Plane dropping laser guided bombs
Operation Linebacker began operations with bombing raids on Hanoi and Haiphong, but over the next few months the raids continued until almost all areas of North Vietnam had been bombed. Operation Linebacker marked the first time laser guided bombs were used, along with the old work horse of the Vietnam War, the giant B 52 bomber.
Aircraft Carrier Kittyhawk
The navy's 7th Fleet also played an important role in this operation as its carriers provided the take off and landing bases for the smaller tactical aircraft, many carrying laser guided bombs. The North Vietnamese put up a fierce resistance but finally, in early August, they agreed to resume peace talks in Paris.
Richard Nixon won a landslide re-election victory against Democrat George McGovern in November, 1972, winning every state except Massachusetts.
George Wallace
Alabama governor George Wallace, perceived as a racist by many, also ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972, making very strong showings in the early primaries, and drawing large crowds whereever he went. He won the Florida Democratic primary with 42% of the vote, coming in first in every county in the state. But on May17, 1972, his presidential hopes were ended when he was shot five times by a would be assassin. He miraculously survived but was left paralyzed and suffered constant pain for the rest of his life. Remarkably, even after the assassination attempt, and despite the fact that he campaigned from a wheelchair, he won primaries in Michigan, Maryland, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
George McGovern
George McGovern was totally against our involvement in the Vietnam War and promised that if elected he would withdraw all U.S. troops in exchange for the release of all American prisoners of war. Nixon also promised to end the war if re-elected, but it would be a 'peace with honor', and not a surrender, as he claimed McGovern advocated.
As the bombing raids continued Nixon ordered the withdrawal of another 12,000 troops in August of 1972. There were now only 10,000 ground combat troops remaining, and from that point on the war would be almost exclusively an air war. The renewed peace talks drug on endlessly with little meaningful progress, neither side was willing to make any concessions that would lead to a peace settlement. Finally, on December 16th, North Vietnam negotiators left the talks without setting a date as to when they would return. Nixon was well aware that the people of America wanted this war over, and that he had promised to end it if elected. He knew also that when the new Congress took over in January they would be sure to legislate an end to the war, thereby denying him the credit for ending it, as he had promised the American people he would do.
B52 being re-fueled in flight
He knew that he had only one more chance to end the war and he decided to order what was intended to be a massive three day bombing attack, convinced that they would bring North Vietnam back to the peace talks. On December 18th he ordered what was to be the last battle of the Vietnam War, Operation Linebacker Two, which later also became known as the 'Christmas Bombings'.
On the first night 129 B52 bombers were launched, 39 support aircraft of the Seventh Air Force, the Navy's Task Force 77, and the Marine Corps supported the bombers by providing F-4 fighter escorts, F-105 Wild Weasel SAM-suppression missions, Air Force EB-66 and Navy EA-6 radar-jamming aircraft, chaff drops, KC-135 refueling capability, and search and rescue aircraft.
Similar raids continued through the next two days, very few planes were lost and and casualties among North Vietnamese civilians was kept at a minimum. After the third day of air strikes with no word of North Vietnam's willingness to return to the negotiating table Nixon decided to extend the bombing beyond the third day.
The air strikes continued through December 24, when Nixon called for a 36 hour stand-down in observance of the Christmas holiday.
The bombing resumed on December 26, and on the same day North Vietnam indicated its willingness to return to the negotiating table. Nixon said he wanted the negotiations to resume on Jan. 2, North Vietnam agreed and Nixon ordered a halt to the bombing north of the 20th parallel on Dec. 29th. After eleven days of sustained bombing raids there were less than 2,000 civilians killed during Operation Linebacker Two.This is a remarkable statistic considering the fact that during the eleven days of Operation Linebacker Two there were 100,000 bombs dropped on the two cities of Hanoi and Haiphong, making it the most intense bombing attack in world history.
S.Vietnams President Thieu
The talks went on for over two weeks, the main stumbling block was South Vietnams President Nguyen Van Thieu's reservations about the treaty. He wanted a firm commitment by the U. S. that if North Vietnam again invaded their country after American troops were withdrawn , the U. S. would re-enter the war.
Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger's reassurance still didn't satisfy Thieu. Nixon, desperate to end the war before Congress did, finally told President Thieu that he (Nixon) was going to initial the peace accords and strongly advised him to do the same, leaving Thieu with little choice but to sign, which he finally agreed to do. He knew that if the U.S. withdrew completely from Vietnam there would be no way to defeat the armies of North Vietnam.
Signing of the Paris Peace Accords
On January 15 Nixon ordered all offensive action against North Vietnam to cease, and on January 27 the Paris Peace Accords were signed, thereby officially ending the Vietnam War. The United States agreed to withdraw all U.S. troops within sixty days and North Vietnam agree to release all prisoners of war.
American Prisoners Of War
They also agreed to assist in seeing that the remains of the dead be sent back to the States. The agreement stipulated that South Vietnam would be allowed to hold free elections to decide the future of their country.
A somber Richard Nixon announcing the end of the Vietnam War
The cease fire agreement was quickly broken as a series of small battles began, and on April 30th, 1975, Saigon fell, leading to the eventual reunification of Vietnam under communist rule. 1 million people were imprisoned without formal charges or trials, 165,000 people died in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's re-education camps, according to published academic studies in the United States and Europe. Thousands were abused or tortured: their hands and legs shackled in painful positions for months, their skin slashed by bamboo canes studded with thorns, their veins injected with poisonous chemicals, their spirits broken with stories about relatives being killed These factors, coupled with poverty, caused millions of Vietnamese to flee the country. Many fled by boat to avoid persecution by the communist government, they became known as 'boat people.' On the open seas the boat people had to confront the forces of nature, and elude pirates, hundreds of thousands perished. After the fall of Saigon President Thieu spent the rest of his life in exile in Taiwan, England, and the United States, he accused Henry Kissinger of tricking him by making promises he knew the U. S. would never keep.
South Vietamese fleeing Saigon after it fell to the communists.
Before bringing this condensed version of America's longest and most unpopular war to a close I would be very remiss if I didn't make mention of the debt of thanks we owe to the women who served in Vietnam. Significant numbers of women served admirably in all branches of service as professional nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, air traffic controllers, aerial reconnaissance photographers, intelligence and language specialists, legal officers, and in security and administrative positions. There were many women civilians also who filled very important roles in the Vietnam War, among them the 627 Red Cross Recreation Workers who went to the men at fire support bases, landing zones, field hospitals and base camps, the USO, NGO*s (non-governmental organizations).There were many journalists and missionaries who deserve a vote of thanks also for voluntarily putting their lives at risk in Vietnam.
And needless to say a very special THANK YOU to the military doctors who worked unceasingly to try to save the life of every wounded man , woman, or child, who was brought to them in time, whether in the field or in makeshift hospitals. Without them the casualty rate would probably have beern three times as high, maybe even higher than that. I would like to have devoted more time honoring these dedicated men and women, many of whom becams casualties of the war themselves.
April, 2007
With Much Love, Mary Jones
I have made over 325 web pages in the past three years since I have retired and they were all important to me in their own way. But none have had the emotional effect on me that these Vietnam web pages have had, I really put my heart and soul into this project and it took me nearly two months to put it together, literally hundreds of hours, and many's the night I stayed up til 3AM working on it, I really can't explain it except to say I was an impressionable teenager when this war was going on and it hurt me so bad that our troops were being called murderers and baby killers and the way they were treated when they came home. Those feelings have stayed with me to this very day and these pages are my way of letting all the Vietnam veterans who are still living know that there were many of us who never were a part of the crowd that treated you so disgracefully. In closing I just want to say that in my sincere opinion all who served in the Vietnam War , those still living and those who have passed on, are true heroes. And to those who had relatives and friends who were killed in the Vietnam War I know you never got over the heartbreak, those kind of wounds never completely heal, may God bless you all
I am retired because of advanced emphysema and living on a fixed income. I vowed when I started making web pages that I would never charge anyone for subscribing to my mailing list and I intend to keep that vow! However the cost of my medications just keeps going up and it's becoming a financial hardship to keep my website going, which I want to do more than anything. This is not a hobby for me but a full time job, I take my work very seriously. I spend from 8-10 hours a day working on my pages and answering email from people who write me concerning them. So if any of you who visit my various websites are blessed by some of the pages you visit and would like to make a small donation to help in paying for my web space and my internet service provider it would be greatly appreciated. I ask for your help only if you truly would like to and can afford to, any amount will help no matter how small. You can make a totally secure donation through PayPal, just click on the PayPal link below.
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Myth: Most American soldiers were addicted to drugs, guilt-ridden about their role in the war, and deliberately used cruel and inhumane tactics. The facts are: 91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non veterans of the same age group (from a Veterans ---Administration study) Isolated atrocities committed by American soldiers produced torrents of outrage from antiwar critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any attention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. 97% were discharged under honorable conditions; the same percentage of honorable discharges as ten years prior to Vietnam (Westmoreland papers) 85% of Vietnam Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life.(McCaffrey Papers) Myth: Most who served in Vietnam were drafted. Facts: 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed were volunteers. Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 - 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population. Facts: Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group. Myth: A disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War. Facts: 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians,12.5% were black,1.2% were other races.
Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book "All That We Can Be," said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam "and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia - a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war." [All That We Can Be] Myth: The war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated. Fact: Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better. Myth: The average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19. Facts: Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age. Myth: The fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II. Facts: The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.59 million who served. Although the percentage who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled.
There have been so many rumors, myths, and downright intentional falsehoods circulated about the Vietnam War ever since it ended I think it's high time those rumors are laid to rest and I will attempt to do just that, it's time to separate fact from fiction!!
(Westmoreland papers)
(Westmoreland papers)
(McCaffrey Papers)
(CACF and (Westmoreland papers)
(McCaffrey Papers)
(McCaffrey Papers)
These are just a few ACTUAL statistics of the Vietnam war, if you would like to read a far more comprehensive report just go to any good search engine such as Google and type in something like 'Myths about the Vietnam war', or 'statistics on the Vietnam war'
If you'd like to join my mailing list for future pages email me with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and I'll sign you up immediately. However a word of caution is in order. I make my pages with WEB TV instead of a computer and we do not have the bcc feature. (blind carbon copy).I have a computer now and as soon as I learn how to use it I will use the BCC feature. But for now there will be other names on the pages I send out, I put 50 names per mailing. So if that is of concern to you then you probably won't want to sign up for my mailing list. Also the subject matter of my pages is quite varied though the majority of them are either patriotic or inspirational , you might want to consider this before signing up. I also make web pages about things I feel the America people should know but many don't, and these pages could be considered controversial by some So although I would love to have you join my mailing list I think you should know the kinds of pages I make I have a very large mailing list and it's very hard to find the names of people who ask to UNSUBSCRIBE, I will do it but it is difficult and time consuming. SO PLEASE CONSIDER THESE THINGS I HAVE MENTIONED HERE BEFORE YOU ASK TO BE ON MY MAILING LIST. --MARY