Another area of Patriot’s Point outside of Charleston honors those who fought in the Vietnam War and gives us a full understanding (we assume) of what happened in this part of the world and how it affected those of us who lived during this time. Barney was drawn to this area because it showcased the helicopter he flew while in the Marine Corps. It was raining so hard by this time that I stayed inside the Quonset hut taking pictures, while Barney walked around outside taking the pictures of what he wanted to remember.
Why the name “Quonset hut”? The information I found is that since it’s simple to manufacture and easy to assemble, the Quonset Hut is an easily recognizable architectural form. The building was designed in 1941 by a team of engineers at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, hence the name.
While I remember bits and pieces of some of what we’ll be learning in this post after we cover the history part, I don’t remember most of it since I was in high school, college, and grad school during this time so was just living through it. What I remember most is how unpopular the war was.
the Draft
From Wikipedia, “From 1940 until 1973, during both peacetime and periods of conflict, men were drafted to fill vacancies in the U.S. Armed Forces that could not be filled through voluntary means. Active conscription in the United States ended in 1973, when the U.S. Armed Forces moved to an all-volunteer military.” The draft was used for 6 major wars: the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam. The statistic I found online was that 1.9 million men were drafted into the military during the Vietnam War years. A lottery was eventually put in place starting on December 1, 1969, so men born between January 1, 1944, and December 31, 1950, would know their chances of being drafted. This was a change from the “draft the oldest man first” method, which had been the determining method for deciding order of call.
The draft exempted men in college, so many went to school whether they wanted to or not. Men not able to go to college, those from lower incomes, or those who didn’t have high enough test scores, were drafted first.
Being forced to fight in a war that hadn’t been declared and took those who couldn’t avoid it meant that many men weren’t committed to the fight. But many were, especially the Marines since the draft wasn’t for that branch of the military; it’s always been all-volunteer service.
By the time of the lottery, I felt I couldn’t be against the war since the man I dated during college years had dropped out of the National Guard to volunteer for the Marine Corps (not Barney). He spent his 13 months there and came home with 3 Purple Hearts for being injured.
When I was working in San Francisco in the early 1970s and had just become a Jesus follower, I decided to see what a protest looked like and so walked around on one of my lunch hours,. The protesters kept saying, “peace, peace” but I’d never seen such anger close up. The mounted police were trying to keep the protesters in one place. I saw policemen hitting the protesters. For some reason the verses in Jeremiah 6:13 and 8:11 came to mind, “saying ‘peace, peace’ when there is no peace.” There were no conversations or coming together between the protestors and the police.
Thanks for walking down memory lane with me. It’s good to put it all together. I’ve included a few more memories around the end of the war.
history
Vietnam can be traced back to 10,000 years ago. During the Neolithic period (8000-800 BC) small communities began moving from the western mountains (modern day Cambodia and/or Laos) to the eastern coast of northern Vietnam. [Interesting, usually movement is from the coast inland.] Both dry and wet rice cultivation was done during this time.
A Bronze Age culture emerged around 800 BC, and large ritualistic bronze drums were created during this time. Carvings and etchings on the drums shows people farming, bamboo houses, boat building, and other events.
In 206 BC in China, members of the disposed Qin military and government began to migrate into northern Vietnam, bringing new technology, language, and culture. Eventually the area was annexed and colonized by the Han Dynasty in China that had previously kicked out the Qin Dynasty. Some of the Vietnamese aristocracy accepted Chinese rule, but the Vietnamese villagers thought differently. Discontent continued for the next 1000 years until the Ngo Quyen rebellion defeated the Chinese in 939.
You’re probably familiar with how close China is to Vietnam, but if not, the following map should help.
Various dynasties ruled for the next 900 years; the longest was the Later Le Dynasty from 1428-1788. Eventually this dynasty was weakened by civil war and a growing French presence, especially in the southern region.
Vietnam’s last dynasty, the Nguyen, reunited the country but couldn’t stop the French. French Indochina was established in 1887, officially colonizing Vietnam and Cambodia. Laos was added in 1893.
So why did France go into this area? This information from Britannica answered my question:
“The decision to invade Vietnam was made by Napoleon III in July 1857. It was the result not only of missionary propaganda [from a strong Catholic church] but also, after 1850, of the upsurge of French capitalism, which generated the need for overseas markets and the desire for a larger French share of the Asian territories conquered by the West.”
Over the next 50 years, various uprisings against French colonial rule were suppressed. In 1940, the newly formed regime of Vichy France during WWII allowed Imperial Japan to have access to French Indochina.
first Indochina War
During WWII, a communist and nationalist movement emerged that was named the Viet Minh. Led by Ho Chi Minh, the movement’s opposition to Imperial Japan was supported by the Allies. At the end of the war when Japan was defeated, the Viet Minh proclaimed independence for The Republic of Vietnam. France moved quickly to restore colonial rule as Franco-British troops took control of Saigon in the South.
Fighting between the 2 forces broke out in Haiphong (a northern port city in Vietnam) over French seizure of boats bringing contraband to the port.
1946 – On November 23, the French fleet bombarded the city to suppress the uprising, and over 6000 Vietnamese civilians were killed. Early in the war, superior French weaponry drove the Viet Minh out of the major cities, including Hanoi in the north. A guerrilla war against the French bought time for Viet Minh’s general to organize his army (now with support from Communist China) and go on the offensive.
1950 – Viet Minh victories put the French on defense. A new French commander raised morale and built new defenses around Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the De Lattre Line.
1951 – The Viet Minh suffered a series of defeats, but opposition to the Indochina War in France was growing.
1952 – The French general fell ill with cancer and was replaced early in the year. As the war continued, the French began to realize military victory was unlikely, so they began to look for a favorable end to hostilities.
1953 – An even newer general decided in May to capture the city of Dien Bien Phu, well outside the De Lattre Line. This area was in a valley surrounded by heavily wooded hills. French paratroopers gained control of the valley, and French and Vietnamese loyalists troops patrolled the surrounding hills. The French set up a series of defensive positions, hoping to draw the Viet Minh out in the open and defeat them. Over the next 4 months, 15,000 French and Vietnamese loyalist forces would be surrounded by 40,000 Viet Minh troops. For the first time, Viet Minh troops were supported by heavy artillery.
1954 – On March 13, the Viet Minh artillery began bombarding the French positions. Damage to the French airstrip seriously complicated resupply efforts as their siege of the French cutoff troops began. After 57 days, the longest and final battle of the war ended with an overwhelming Viet Minh victory. French control of Indochina was over.
After the Geneva Conference in 1954, Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel: a Communist North (under Ho Chi Minh) and a Pro-Western South (under former emperor Bao Dali). A 10 kilometer wide Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) was set between the two countries. The First Indochina War was over, and a new war was about to begin.
[Does this sound like North and South Korea to you? It does to me. So let’s look at this conflict. The Korean War lasted from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, and ended in a stalemate with the border between the North and the South near where it had been at the war’s beginning. The division is at the 39th parallel with a DMZ set up between the 2 countries.]
two Vietnams
This temporary division in 1954 was supposed to be resolved by a planned election in 1956 to unify the country. Over a million of mostly Catholic Vietnamese fled to the South, fearing persecution by the communists in the North. The Viet Minh prevented millions more from migrating. Over 150,000 pro-communist Vietnamese went the other direction and left the South so they could live in North Vietnam.
1955 – Distrust and conflict between the 2 sides prevented any national election to unify the country. The South’s Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem overthrew Bao Dai and proclaimed himself president of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Despite corruption in this new government, the US and other Western governments supported this new president, mainly because they wanted to stop the spread of communism in the region.
Not all was good in the North either. Political opposition was suppressed more severely than in the South. Basic freedoms of speech and assembly were revoked, and business ownership/entrepreneurship was criminalized. Land reform led to widespread land confiscation/redistribution, and thousands were executed.
An anti-Diem insurgency emerged and began spreading in South Vietnam.
1960 – The National Liberation Front (aka Viet Cong or VC) became fully supported by North Vietnam and was supplied using the now famous Ho Chi Minh Trail, a logistical system running from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam. The North viewed the war as a path to unify Vietnam under communist rule. Growing corruption in Diem’s government created more discontent in the South.
1961 – When President John F. Kennedy took office in January, the US support and assistance to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) increased. President Kennedy expected them to defend South Vietnam from the VC insurgency; however, the ARVN were often used to crush anti-government religious groups. Kennedy increased CIA covert operations and increased US special forces units to train the ARVN in guerrilla warfare. General Harkins became the first commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV).
1962 – The Strategic Hamlet Program instituted this year relocated many rural South Vietnamese to “protected hamlets” to isolate them from the growing insurgency. A failed program, it alienated much of the rural population and contributed to the growth of the VC.
1963 – the Battle of Ap Bac in the beginning of the year was a VC victory over a larger ARVN force (assisted by US advisors and pilots). General Hawkins’s optimistic view of the South Vietnamese military and political situation was another problem. By the end of the year, the number of US personnel in the South exceeded 15,000 [remember the draft?]. On November 2, the RVN President Diem was assassinated in a military coup; 22 days later, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. [Conspiracy theorists might be interested in this.] The scope of the Vietnam War was about to change.
war escalates
Elections mean everything.
1964 – When Vice-President Johnson became President, Kennedy’s Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara remained in his role until early 1968. North Vietnam took advantage of the chaos following the Diem assassination by increasing support for the VC. In April, General Westmoreland replaced Harkins as MACV. On August 2, the USS Maddox was attacked by 3 North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Maddox fired on the approaching craft to keep them out of torpedo range. F-8 Crusaders from USS Ticonderoga damaged all 3 craft, forcing them to retreat. Two days later, both the Maddox and the Turner Joy engaged radar targets believed to be more torpedo boats. The events led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Johnson the use of conventional military force in SE Asia without a formal declaration of war by Congress. Later investigations never confirmed a second attack. [hmmm]
1965 – After serving the remainder of Kennedy’s first term, Johnson won the 1964 election by a landslide. A new phase of the Vietnam War began that included a sustained bombing campaign against targets in the southern part of North Vietnam (Operation Rolling Thunder). The operation was hampered by Washington politics and never reached its full potential. US ground forces (3500 Marines) were deployed to South Vietnam for the first time on March 8; thousands more would soon join them.
November 1965 – The Battle of la Drang Valley was the first major engagement between the US Army and North Vietnamese Army (NVA). Both sides suffered heavy losses and claimed victory. By the end of the year, the US Navy introduced forces in the Mekong Delta (Operation Game Warden) to disrupt enemy supply lines making use of the vast number of rivers and canals.
If you’re interested in this time period and the involvement of the Navy Seals, you may want to revisit what we saw at the Navy Seal Museum in Florida.
1966 – The US military increased search and destroy operations against the VC between Saigon and the Cambodian border. As the military footprint of the US in South Vietnam grew, so did its casualties; Soviet and Chinese support for North Vietnam also grew. SA-2 Guideline anti-craft (AA) missile batteries along with AA gun batteries began to impact US bombing missions. In addition, the North Vietnam Air Force (NVAF) Soviet-built MIG 17s and 21s began to challenge US aircraft.
Napalm, invented by Fieser in 1942, is a highly flammable sticky jelly used in incendiary bombs and flamethrowers, consisting of gasoline thickened with special soaps. Its use triggered widespread student protests, some aimed at the manufacturer, The Dow Chemical Company. Many veterans are suffering or have died from the effects of being too close to these strikes.
1967 – NVAF airfields near Hanoi, previously off limits to bombing (Washington politics), were fair game by mid-year. By the end of the year, US troop levels in the South exceeded 460,000. The US had lost close to 20,000 personnel since 1956; NVA and VC forces had also suffered heavy casualties. Politically the Johnson Administration also suffered. Secretary of Defense McNamara often disagreed with Johnson and lost faith on how the war was being prosecuted.
longest year ever – both militarily and politically
1968 – McNamara left his post in early 1968 to become President of the World Bank. Victory was nowhere in sight, and the worst year of the war was about to begin.
The year started on January 21 with the siege of the US base in NW South Vietnam (Khe Sanh). Less than 10 days later, the Tet Offensive began, which was a coordinated attack by 70,000 NVA and VC on over 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. The US military was caught off guard by the scope of the offensive but soon mobilized and inflicted heavy causalities on the newly exposed enemy forces.
NVA and VC forces almost overran the city of Hue (in NE South Vietnam). US Army, Marines, and ARVN troops stopped and eventually drove them out in The Battle of Hue (January 30 to March 3). Widespread fighting in the cities and towns was captured by the media and shown on TVs throughout the US. The NVA and VC suffered heavy losses but won politically. US public support for the war continued to decline as anti-war protest increased.
March 31 – Events in Vietnam affected the upcoming US Presidential election. On March 31, Johnson announced on TV that he planned to limit US involvement in the war and ended his address with “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.” [He read the writing on the wall, so to speak.]
early April – An overland relief force of US Army, Marines, and ARVN units broke through to the Marines besieged at the siege at Khe Sanh. After the Marines successfully defended the base against a long and grueling siege by the North Vietnamese Army, it was later closed. [Must have been devastating for the Marines.]
early May – NVA and VC forces launched their second offensive at The Battle of Kham Duc on May 10-12. US Army, Marines, and Special Forces units, along with 500 South Vietnamese Civil Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) personnel were surrounded by 2500 NVA and VC. Kham Duc (40 miles SW of Da Nang) was forced to be evacuated, leading to the loss of 9 US aircraft. B-52s pounded the abandoned base now held by NVA and VC on May 13. The 1st Australian Task force defeated the 7th Division NVA at Coral Balmoral, just 25 miles NE of Saigon, on May 12 to June 6.
Peace talks began in Paris but quickly stalled.
June – General Abrams replaced Westmorland as MACV. Abrams would introduce a number of changes, including training civilians to defend their villages and increased training and supplies to the ARVN.
November 1 – President Johnson ends the bombing of North Vietnam (Operation Rolling Thunder) after 3.5 years. Richard Nixon was elected President 4 days later.
1968 was the bloodiest year of the war with over 16,000 US servicemen killed in action. NVA and VC losses were estimated to exceed 100,000.
Nixon’s war
Nixon campaigned successfully on a pledge of peace with honor; achieving that end would be difficult at best.
1969 – A month after the initial peace talks failed, the VC attacked over 100 targets in South Vietnam, and the NVA attacked a US Marine base near the DMZ. Nixon threatened to resume the bombing of North Vietnam because of the attacks.
March 17 – Nixon authorized B-52s to bomb VC and NVA supply sanctuaries in Cambodia (Operation Menu). News of the operation was later leaked by the NY Times, prompting FBI wiretaps of 4 journalists and 13 government officials.
April – US troop levels reached a peak of 543,400.
May 10 to 20 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill (Hill 937) was fought between the 101st Airborne and NVA. Over 50 US troops were killed and over 400 were wounded. NVA losses were estimated at over 600. The position was soon abandoned by the 1010st, allowing the NVA to return to occupy it. The battle was also followed closely by the media, and soon the planning and execution of the battle drew public and political condemnation. As a result, this battle was the last major search and destroy mission by US troops.
June 8 – Nixon announces Vietnamization: a plan to train, equip, and expand the South Vietnamese military while simultaneously reducing US troops in Vietnam.
July 30 – Nixon makes his first and only visit to South Vietnam.
September – Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack on September 2 and is succeeded by Le Duan. LT William Calley is charged with murder for the Mai Lai Massacre the previous year. The details of the event and attempts to cover it up further divide the US public on the Vietnam War. US troop reductions in Vietnam continue.
1970 – An escalating civil war in neighboring Cambodia impacts the Vietnam War. ARVN and US troops conduct over 12 operations into eastern Cambodia to disrupt VC and NVA sanctuaries there. This episode of the war was greeted in the US with more anti-war protests. One important protest was at Kent State University in Ohio on May 4; it so escalated that some members of the Ohio National Guard fired into the crowd, killing 4 students and wounding 9 others. College campuses across the US erupted in protest. The Vietnam War grinds on as the US troop reduction continues. [This was the year I was in grad school so knew some about what was happening, but most of the time my nose was in my books.]
1971 – In February, 17,000 ARVN troops attack 22,000 NVA in Laos with US artillery and air support. The offensive soon lost momentum, and NVA reinforcements would drive them out the next month. By the end of the year, US troop levels are down to 156,800, and continued peace talks in Paris have achieved little.
1972 – On March 30, the NVA launch a massive “Easter Offensive” against South Vietnam, the largest operation since the Korean War. The NVA general hoped to take advantage of US troop withdrawals and the war’s unpopularity back in the US. North Vietnam also hoped to destroy the ARVN and impact the upcoming US presidential campaign like in 1968. For the first time, the NVA fought a large scale conventional (not guerrilla) campaign on 3 fronts. US combat troop reductions continued, but additional USAF and US Navy resources were recalled to counter the offensive.
May – After overrunning all the DMZ fire bases, the northern NVA front stalled outside of Hue late in the month.
June – The Central Highlands (from Laos) and Southern (from Cambodia) NVA fronts stalled the next month. US air power devastated the NVA forcs and gave the ARVN time to reorganize and go on the offensive.
October – When the campaign ended in October, the NVA had suffered almost 100,000 casualties and had lost half of their tanks and artillery. ARVN casualties exceeded 40,000. Over 25,000 civilians had been killed and another 1 million became refugees.
November – Nixon is re-elected by a landslide, and peace talks resume in Paris. US troop withdrawal is completed, but over 16,000 US military advisors and administrators remain to assist South Vietnam.
peace . . . almost
Just prior to the 1972 presidential election, US National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, declared “peace is at hand.”
December – Seven weeks later, negotiations with North Vietnamese representatives in Paris collapsed. The South Vietnam’s president in office since 1965, Nguyen Van Thieu, also had issues with a plan that would allow some NVA forces to stay in the South. [Smart man, as we later see.] Nixon’s warning to North Vietnam to take the negotiations seriously was ignored.
On December 18, Nixon ordered heavy bombing (Operation Linebacker II) of Hanoi, North Vietnam’s capital, and the surrounding areas. Previous target restrictions that had limited bombings were removed. For the next 11 days, B-52s from Guam and Thailand flew over 700 sorties against one of the world’s most heavily defended cities. Additional sorties were conducted by USAF and US Navy tactical aircraft. Soviet-built S-2 Guideline missile sites ringed Hanoi and other strategic targets: over 1000 would be fired at the attacking US aircraft. Much of Hanoi and the surrounding NVA military infrastructure was destroyed or damaged. The operation was condemned by the media and the public, but it brought North Vietnam back to the negotiation table.
1973 – Paris Peace talks resumed on January 8, and South Vietnam President Thieu reluctantly agreed to the terms. The Accords were signed on January 27 by the US, South Vietnam, North Vienam, and the VC. The US agreed to withdraw militarily and the North agreed to release US POWs. By April 1, the last US troops had left Vietnam, and the last known POW was released.
Over 58,000 US servicemen paid the ultimate price in the Vietnam War; another 150,000 were seriously wounded, and over 2400 POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for.
Peace was short lived
June – The US Congress passed the Case-Church Amendment that forbid any further US military involvement in SE Asia. Nixon was under siege because of the political scandal associated with Watergate, and the extent of the secret bombings in Cambodia were being revealed.
October – Vice President Agnew was forced to resign and was replaced by Speaker of the House Gerald Ford.
November – Congress passed the War Powers Resolution requiring the President to obtain support from Congress within 90 days of sending troops abroad.
1974 – Impeachment proceedings against Nixon began on May 9, and he resigned 3 months later.
December – North Vietnam tested the new US president because of the restrictions imposed by Congress when NVA forces attacked Phuoc Long Province in the South. Ford’s protest was diplomatic, and no US military action was taken. South Vietnam’s fate was sealed.
1975 – In January the NVA, now the 5th largest army in the world, were in place to invade the South. Persident Ford publicly stated that the US was unwillng to re-enter the war.
March 10 – The NVA launched a full-scale invasion of South Vietnam. VC forces already in the South joined in. The ARVN was unable and unwilling to stop the NVA advance. Desertion was rampant in the ARVN, and troops surrendered by the thousands. Droves of civilian refugees tried to flee from the fighting.
April – By the end of the month, President Ford ordered the evacuation of 7000 Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon. On April 3, the last US personnel (10 US Marines) left Saigon, concluding the US presence in Vietnam.
Montagnards
The term Montagnard is a French term meaning “mountain people” that was used by the French Colonial government in Vietnam to refer to the different tribal people who lived in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Later as they fought with the US, especially the Green Berets, against the communists, Montagnards worked hard to leave Vietnam after the war. Cambodia and eventually the United States were their destinations. Death, torture, and incarceration were the punishments inflicted on groups of three or more Montagnards by the Vietnamese; they were severely persecuted because of their religion and repressed at the hands of the Vietnamese Communist regime since 1975.
Most of the Montagnards who succeeded in escaping from Vietnam and reaching the United States crossed the Vietnamese border into neighboring Cambodia and then moved on into Thailand.
Most of these refugees, some 12,000, now live in North Carolina, partly because they had maintained links with the US Special Forces headquartered in Fort Bragg, N.C.
Many of the American missionaries who lived and worked among the Montagnards during the Vietnam War were from the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church and the Lutheran Church, who brought Christianity to the Montagnards.
[During the time before and during the evacuation of Saigon, I was working with a Christian missionary organization, Overseas Crusades, in California, and we had contacts in Vietnam who were working among the Montagnards. We prayed for them daily and would get updates about what was happening to the believers in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos that were never heard about in the US.]It’s nice to see them honored in this way.
other sights of the war
legacy
The sad part of this war was the response by the American people and the US Government for those who fought in the war. But changes are happening. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC, and about 3 million people visit the wall every year. Traveling versions of the memorial wall draw thousands of visitors at each destination. Monuments and memorials honoring Vietnam Veterans have sprung up all over the US. Now the Vietnam Vets are even welcoming home those who have fought in later wars.
If you know a Vietnam vet, be sure to say ” Welcome home. Thank you for your service to this country.”
re-creation of a US Marine Corps compound in Vietnam
Behind the Quonset hut where I spent time, Barney walked on out in the rain to a re-creation of a Marine Corps compound from Vietnam days.
The CH-46 medium assault transport helicopter was adopted by the Marine Corps in 1964. During the Vietnam War, it was a prime troop transport helicopter. As a medevac (medical evacuation), it could hold up to 15 wounded and 2 corpsmen.
It had 2 door-mounted machine guns. By the end of the war, these helicopters had flown roughly 200,000 missions, and over 100 had been lost to enemy fire.
I’m so used to a Huey with its open doors on each side that troops would jump in or out of, so the CH46 looks so different–because its purpose is different. It can transport troops, ammunition, and supplies wherever the Marines need to go.
By the way, according to the Army War College, the “Huey” nickname came from the phonetic pronunciation of HU-1, short for Helicopter Utility-1, as the craft was originally designated. Bell UH-1 Iroquois is the helicopter’s official full name.
The last aircrew to die in Vietnam in a USMC helicopter was Captain William Nystul (Coronado, Ca.) and Lt. Michael Shea (El Paso, Tx.) who piloted a CH46. They crashed on April 29, 1975, during the evacuation of Vietnam. Named Operation Frequent Wind, this helicopter evacuation was the largest in history with over 7000 American citizens and at-risk South Vietnamese who were evacuated by US Marine and Air America (airline secretly owned by the CIA) helicopters.
During their night landing approach to the aircraft carrier USS Hancock CVA-19, Yankee Tango 14 was waived off and shortly after, hit the water. It was thought that their CH46 ran out of fuel during final approach. The 2 surviving crewmen spent 48 minutes in the water prior to rescue, with Cpl. Steve Wills suffering a broken leg and dislocated hip in the accident.
We’ve now finished with Charleston. It’s been a great trip! Next destination is our family in south Florida.
