Americans from across the nation will pay homage on National Vietnam War Veterans Day on Friday, March 29 to those who served during the Vietnam conflict, and to those who paid the ultimate price.
Many Americans do not realize our government’s participation in Vietnam occurred long before the actual Vietnam conflict began. That’s right, it was a conflict and was never actually designated a war by our government.
The first American military death in Vietnam occurred on Sept. 26, 1945, during the unrest in Saigon when Office of Strategic Services Officer Lt. Col A. Peter Dewey was killed by Viet Minh guerrillas who mistook him for a French officer. Before his death, Dewey had filed a report on the deepening crisis in Vietnam, stating his opinion that the U.S. “ought to clear out of Southeast Asia.”
The U.S. participation in Vietnam escalated on July 26, 1950, when President Harry Truman authorized $15 million in military aid to the French. American military advisers accompanied the flow of U.S. tanks, planes, artillery and other supplies to Vietnam. Over the next four years, the U.S. spent $3 billion on the French war and by 1954 provided 80% of all war supplies used by the French.
Former allied commander in Europe during World War II and five-star Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower was inaugurated as the 34th U.S. President on Jan. 20, 1953, and that’s when U.S. military aid greatly increased to the French in Vietnam to prevent a communist victory. U.S. military advisers continued to accompany American supplies sent to Vietnam.
To justify America’s financial commitment, Eisenhower cited a domino theory in which a communist victory in Vietnam would result in surrounding countries falling one after another like a “falling row of dominoes.” The domino theory was used by a succession of presidents and their advisers to justify ever-deepening U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
According to government records, our country’s official involvement in the Vietnam conflict lasted 5,569 days (1960–1975).
National Vietnam Veterans Day has been designated by the federal government as March 29 and it coincides with March 29, 1973, the day the United States Armed Forces completed the withdrawal of the combat units and combat support units from South Vietnam.
In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in the District of Columbia to commemorate those 58,267 U,S, service members who were either killed or were declared missing in action in Vietnam. As of 2017, the number of names on the memorial had been increased to reflect 58,318 (1959 and 1975 are the years inscribed on The Wall).
Facts and Figures
Other statistics not normally known by all Americans include:
– the average age of our military personnel serving in Vietnam was only 22.
– more than 2,709,918 Americans served during the Vietnam conflict.
– it is estimate that only about 610,000 personnel, of the almost 6 million U.S. veterans who served in the Vietnam conflict, are alive today.
– the youngest American Vietnam veteran’s age is estimated to be about 60.
– there were 58,318 Americans killed in action or listed as missing in action including 11,465 teenagers.
– there were 621 people from Arizona killed in action.
– one of every 11 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty, with 303,644 wounded in action.
– more than 1,616 American service members are still designated as missing in action in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict. There were a total of 2,646 MIAs, including 1,971 in Vietnam, 573 in Laos, 90 in Cambodia and 10 in China. Today, there are still 1,275 MIA’s in Vietnam, 295 in Laos, 48 in Cambodia and seven in China.
– there are 15 military servicemen from Arizona unaccounted for during the Vietnam conflict. Seven were killed in action and their bodies were not recovered, and eight are presumed dead.
– at the peak of the Vietnam conflict, 543,000 troops were serving in Vietnam and adjacent countries.
The youngest U.S. serviceman to be killed in action during the Vietnam Conflict was Pvt. Dan Bullock who joined the Marines at age 14 by altering his birth certificate and graduated from boot camp on Dec. 10, 1968. Bullock died from enemy small arms fire at Hoa Combat Base in Quang Nam Province June 7, 1969 at the age of 15.
People interested in participating in Vietnam Veterans Days celebrations should contact their county, city and/or local military fraternal organization to see what is scheduled.
Butch Meriwether of Golden Valley served in the Marines from January 1964 through August 1984 and in Vietnam from 1967-70. He retired from the U.S. Marine Corps as a gunnery sergeant.
