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Vietnam War

Famous Army Unit: Department of the Army Special Photographic Office (DASPO)

Famous Army Unit: Department of the Army Special Photographic Office (DASPO)

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By 1962 the world was becoming a very scary place punctuated by continuing confrontations between global communist and democratic powers, alongside growing civil, racial, and political unrest.  In Southeast Asia, the Korean War brought an indecisive outcome, and the tide of combat in Vietnam now favored communist forces despite US advisors in place since 1956.  Further, in 1961 alone there was an armed conflict between communist and democratic armies along the Chinese-Burma border, UN peace-keeping forces fighting at Kabalo and Katanga (Operation Rampunch) in the Congo, and the US-backed Bay of Pigs, a failed attempt to overthrow Castro’s regime in Cuba.  In Europe, the Berlin Wall was constructed following decades-long Soviet blockades leading to the activation of more than 150,000 US guardsmen and reservists together with Operation Stair Step, the largest jet deployment in history.  Then in October 1962, provoked by ongoing US efforts against Cuba (Operation...

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Colors of War & Peace by Dan Thompson

Colors of War & Peace by Dan Thompson

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The years between 1968 and 1970 were some of the most tumultuous for the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – better known as MACV. 1968 kicked off with the now-famous Tet Offensive, a massive, coordinated campaign that struck cities, villages, and military bases all across South Vietnam. The Process of Vietnamization By 1969, President Richard Nixon began the process of Vietnamization, building up the Army of South Vietnam to take over the defense of their own country. As more conventional U.S. troops began to leave Vietnam, it put more pressure on the U.S. Army's covert Studies and Observation Group (SOG).  Dan Thompson was a member of the Special Forces in Vietnam between these turbulent years of the war. SOG members began taking the initiative on the ground, and not just in Vietnam. They undertook secret missions in Laos, Cambodia, and in North Vietnam, taking the fighting to the enemy. Dan Thompson did two tours there.  About the Colors of War & Peace In his 2018 book...

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Run Through the Jungle By Larry Musson

Run Through the Jungle By Larry Musson

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Run Through the Jungle is a first-hand account of the combat in South Vietnam, as experienced by Larry Musson and other members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. A riveting tale, this book is narrated by an equally compelling man. A man who found joy in writing at a young age and used said joy to give us a detailed page-turner in Run Through the Jungle. Larry Musson, no doubt a hero in the minds of many, was born in Shelbyville, Illinois. He grew up in Elwood and was a member of the class of '67 of Joliet East High School. A couple of years later, after a year of junior college, the author volunteered for airborne training and finished Jump School at Fort Benning, Georgia. This is where he received his orders for the 173rd Airborne Brigade to serve in the Republic of South Vietnam - the place that would ultimately provide the inspiration for this captivating book. The stories from Run Through the Jungle are true accounts of what Larry and other members of his Airborne company went...

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Service Reflections of LT James Jans, U.S. Navy (1960-1981)

Service Reflections of LT James Jans, U.S. Navy (1960-1981)

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Friends from my home town. One of my best friends from school joined the Navy and was stationed on the carrier Bon Homme Richard CVA-31 came home on leave and was wearing his Navy uniform. Being from a town 45 miles from an Army Base (Ft Huachuca), the Navy uniform seemed much more impressive than the Army fatigues that I was used to seeing. Plus, I was intrigued because I had never seen the ocean or any body of water bigger than the watering tank of a local cattle rancher. Also, to think that ships could have a larger population than the town I was living in was amazing. I needed to get out of town to a place where I would have the opportunity to develop my talents to more than being a service station attendant pumping gas at one of the local gas stations. I was all in for a career in the Navy.

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Last Night I Dreamed of Peace by Dang Thuy Tram

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace by Dang Thuy Tram

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At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later, she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and her challenges in the face of the war's ceaseless fury. The American officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram's death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, his Vietnamese translator said to him, "Don't burn this one. It has fire in it already." Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept...

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Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow, U.S. Army (1952–1994)

Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow, U.S. Army (1952–1994)

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Sidney Shachnow was born in Lithuania in 1934, Sidney Shachnow faced oppression in his homeland and found his calling in the U.S. Army after immigrating to America in 1950. Sidney Shachnow enlisted in the military in 1955 and served for more than 39 years, including 32 in the Special Forces community. His top posts included leadership of the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School and U.S. Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg and U.S. Army-Berlin in Germany. "Maj. Gen. Sidney Shachnow truly lived the American dream," said officials at the Special Warfare Center and School, which the general commanded from 1991 until his retirement in 1994. "He came up through the ranks from private to major general through hard work and selfless service to this nation and the men and women under his command." Along the way, the general became a legendary Special Forces officer, revered by many in the close-knit community of Green Berets. As a 7-Year-Old Boy, Shachnow was Imprisoned in...

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Vietnam War – Operation Union II

Vietnam War – Operation Union II

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Operation Union II was a military operation that took place in the Vietnam War. It was a search and destroy mission in the Que Son Valley carried out by the 5th Marine Regiment. Launched on May 26, 1967, the operation ended June 5. It was a bloody 10-day battle that resulted in 594 NVA killed and 23 captured, while U.S. casualties were 110 killed and 241 wounded. The Importance of the Que Son Valley in the Vietnam War The Que Son Valley is located along the border of Quang Nam and Quang Tin Provinces in South Vietnam's I Corps. Populous and rice-rich, the valley was viewed as one of the keys to controlling South Vietnam's five Northern provinces by the communists and by early 1967 at least two regiments of the 2nd Division of the People's Army of Vietnam had been infiltrated into the area. The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines (1/5) and 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5), experienced units that had fought in Vietnam since their arrival in the summer of 1966, were assigned to the valley in...

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SP4 George McDaniel, U.S. Army (1969-1970)

SP4 George McDaniel, U.S. Army (1969-1970)

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Of all the military operations you participated in, including combat, humanitarian or peacekeeping operations, which of these made a lasting impact on you and why?:

Why do I jerk back? Why am I startled? Our minds are incredible, aren’t they? How can something so small and lightweight store memories for years and suddenly spark muscles to react without our thinking of doing so? Day after day, I’m fine, so I’m surprised when my brain responds due to events in Vietnam in 1969. For example, I was having dinner with a friend at a restaurant. Suddenly, a fan nearby made a loud noise. I flinched, teeth clinched, my shoulders, neck, and head arching backward. Just as suddenly, the noise was gone. I started to explain, but he kept on talking as if he hadn’t noticed a thing, so I didn’t.

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CPT Scott Clark, U.S. Army (1965-1968)

CPT Scott Clark, U.S. Army (1965-1968)

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Of all the military operations you participated in, including combat, humanitarian or peacekeeping operations, which of these made a lasting impact on you and why?:

It was 1967. I was assigned to Charlie Battery of the 2/20 Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA) Battalion attached to the 1st Air Cav Division (Airmobile) in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. As an aviation officer, I had command of a section of two attacks Huey helicopters, each equipped with 48 very lethal rockets. We had just received a fire mission that plotted out in the middle of the dense jungle between three small mountains. What we didn’t know at the time was that the jungle hid a North Vietnamese division with anti-aircraft batteries on top of each mountain.

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Sgt Allen Rogers, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1971)

Sgt Allen Rogers, U.S. Marine Corps (1967-1971)

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Of all the military operations you participated in, including combat, humanitarian or peacekeeping operations, which of these made a lasting impact on you and why?:

I arrived in Vietnam in January 1969 as an aircraft electrician for CH-46 helicopters in HMM-265. I became a ‘door-gunner’ in February and started flying on combat missions. I flew combat missions for several months. On the sixth of August, I flew a total of 26 separate combat missions that hectic day. For that, and the fact that we had received enemy fire, I received my “Air Medal” and ‘earned’ my Combat Air Crew wings.

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SP4 Tom Hirst, U.S. Army (1969-1971)

SP4 Tom Hirst, U.S. Army (1969-1971)

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Of all the military operations you participated in, including combat, humanitarian or peacekeeping operations, which of these made a lasting impact on you and why?:

Somewhere in Cambodia during “Operation Rock Crusher” courtesy of President Nixon’s planned “Incursion” in May/June 1970, the 1st Cavalry Division’s Charlie Company 1/12th is set up in its “Night Defensive Position” in a thicket just off a sandy, well traveled road. After setting up our “perimeter” and “automatic ambush” to cover the approach of the road, we settled down for the night.

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Vietnam War – Operation Frequent Wind and the Fall of Saigon

Vietnam War – Operation Frequent Wind and the Fall of Saigon

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The Vietnam War ended for the United States in January 1973, but not entirely. South Vietnam would fight in vain for its existence for another two years. As North Vietnamese troops closed in on the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, U.S military assets scrambled to evacuate American personnel and South Vietnamese refugees. Ultimately, the U.S. military and the CIA’s Air America evacuated 1,373 Americans, nearly 6,000 third-country nationals, and more than 138,000 South Vietnamese refugees. Called Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation was among the last combat actions between North Vietnam and the United States.  The Success of Operation Frequent Wind The end of American involvement in Vietnam is often punctuated by the imagery of U.S. military personnel pushing helicopters into the sea from the decks of aircraft carriers. Out of context, these images seem to punctuate the failure of the American mission in Vietnam. Looks can be deceiving.  A closer look at the UH-1 Hueys that went...

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