VIETNAM WAR
FACTS
For over 30 years I....like many
Vietnam veterans....seldom spoke of Vietnam, except with
other veterans, when training soldiers, and in public speeches.
These past five years I have joined the hundreds of thousands
who believe it is high time the truth be told about the Vietnam
War and the people who served there. It's time the American
people learn that the United States military did not lose the
War, and that a surprisingly high number of people who claim to
have served there, in fact, DID NOT.
As Americans, support the men and women
involved in the War on Terrorism, the mainstream media are once
again working tirelessly to undermine their efforts and force a
psychological loss or stalemate for the United States. We cannot
stand by and let the media do to today's warriors what they did
to us 35 years a go.
Below are some assembled some facts
most readers will find interesting. It isn't a long read, but it
will....I guarantee....teach you some things you did not know
about the Vietnam War and those who served, fought, or died
there. Please share it with those with whom you communicate.
Vietnam War Facts:
Facts, Statistics, Fake Warrior
Numbers, and Myths Dispelled
9,087,000 military personnel served on
active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964
to May 7, 1975.
2,709,918 Americans served in uniform
in Vietnam
Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of
their generation.
240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor
during the Vietnam War
The first man to die in Vietnam was
James Davis, in 1958. He was with the 509th Radio Research
Station. Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.
58,148 were killed in Vietnam
75,000 were severely disabled
23,214 were 100% disabled
5,283 lost limbs
1,081 sustained multiple amputations
Of those killed, 61% were younger than
21
11,465 of those killed were younger
than 20 years old
Of those killed, 17,539 were married
Average age of men killed: 23.1 years
Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16
years old.
The oldest man killed was 62 years old.
As of January 15, 2 004, there are
1,875 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War
97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably
discharged
91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are
glad they served
74% say they would serve again, even
knowing the outcome
Vietnam veterans have a lower
unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.
Vietnam veterans' personal income
exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18
percent.
87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans
in high esteem.
There is no difference in drug usage
between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same
age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study)
Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be
in prison - only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans
have been jailed for crimes.
85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful
transitions to civilian life.
Interesting Census Stats and
"Been There" Wanabees:
1,713,823 of those who served in
Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures).
~ During that same Census count, the
number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country
was: 9,492,958.
~ As of the current Census taken during
August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population
estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly
711,000 between '95 and '00. That's 390 per day.
During this Census count, the number of
Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is:
13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE
Vietnam vets are not.
The Department of Defense Vietnam War
Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally
reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as
having served in-country. Corrections and confirmations to this
errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military
personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally
listed by the Department of Defense. (All names are currently on
file and accessible 24/7/365).
Fact: 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.
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.
Fact: Common belief is that the
war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.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. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated
forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high
school education or better.
Here are statistics from the Combat
Area Casualty File (CACF) as of November 1993. The CACF is the
basis for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
(The Wall): Average age of 58,148
killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years. (Although 58,169 names are in
the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth
date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some
of those who were listed as missing in action)
Deaths Average Age:
Total: |
58,148 |
23.11
years |
Enlisted: |
50,274 |
22.37
years |
Officers: |
6,598 |
28.43
years |
Warrants: |
1,276 |
24.73
years |
E1 : |
525 |
20.34
years |
11B MOS: |
18,465 |
22.55 years |
Fact: The
common belief is the average age of an infantryman fighting in
Vietnam was 19. Assuming 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
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.
Fact: The
domino theory was accurate. 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. The Indonesians threw the Soviets
out in 1966 because of America's commitment in Vietnam. Without
that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the
Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great
strategic importance to the free world. 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. The Vietnam War
was the turning point for Communism.
Fact: The
common belief is that the fighting in Vietnam was not as intense
as in World War II. 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.
Fact: One
out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty.
58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who
served. Although the percent that 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.
MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Over 900,000
patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). The average
time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one
hour. As a result, less than one percent of all Americans
wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. The helicopter
provided unprecedented mobility. 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).
Fact: No
American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that
burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. the little nine year old Vietnamese
girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8
June 1972.....shown a million times on American television. The
planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air
Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of
South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who
dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United
States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture,
was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the
second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese
Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN
(Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the
NVA out of the village. Recent reports in the news media that an
American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc
are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity.
"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. Also, it has been
incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed
in this incident. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers.
Fact: The
American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American
military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a
military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance.
General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike, a professor at the
University of California, Berkley a major military defeat for
the VC and NVA. THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN
VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE DID. Read on........
The fall of Saigon happened 30 April
1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The
last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973.
How could we lose a war we had already
stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace
settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for
release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces,
limitation of both sides' forces inside South Vietnam and a
commitment to peaceful reunification. 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.
There were almost twice as many
casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two
years after the fall of Saigon in 1975 then there were during
the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. Thanks for the
perceived loss and the countless assassinations and torture
visited upon Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to
the American media and their undying
support-by-misrepresentation of the anti-War movement in the
United States.
Fact: There
are a large number of people who believe, based on "live
sighting" reports as well as satellite imagery which appear
to show "evader signals", that North Vietnam and Laos
still hold live American POWs.
Available evidence does support the
belief the North Vietnamese did withhold some American POWs in
1973.
Consider that while it is possible that
the North Vietnamese could have with held Americans as a
possible "bargaining chip" in the event that the U.S.
violated the terms of the Paris Peace Treaty (the U.S. did not,
the North Vietnamese did), what could they possibly have done
with them after 1975? They could not very well announce to the
world what they had done. Even Communists propagandists would
have been hard pressed to explain the sudden appearance of six
hundred-plus Americans who they had repeatedly denied existed.
It is believed that the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao
forces did with hold Americans, but many could have been starved
them to death or murdered outright or have been sent to China or
Russia in order to cover up their deceit.
It defies belief that the North
Vietnamese would risk international condemnation (as weak and
ambivalent as that would have been) by keeping these people
alive in Laos or Vietnam. Since they were listed in most cases
by U.S. Forces as "Missing, presumed killed", all the
North Vietnamese had to do was simply remain silent and send
them away or worse. Then they were "killed in action".
It is a horrible possibility that the
many of the Americans listed as MIA today were intentionally
murdered by North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces soon after
their capture. After Action Reports of SOG teams who made
insertions into Laos indicate that Americans who were taken
prisoner were usually gratuitously tortured and then murdered
soon after their capture by local commanders. Many who were
captured alive were subsequently murdered by VC and NVA forces
in the process of being marched to POW camps in Laos and North
Vietnam. A good example is the case of an American missionary
working at the Leprosarium in Ban Me Thout. Betty Olson was
murdered by her North Vietnamese captors after she became ill
from Dengue Fever. She received no medical treatment from her
captors, and when she became too weak to walk they shot her.
This was apparently routine treatment
by people who Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden refer to as "heroic
freedom fighters". There is also a certain percentage of
Americans downed in Laos who probably successfully evaded
capture only to die of starvation or exposure in the wild
jungles of eastern Laos. If you have never been to the
mountainous Central Highlands area of South Vietnam, which
extend westward into Laos, you have no appreciation as to just
how wild and trackless the area is. It can, and did, hid
divisions of troops. It is not hard to imagine downed pilots and
SOG personnel wandering around in this wilderness unseen by
friend and foe alike.
What is a sham is the North Vietnamese
effort to help locate and return the remains of Americans listed
as MIA. Totalitarian governments such as North Vietnam's record
everything in minute detail. I believe that they have recorded
the location of every single American aircraft lost over land in
Southeast Asia during the war. I also believe that they have
detailed records as to the fates of the crews and passengers
aboard these aircraft.
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