Facts About Vietnam
On March 8, 1965, the United States landed about 3,000 Marines in South Vietnam.
On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War,the My Lai Massacre was carried out by U.S.troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley Jr.
On March 29, 1971, Lt. William L.
Calley Jr. was
convicted of murdering at least 22 Vietnamese civilians
in the My Lai massacre. ( Calley ended up spending
three years under house arrest.)
Q. How many K-9 dogs served and died
with U.S.
forces in the Vietnam War?
A. Served, 4,000, Died, 325.
On April 15, 1998, Po Pot, the notorious leader of the Khmer Rouge, died at age 73 evading prosecution for the deaths of 2 million Cambodians.
On April 17, 1975, Phnom Penh fell to
Communist
insurgents, ending Cambodia's five year war.
On June 29, 1970, the United States ended a two-month military offense into Cambodia.
On August 14, 1973,the U.S. bombing of Cambodia came to a halt.
War
In Vietnam A Timeline
September 1945
Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader, declares
Vietnam independence from France and a nine-year
war begins.
May 1954
Viet Minh inflict humiliating defeat on the French at
Dien Bien Phu.
July
French withdraw and the country is divided at the
17th parallel.
December 1961
Two U.S. Army helicopter companies, the first
direct U.S. military support for South Vietnam,
arrive in Saigon.
June 1963
Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in
Saigon to protest repression by U.S.- backed
government of Ngo Dinh Diem.
August 1964
Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
giving war making powers for President Johnston,
who begins air strikes on North Vietnam.
March 1965
3,500 Marines land at Da Nang, beginning the
escalation.
January 1968
North Vietnamese launch Tet offensive. U.S. Embassy
in Saigon is taken over and held for eight hours.
February
Johnston initiates peace negotiations.
March
Soldiers under command of Lt. William Calley wipe out
My Lai, killing 500 civilians.
March 1969
With troop strength at more than 500,000, President
Nixon orders secret bombings of Cambodia.
June
Nixon orders withdrawal of troops.
April 1970
Nixon orders troops into Cambodia, causing college
campuses to erupt in protest. Four Kent State
students are killed by National Guardsmen. Congress
repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
March 1973
The last U.S. troops leave Vietnam.
April 30, 1975
Saigon government surrenders.
On June 29, 1966, the United States bombed fuel storage facilities neat the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haipong.
On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, giving President Lydon Johnson broad powders in dealing with reported North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. forces.
On October 26, 1972, national security adviser Henry Kissinger declared, "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam.
On October 31, 1968, President Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations.
On November 2, 1963, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dihn Diem was assassinated in a military coup.
On November 10, 1982, the newly
finished Vietnam
Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors
in Washington, D.C.
On November 13, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington.
On December 17, 1961, a U.S. aircraft carrier carrying Army helicopters armed in Saigon--the first direct American military support forSouth Vietnam's battle against communist guerrillas.
*March 23, 1961 – Army Major Lawrence Robert Bailey becomes the first confirmed U.S. military POW after his capture in Laos. His release comes on August 15, 1962.
*May 15, 1961 – Photo journalist Grant Wolfkill is the first confirmed U.S. civilian POW. After his capture in Laos, he is released August 15, 1962.
*November 6, 1975 – Army Sgt. Veto Huapila Baker, captured October 6, 1972, in South Vietnam, is the last U.S. military POW to be released.
*September 21, 1976 – Arlo N. Gay, who was captured April 30, 1975, in South Vietnam, is the last civilian POW to be released.
*Note: Army Special Forces Captain Floyd James Thompson, was held longer than any other U.S. military POW during the Vietnam War. Captured March 26, 1964, in South Vietnam, he was released March 16, 1973, from Hoa Lo Prison. His time in captivity; eight years, 11 months, 21 days.
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France occupied all of Vietnam by 1884. Independence was declared after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954 when they were defeated by Communist forces under Ho Chi Minh, who took control of the North. US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973. Two years later, North Vietnamese forces overran the South.
Geography of Vietnam
Population of Vietnam
Go to the topGovernment
Go to the toEconomyVietnam is a poor, densely-populated country that has had to recover from the ravages of war, the loss of financial support from the old Soviet Bloc, and the rigidities of a centrally-planned economy. Substantial progress was achieved from 1986 to 1996 in moving forward from an extremely low starting point - growth averaged around 9% per year from 1993 to 1997. The 1997 Asian financial crisis highlighted the problems in the Vietnamese economy, but rather than prompting reform, reaffirmed the government's belief that shifting to a market-oriented economy would lead to disaster. GDP growth of 8.5% in 1997 fell to 6% in 1998 and 5% in 1999. Growth then rose to 6% to 7% in 2000-02 even against the background of global recession. These numbers mask some major difficulties in economic performance. Many domestic industries, including coal, cement, steel, and paper, have reported large stockpiles of inventory and tough competition from more efficient foreign producers. Since the Party elected new leadership in 2001, Vietnamese authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to economic liberalization and have moved to implement the structural reforms needed to modernize the economy and to produce more competitive, export-driven industries. The US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement entered into force near the end of 2001 and is expected to significantly increase Vietnam's exports to the US. The US is assisting Vietnam with implementing the legal and structural reforms called for in the agreement.
SOURCES: The CIA World Factbook, U.S. Department of State, Area Handbook of the US Library of Congress
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