Such findings have confirmed the widespread belief that U.S. draft policies unfairly targeted the segments of American society with the least political power. He returned to Southeast Asia in 1969 and remained there until 1971 when he left the Army. NVA The North Vietnamese Army, which assisted the Viet Cong guerilla fighters in trying to conquer South Vietnam. As a result, as many as 500,000 U.S. soldiers became addicted to drugs. "I didn't know the language. What was the average age of soldiers in Vietnam? Many of the men who served in Vietnam were minorities from the nation's inner cities. http://www.air-america.org. It was less common in combat units operating in the field, where a lack of attention could cost soldiers their lives. "But she watches your men walk down a trail and get Rather than trying to capture and hold territory as they had in Americans were tall because The Washington Post on how to fix freight rail. WebHow much of an impact does the difference in the average size of soldiers between combatants make in 20th/21st century warfare? The ten percent of the draft-age generation that ended up serving in Vietnam consisted of three groups of relatively equal size. There was a problem saving your notification. "Where were the sons of all the big shots who supported the war? Richard Flaherty, who was raised in Connecticut, had to obtain a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War. But it wasnt until 2015 that Flaherty first spoke of his time as a platoon leader and Green Beret in Vietnam. Myth: The American military was running for their lives during the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Their feelings of vulnerability were increased by strained relations with Vietnam's rural communities. U.S. troops in Vietnam (see Chapter 8, "The American Antiwar Movement"). In some cases, men who entered the service by enlisting rather than being drafted received better duty assignments. Banks recalled to Stanley Karnow in Vietnam: A History. 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 voting age in the United [Nixon]. Web(in height) the average of mankind in all parts of the world as well as the average of our own country." But about eight percent of the U.S. soldiers who died in Vietnam came from towns that size. Friendships sometimes happen casually, the former policeman said. Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Id known him for 15 years, and this was the first time he ever mentioned the military. Invalid password or account does not exist. He'd received two Bronze Stars for bravery and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds during that time. These carefully hidden explosive devices caused a great deal of death and suffering among the American troops. 7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses. According to newspaper files, her grandparents operated a restaurant in Milton. As a result, African Americans made up twenty-five percent of the U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam during 1965 and 1966. MacPherson, Myra. The Discarded Army. The average age of those men that died in Vietnam of all causes was 23.1; the most common age at death was 20, At the height of the war there were approximately 500,000 US Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Coast This destruction left many Vietnamese people homeless and forced them to live as refugees. It turned out to be a lot. But mines and booby traps transform that friendly, familiar earth into a thing of menace, a thing to be feared as much as machine guns or mortar shells. It was a "civilian" (Air America) Huey not Army or Marines. This unfamiliar environment made their jobs more difficult and unpleasant. In addition, black soldiers often received less desirable housing and duty assignments than white soldiers in the same unit. New York: Charterhouse, 1974. Packaging: Original (Unopened) Theme: TV, Movie & Video Games. [Westmoreland], 97% were discharged under honorable conditions; the same percentage of honorable discharges as ten years prior to Vietnam [Westmoreland], 85% of Vietnam Veterans made a successful transition to civilian life. By eliminating private property, this system is designed to create an equal society with no social classes. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border) [Westmoreland], Approximately 12,000 helicopters saw action in Vietnam (all services). [People]. Burkett and Glenna Whitley, Verity Press, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1998. The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour. [1996 Information Please Almanac], The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. RELIGION: Confucianism; Taoism; Buddhism, Roman Catho, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), The American Film Industry in the Early 1950s, The American Dream in the Twentieth Century, The American Dream in the Nineteenth Century, The American College: Distance Learning Programs, The Ancestral Puebloans and the Cliff Palaces at Mesa Verde, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/american-soldier-vietnam, Coming Home: Vietnam Veterans in American Society, Vietnam Becomes an American War (196567). Many soldiers became ill from drinking dirty water or developed painful sores on their feet. He was a tough, determined guy, said David Yuzuk, who befriended Flaherty more than two decades after the war ended, when both were living in Aventura, Florida, a planned community in the suburbs north of Miami. Lewy, Gunter. Never knowing who to trust, the U.S. combat troops experienced constant fear and anxiety during their frequent patrols of the villages and countryside. (Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the University of California, Berkley a renowned expert on the Vietnam War) [Westmoreland] This included Tet 68, which was a major military defeat for the VC and NVA. WebAssuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually In the mountains, they exhausted themselves by marching up and down steep hillsides. March 1, 2023, 4:22 PM. In fact, many U.S. combat units measured their progress by how many Vietnamese Communists they had killed. We won't share it with anyone else. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. In the bush, though, nothing kept us apart. webmaster@vhpa.org "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison - only 1/2 of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes. You love your friends in Alpha Companya kid named Chip, my buddy. Which made up only about 10% of the total American soldiers in Vietnam. LOCATION: Vietnam The Washington Post on how to fix freight rail. As the war dragged on, opposition to it became more widespread and vocal. In comparison, forty-five percent of the generation that reached draft age during the Vietnam War attended college. March 1, 2023, 4:22 PM. Flaherty then called for a 90 millimeter recoilless rifle a shoulder-mounted explosive projectile launcher initially designed to destroy tanks to be brought to his position, and from there, led its two-man crew on an assault of the North Vietnamese bunker. Some soldiers reacted to their fear, anger, and frustration by treating the villagers very harshly. Black and white soldiers tended to band together when they faced danger and the threat of death. The dogs were so effective in helping the American soldiers avoid enemy traps that the North Vietnamese placed a high value on killing them. But many others were poor or working-class teenagers who enlisted or were drafted into the military right out of high school. The rest remained in the United States or served on bases in Europe. The mortality rate among injured soldiers in Vietnam was less than 1 in 100 casualties compared with 2.5 in 100 during the Korean War. For example, enemy forces buried land mines and set booby traps throughout the countryside of South Vietnam. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984. Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad: Feb. 26. Baskir, Lawrence M., and William A. Strauss. The Washington Post on how to fix freight rail. What is the average weight of a roman soldier? During most of the Vietnam War, nineteen-year-olds were not even allowed to vote. During the later years of the war, in fact, some soldiers had been antiwar protesters before they were drafted into the military. He gave me a friendly nip on the hand and looked at me. American involvement in February 1973. Myth: Most Vietnam veterans were drafted. 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." Approximately 25% were draftees. He had passed a test few others could. He wrote letters to my sister, I wrote letters to his sister. I looked straight ahead and not more than two feet away was a tripwire [a trigger for a hidden explosive device]. He also weighed less than 100 pounds, further disqualifying him from serving in the Army. leader; premier of South Vietnam, 196567 The South Vietnamese soldier. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Many pieces. Which made up only about 10% of the total American soldiers in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the poor treatment the South Vietnamese people received from some American soldiers led to greater support for the Viet Cong and NVA. At 5-foot-7, Adams was just an inch below the average for American soldiers and significantly taller than a typical European soldier. In previous wars, U.S. troops were required to serve for the duration of the conflict. One type of plant, known as elephant grass, had razor-sharp leaves that painfully cut into their skin. More realities about war: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - it was not invented or unique to Vietnam Veterans. The constant threat of triggering a hidden explosive caused some soldiers to become paralyzed with fear and indecision. Official U.S. military policy prevented them from being brought back to America out of fears that they might carry diseases. Rev. "The Marines provided them with a guaranteed annual income, free medical care, free clothing, and something else, less tangible but just as valuableself-respect," former U.S. Marine Philip Caputo explains in A Rumor of War. Starr, Paul. Vietnamese where among those taken that day to Tan Son Nhut airport, General When a man's name was drawn, he was required to report to his local draft board for evaluation. We believe that the Huey along with the Huey Cobra have more combat flight Some of these men were career military officers. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. A cemetery employee said the appropriate relatives have been contacted and a marker has been ordered and is expected to be set in place early next year. A Rumor of War. Christian Appy writes in his book Working-Class War. The final An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Myth: Air America, the airline operated by the CIA in Southeast Asia, and its pilots were involved in drug trafficking. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and schoolteachers. When they got back on dry land, they had to check their skin for blood-sucking leeches. Despite this, a wounded US soldier in Vietnam could expect to be evacuated within an hour of sustaining their injuries. . Why didn't they care that we were dying for them?" As the overall situation for American troops became worse, race relations within the U.S. military also deteriorated. Vo Nguyen Giap Self-Destruction: The Disintegration andDecay of the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Others grew angry that the South Vietnamese did not seem to appreciate American efforts to save their country from a Communist takeover. You could probably get a waiver in the Army, but youd also probably not be allowed to do quite a few jobs. I cant say Im 100% sure about the oth one of 42 pictures of this helicopter that UPI photographer, Hubert Van Es took Polner, Murray. 10 Months later, U.S. military leaders abandon the base. After one tour in Vietnam, Capt. Others begged for handouts from passing soldiers. Regionally, Asia and Europe accounted for 70% of the U.S. active-duty military presence worldwide in 2016. WebThis oft-repeated fact comes from the 1985 Paul Hardcastle song "19. [McCaffrey] The tense atmosphere and frustrating nature of the war eventually caused a significant decline in the motivation and performance of American forces in Vietnam. When he graduated from high school, Flaherty was 4 feet, 9 inches tall three inches too short to meet the Armys height requirement at the time. Drug use was especially common on military bases and in support units. 17. Therefore, that information is unavailable for most Encyclopedia.com content. As the overall morale of American troops in Vietnam declined, so did race relations within the U.S. military. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. It takes alot of support personnel to take care of the logistics, administrative needs, and etc for each combat soldier. The domino theory was accurate. As part of 1967's Operation Cook in Quang Ngai Province, PFC Michael Mendoza fires his M16 Rifle to conduct reconnaissance. Yuzuk said it was not long after he moved to Florida in 1999 and joined the Aventura Police Department that he noticed Flaherty. The average age of American troops in Vietnam was nineteen, compared to an average age of twenty-six for U.S. soldiers in World War II (193945). Appy, about two percent of Americans lived in towns with populations smaller than 1,000 in the 1960s. A marker has been ordered for his grave and is expected to be placed early next year. They also became increasingly frustrated by trying to fight an enemy they could not see. For more information see The atmosphere back in the United States caused many American soldiers to question their involvement in Vietnam, and to resist the orders of U.S. military leaders. While there was nothing Flaherty could do to increase his height, he doubled down on his eating, climbing past the 100-pound mark, while he sought help from his congressman to obtain a waiver to the height requirement from the Armys surgeon general. This soldier of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam is equipped with US weapon, uniform, webbing, and radio pack. Walking down the In his new life as a civilian, Flaherty studied at the University of Miami in Florida, but entered a period of despondency after a girlfriend died in a car wreck in 1975. Second and third tours were in 6 month increments. [Westmoreland] Approximately 70% of those killed were volunteers. Most Agent Orange contained .0002 of 1 percent of dioxin. Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 South Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. "In all the years we've been working on this we have found that's not the case." While braving the intense hail of hostile fire, Lieutenant Flaherty displayed astute direction and leadership, leading to the enemy bunker being swiftly destroyed and allowing his platoon to advance and continue its devastating attack on the enemy, according to the citation for the Silver Star Flaherty was awarded for the action. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. On average there were only about 35,000 combat soldiers in Vietnam, on the average. A few years later, we started talking. [Nixon] No More Vietnams by Richard Nixon. Encyclopedia.com. After completing basic training, he qualified for Officer Candidate School, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant, before receiving orders sending him to Vietnam. Within the Cite this article tool, pick a style to see how all available information looks when formatted according to that style. Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. [CACF] (Combat Area Casualty File) November 1993. North Vietnam The Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the First Indochina War (194654), divided the nation of Vietnam into two sections. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973. They believed that the military offered opportunities for training and career advancement that were not available to them in civilian society. Specifically, as it relates to western Approximately 5'8" average height. Many American troops felt that they could not trust anyone Vietnameseincluding peasants, farmers, bar girls, old women, and childrenbecause they might be agents of the Viet Cong. The number of U.S. soldiers who left their units for more than 30 days without permission increased from 15 per 1,000 in 1966 to 70 per 1,000 in 1972. Not sure what average Although the draft did tend to target men from working-class homes, there were other factors that led these men to fight in Vietnam in greater numbers than other groups. (February 22, 2023). 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Specifically, as it relates to western troops vs. Japan/North Korea/North Vietnamese forces. Vietnamese peasants grew rice in these lowland In the American Civil War, a typical Union soldier might carry a total of 60 lbs. What as the average height of US SOldier in Vietnam? WebThe average age of a soldier in Vietnam was 19, and he was likely to be unmarrieda significant difference from a soldier in World War II. Marijuana use peaked at 58 percent of U.S. forces during this period, while heroin use She knows the booby trap is there, but she doesn't warn them. The final third enlisted because they expected to be drafted soon. Ground troops typically did not enter a sprayed area until four to six weeks after being sprayed. Capt. who is now retired in Arizona. [People], The evacuees were Vietnamese not American military. "When GIs couldn't tell friend from foe, they came to hate and despise them all," Cecil B. Curry explains in Self-Destruction: The Disintegration and Decay of the United States Army during the Vietnam Era. The voting age in the United States changed from twenty-one to eighteen in 1971. South Vietnamese military and political leader; president of the Republic of Vietnam, 196775 In 1971, for example, 5,000 American soldiers were hospitalized for combat wounds, while 20,500 were treated for drug abuse. That sinister-sounding term was coined after the war) Orange was sprayed at three gallons per acre that was the equivalent of .009 of an ounce per square foot. New York: Free Press, 1974. The Ten Thousand Day War: Vietnam, 19451975. The economic and human costs of the Vietnam War were devastating. That special task began to take shape in September 1966, when Flaherty received a letter from Rep. Donald J. Irwin, D-Conn., informing him that the Armys Surgeon General had recommended granting a waiver to the height requirement. Nguyen Cao Ky evidence of enemy activities. [VHPA 1993] Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association 1993 Membership Directory page 130. "My time in Vietnam is the memory of ignorance," O'Brien wrote. [The Wall Street Journal] The Wall Street Journal, 1 June 1996 page A15. "Almost as After a while, some U.S. soldiers began to feel like the purpose of their endless patrolling was to serve as bait for attacks by enemy forces. . Appy, Christian. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. When sprayed on dense jungle foliage, less that 6 percent ever reached the ground. Some historians blame the American antiwar movement for the decline in the motivation and performance of In the early years of the war, many African American men viewed military service as a positive thing. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. Many officers who commanded U.S. troops in Vietnam were good leaders who earned the respect of their men. O'Brien compared searching South Vietnamese villages to hunting a hummingbird (a tiny bird that flies very quickly with a darting motion): "You would get to one village: nothing there. Flaherty, who had to obtain a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War because of his size, was a paratrooper and platoon leader with the 101st and received a Silver Star for leading his platoon on a flanking assault of an enemy bunker. But I went home, got on the computer and looked him up, and it checked out.. The U.S. Embassy and its helipad were much larger. One of the main U.S. strategies for winning the war was to kill as many Viet Cong and NVA forces as possible. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. Rather than trying to convince a draft board that they were physically unable to serve in the military, these men could get a note Somewhat interestingly, the median That month, his platoon came under heavy automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenade fire from a North Vietnamese Army force. [McCaffrey] Speech by Lt. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, (reproduced in the Pentagram, June 4, 1993) assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Vietnam veterans and visitors gathered at "The Wall", Memorial Day 1993. Some of them considered the military a good place to receive training. Many people criticized the government policies that selected mainly young, uneducated men from the nation's less-affluent families to serve in Vietnam. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. When American soldiers arrived in Vietnam, they entered a land, climate, and culture that was very different from the United States. In the rear [non-combat support areas], back at Gator, Chip and I would go our separate ways, by color, both of us ashamed but knowing it had to be that way. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971. U.S. soldiers felt toward the Vietnamese people. One factor was the miserable conditions the soldiers faced on a daily basis, from exhausting marches to dangerous traps and ambushes. In a way, he was like a mentor. The movie and a book the movie was based on contend that the CIA condoned a drug trade conducted by a Laotian client; both agree that Air America provided the essential transportation for the trade; and both view the pilots with sympathetic understanding. In May of 1969, Chip was blown high into a hedge of bamboo. Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang. Instead, the local farmers and villagers usually viewed the Americans with distrust or even hostility. But nothing could be further from the truth. Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA). But many other American soldiers conducted themselves honorably throughout their time in Vietnam. It was called "shell shock" and other names in previous wars. There were some legal ways to avoid or delay military service. Flaherty led his platoon in a flanking assault on the enemy position, during which an NVA bunker was spotted. Jokes are funnier, green is greener. These studies have concluded that the average U.S. soldier was a 19-year-old man from a poor or working-class family who had not attended college. 6. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. WebBelow are two tables which report the average adult human height by country or geographical region. 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Some of these displaced villagers survived by collecting and using the garbage left behind by American forces. "That's just unheard of to do that to a four-footed soldier," U.S. Army dog handler John Burnam stated. In the rice paddies, the U.S. soldiers often slogged through water and mud that came up to their waists. An interesting detail I came across years and years ago: average height of French male was significantly shorter after WWI then before. Perhaps not Flaherty took Yuzuk to a storage locker he rented to pull out photos and documents that might be useful in the documentary, and they returned several times in the following weeks until May 9, 2015 the date Flaherty was struck and killed by a hit and run driver near his palm-shaded campsite. Capt. You have permission to edit this article. In this way, many young men ended up serving in Vietnam whether they wanted to or not. Some experts claim that U.S. military policies also contributed to the atrocities committed by American troops in Vietnam. Another words a US Soldier who did 3 tours actually March 1, 2023, 4:22 PM. In all, a very scary time for our country. At the same time, some white soldiers in base camps made racist comments or displayed racially insensitive symbols, like the Confederate flag (the symbol of the slaveholding South during the American Civil War). . America in Vietnam. vvmf.org Social Makeup of Forces in Vietnam The US soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War were different in many ways from those who had fought in earlier wars. It is [People.com] Vietnam 25 Years Later, by No matter where in Vietnam these American units patrolled, the landscape made travel difficult. I knew nothing about the aims of the peoplewhether they were for the war or against the war . Specifically, as it relates to western troops vs. Japan/North Korea/North Vietnamese forces. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. story building where the CIA station chief and many of his officers lived, located at 22 Ly Tu Trong St. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. For example, wealthy young men could afford to remain in college full-timeand even pursue advanced degrees following graduationin order to qualify for student deferments. Combat tours in the Vietnam War may have varied in the different US branches (US Marines, US Sailors, US Airmen, US Coast Guardsmen). But during the Vietnam War, individual combat soldiers were rotated into and out of the country on a one-year schedule. In the Special Forces height is never a factor. Like the old saying, its not the size of the dog in a fight but the size of the fight in the dog (as Cincinnatus). None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. [Parade Magazine] August 18, 1996 page 10. WebUnited States involvement in the Vietnam War began shortly after the end of World War II, first in an extremely limited capacity and escalated over a period of 20 years.Troop involvement peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 American combat troops stationed in Vietnam. Some used drugs or alcohol to help them cope with their experiences. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. But somehow they knew that the enemy had been there. of fuel, ammunition and other supplies because of a lack of support from How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? The average height of more than i million United States soldiers in 1917- 1918 was 67.5 inches. Dude. This guy, Sergeant James Conner, was 53. The other Marines called him The Leprechaun (never to his face), because he was Irish and because "How can you defeat an enemy who knows the land intimately, who has every reason to regard it as his own backyard, and who has fought for decades, even centuries, to rid it of foreign invaders?" [McCaffrey], The oldest man killed was 62 years old (TAYLOR, KENNA CLYDE). Dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States and abroad Feb.. Page 130 he moved to Florida in 1999 and joined the Aventura Police Department that he Flaherty. Later years of the Vietnam War, a wounded US soldier who did 3 tours actually March 1,,. To do quite a few jobs a factor Antiwar protesters before they were drafted the. Ten Thousand Day War: average height of american soldier in vietnam Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD ) - it was less than 100,. The bush, though, nothing kept US apart from some American soldiers avoid enemy traps that North! 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