in nature.

http://www.theatlantic.com/pho...e_editors_picks=true


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Damn! I was born in March 1965.


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quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Damn! I was born in March 1965.


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I graduated from HS in '67, into the Corps in '69. Vietnam 70-71.

Semper Fi

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Damn! I was born in March 1965.


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I graduated from HS in '67, into the Corps in '69. Vietnam 70-71.

Semper Fi

Thank you for your Service Sir!


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You're welcome, and thank you for the thank you.

sure brings back some memories. my father flew for air america. we moved to saigon in 1966 and left in 1971. it was an interesting place to attend the 1st through 5th grade.

quote:

Originally posted by budiceale:
sure brings back some memories. my father flew for air america. we moved to saigon in 1966 and left in 1971. it was an interesting place to attend the 1st through 5th grade.

I expect so. It was interesting to be 18 years old in that time period.

quote:

Originally posted by xgrunt:

quote:

Originally posted by budiceale:
sure brings back some memories. my father flew for air america. we moved to saigon in 1966 and left in 1971. it was an interesting place to attend the 1st through 5th grade.

I expect so. It was interesting to be 18 years old in that time period.

i bet it was that.

Now the system of tunnels is a tourist attraction. Everything is preserved, only some passages were enlarged, so that the stall tourists
could climb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-eWJHsFscA

A good year, 1967. Graduated HS, flunked out of college a year later, and joined the Army in May of '68.

RVN: August of '69 thru September of '71.

It was a very interesting time to be young...

Thanks for sharing the pictures. I wasn't born till '69 but, have met a lot of Vietnam Veterans. Nothing but respect and love for what they and you have gone thru. There is a Nam Vet that I go to when things get a little dark. Different war (Iraqashitastan). Same bullshit.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Damn! I was born in March 1965.


.

I graduated from HS in '67, into the Corps in '69. Vietnam 70-71.

Semper Fi

Semper Fi back at ya, craigster!

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:

quote:

Originally posted by JTEX:
Damn! I was born in March 1965.


.

I graduated from HS in '67, into the Corps in '69. Vietnam 70-71.

Semper Fi

Semper Fi back at ya, craigster!

Welcome home, brother.

reminded me of my neighbor who in 1967
was awarded Silver Star:



3 Recon Bn (3 Force Recon Company,attached) (3 MarDiv)
RANK

Corporal
NUMBER

2169854
AWARD

Silver Star
PLACE

South Vietnam 1967
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

He was 4 years older than me. I can remember his father & mine removing a ham from a canned ham and putting a .45 1911 in it and ammo then re-soldering & sending it to him for Xmas when he was there.

BTW I purposely left his name off.

Interesting photo, Khe Sanh 1967

Australian soldiers in VietNam

One of the MAC-V guys in our neighborhood had one set up with a can like that minus the camo.

Looking at that again, I realize his was a CAR15, not a rifle.

Sure brings that period back. I graduated from Arcata High School, Humboldt County, California, in 1971. Draft Number was 22. Classified 1-A after doing the Alice's Restaurant thing at the Oakland AFEES.
Thought I would enlist to have a bit more say in my fate, but Dad, a WWII combat vet, told me to get my ass back in college and join ROTC. Did so; the Army was glad to have an Eagle Scout, the gunnery sergeant told me. And then the draft was cancelled. I regret not having gone, and have always had nothing but the greatest respect for those who did.

Edmund, your pictures were a good addition. It is good to highlight our brothers in arms.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Sure brings that period back. I graduated from Arcata High School, Humboldt County, California, in 1971. Draft Number was 22. Classified 1-A after doing the Alice's Restaurant thing at the Oakland AFEES.
Thought I would enlist to have a bit more say in my fate, but Dad, a WWII combat vet, told me to get my ass back in college and join ROTC. Did so; the Army was glad to have an Eagle Scout, the gunnery sergeant told me. And then the draft was cancelled. I regret not having gone, and have always had nothing but the greatest respect for those who did.

Bill-

McKinleyville High, class of '72. We were damn near neighbors!

Porosonik.