Vietnam (RVN) War
Chronology
(This
timeline consists of basic info on the Vietnam War
along
with info pertaining to the 25th Infantry Division
and its MOH, Medal of Honor recipiants)
July 20, 1954 - The Geneva
Conference declares a demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel
1955 - Ngo Dinh Diem
organizes the Republic of Vietnam as an independent nation and declares himself
president
1955 - US president Dwight
D. Eisenhower sends civilian and military advisers to Vietnam to assist South
Vietnamese president Diem
July, 1959 - Two US
military advisers are killed in Vietnam - the first American casualties
1960 - In South Vietnam,
the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) is formed
September, 1961 - Vietcong forces carry out a series of attacks in Kontum province, South Vietnam.
October, 1961 - President John F. Kennedy announces that his principal military adviser, General Maxwell D. Taylor, USA, will go to South Vietnam to investigate the situation.
November, 1961 - As a result of the Taylor mission, President John F. Kennedy declares to increase military aid to South Vietnam, without committing U.S. combat troops.
February 3, 1962 - The "Strategic Hamlet" program begeins in South Vietnam.
February 7, 1962 - The US
military strength in South Vietnam reaches 4,000, with the arrival of two Army avaition units.
February 8, 1962 - The US MAAG is reorginized as The US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), under General Paul D. Harkins, USA.
August, 1962 - First Australian Military Forces (MAF) arrive in South Vietnam.
November, 1963 - South
Vietnamese president Diem and his brother are killed in a military coup led by
Major General Duong Van Minh
November 22, 1962 - President John F. Kennedy is assisanated in Dallas, Texas; Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.
May, 1964 - The US imposes a
trade embargo on North Vietnam
June, 1964 - General William C. Westmoreland, USA, replaces General Harkins as Commander, US MACV.
August, 1964
- A US destroyer is attacked by the North
Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin; US president Lyndon B. Johnson orders
retaliatory attacks; US Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which
gives Johnson the authority to wage war against North Vietnam
March, 1965 - The US
begins a bombing offensive against North Vietnam; the 9th Marine Expeditionary
Brigade reaches South Vietnam
June, 1965 -
Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky takes control of South Vietnam in a second military
coup; the US launches an offensive operation by ground forces into Viet Cong
territory near Saigon
January, 1966 - 3rd Brigade
begins "Operation Blue Light".
2/9th
Field Arty fires 25th Infantry Division's first round in Vietnam War.
2/14th
Infantry departs for Viet
4/25rd
In & 4/9th Inf arrive in Hawaii.
February, 1966 - SP4 D,
Fernandez, Co. C., 1/5th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
HHC Division departs for Vietnam
June, 1966 - Capt. R.
Ray, Co. A 2/35th Inf. earns MOH (Medal Of Honor)
November 1966
- Capt. R. Foley, Co. A, 2/27th Inf earn MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
SGT
J. Baker, Co. A, 2/27th Inf earn MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
Lt.
J. Grant, Co. A, 1/14th Inf earn MOH (Medal Of Honor)
SGT
T. Belcher, Co. C, 1/14th Inf earn MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
January, 1967 - Operation
Sam Houston begins by 4th & 25th Infantry Divisions along the Laos Border.
Operation
Cedar Falls in iron Triangle begins with 25th Inf Div, 173rd Airborne Brigade
& 11th Armored Cav Regt.
February, 1967 - 1SGT M.
Yabes, Co A, 4/9th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
March, 1967 - 1LT S
Karopczyc, Co A, 2/35th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
1LT
R Sargent, Co B 4/9th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of
Honor)
April & May, 1967
- The US attacks North Vietnamese airfields and wages air battles over Hanoi
and Haiphong
SSG
K. Stumpf, Co C 1/35th Inf earns MOH (Medal Of Honor)
April
SGT
C. Fleek, Co. C, 1/27th Inf, earns MOH
(Medal Of Honor) May
September, 1967-
Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president, and Air Marshal
Nguyen Cao Ky vice-president, of South Vietnam.
Operation Junction City, Largest to date in
Vietnam, mounted by 25th Inf Div, 4th Inf Div, 173rd Airborne Bde, 196th
Light Inf Bde and the 11th Armored Cav in Tay Ninh Province.
October, 1967
- Capt. R. Pitts, Co. C, 2/27th Inf. earns
MOH (Medal Of Honor)
January, 1968 - North
Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive, with 70,000 troops attacking over 100
cities and towns in South Vietnam
March, 1968 - The US'
Charlie Company commits the My Lai massacre, in which hundreds of civilians in
the hamlet of My Lai are killed; Lt. William Calley is later convicted of
murder for the massacre; US president Johnson halts bombing in much of North
Vietnam in an attempt to initiate peace talks with the North Vietnamese
SP4
N. Cutinha, Co. C 4/9th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
August, 1968
- SSG. P. Lambers, Co. A, 2/27th Inf, earns
MOH (Medal Of Honor)
SSG M. Young, Co. C, 1/5th Inf earns
MOH (Medal Of Honor)
October, 1968
- I arived in Vietnam!
January, 1969 - 1LT. J
Warren Jr. Co. C, 2/22nd Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
February, 1969 - US president
Richard Nixon authorizes the bombing of North Vietnamese and Viet Cong bases in
Cambodia
CAPT
T Bennett, Co B, 1/14th Inf, earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
SSG
R. Hartstock, 44th Plt, 3rd Bge, earns the MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
March, 1969 - 1LT. S
Doane, Co B, 1/5th Inf earns the MOH (Medal Of Honor)
June, 1969 - Nixon
meets with South Vietnamese president Thieu and announces plans to withdraw
more than 200,000 troops
in an effort to turn the war effort over to the
South Vietnamese.
Fire Support Base Crook encounters ground
attacks and repels enemy NVA
SSG
Hammett Bowen, Co. C 2/14th. earns MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
September, 1969
- Ho Chi Minh, who led North Vietnam in its wars against both
France and the US, dies.
November, 1969
- SHORT....... I am outa this place :-)
January, 1970
- SP4 Peterson, Co B, 4/23rd Inf earns MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
February, 1970
- Lt. R. Steindam, B Trp, 3/4 Cav, earns MOH
(Medal Of Honor)
April, 1970 - The US and
South Vietnamese invade Cambodia in a bid to destroy Communist bases and supply
lines supporting the North Vietnamese
May, 1970 - Four
students are killed in a protest at Kent State University in Ohio
January, 1972 - US president
Nixon announces that 70,000 troops will be pulled out of Vietnam by May
March, 1972 - More
than 20,000 North Vietnamese troops cross the Demilitarized Zone into South
Vietnam
June, 1972 - The
US ceases ground combat in Vietnam, leaving a force of 60,000 American
technicians, advisers and flight crews in the country
December, 1972
- The US launches a 12-day bombing campaign against North
Vietnam
January, 1973 - The US,
North Vietnam, the Viet Cong and South Vietnam sign the Paris Peace Agreement,
which calls for the withdrawal of US forces and the release of American
prisoners of war by April
August, 1973
- US warplanes cease bombing missions, completing the
American pullout from Vietnam
March, 1975 - North
Vietnamese forces deploy 100,000 soldiers into major cities in South Vietnam,
capturing Hue and Danang
April 29, 1975
- South Vietnamese president Thieu resigns; US helicopters
evacuate Americans and South Vietnamese from the US Embassy in Saigon
April 30, 1975 - The mass
evacuation of Americans ends; South Vietnamese leader General Duong Van Minh
announces the surrender of the nation; the Viet Cong flag is raised over the
presidential palace in Saigon
A Few Facts About Vietnam:
· 50,000
American Servicemen served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964.
· 9,087,000
military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era
(Aug.5, 1964-May 7, 1975).
· 3,403,100
(including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the Southeast Asia Theater
(Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews
based in Thailand,
and sailors in adjacent South China sea waters).
· 7,484
American women served in Vietnam. 6,250 were nurses.
· 8
nurses died-1 was killed in action.
· Vietnam
Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.
· 240
men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam era.
· Hostile
deaths: 47,378
· Non-hostile
deaths: 10,800
· Missing
in action: 2,338
· POWs:
766 (114 died in captivity).
· Wounded
in action: 303,704
· Severely
disabled: 75,000--23,214 100% disabled; 5,283 lost limbs; 1,081 sustained
multiple amputations.
· Married
men killed: 17,539
· Men
under the age of 21 killed: 61%
· Average
age of men killed: 22.8 years.
· Highest
political office attained by a Vietnam veteran to date: Vice President Al Gore.
· Most
successful Vietnam veteran/businessman to date: Frederick Smith of Federal
Express.
· 79%
of the men who served in Vietnam had a high school education or better when
they entered the military service.
· The
suicide rate of Vietnam veterans has always been well within the 1.7% norm of
the general population.
· 97%
of Vietnam-era veterans were honorably discharged.
