Vietnam PBS Documentary/ My personal History Flashcards
Episode #1 9/18/17
58,000 Americans
250,000 South Vietnamase
1 - 2 million civilians
VN = Vietnam HCM = Ho Chi Minh
A 30 year war, big mistake ends in tradegy. 1858 - 1961. The French attacked and seized our country middle 19th century. French conquered. Built roads, canals, bridges and roads.
HCM was born in 1890. He requested that Woodral Wilson treaty his nation fairly at the end of WWI. HCM used 70 plus psuedonyms before settling upon his name.
He left for VN in 1911 for 30 years in exile. After readng Lenin’s hatred of colonialism, he became a communist. He started the indo-Chinese communist party.
WWII, Japan conquers VN but allows their French friends to continue governing as normal. HCM hates that the Japanese and French just use VN to exploit all its people and resources. He forms a ragtag army to fight against Japan and French in VN.//During WWII, the United States was secretly looking for allies behind the lines of VN. United States gave them medicine and guns and quickly became the friends of VN.//After the atomic bombs, Japan was about to surrender. [MN: REM Russia declaring war on Japan was the real reason for surrender.]
HCM orders all the VN people to quickly take over their own country before the French have time to gain a foothold.//VN was divided into two zones by the Allied leaders. China would handle the North, British handles the South.//British General thinks VN should all go to the French again. China says no, the result escalates into a civil war. //France flooded VN with troops and mercenaries. Both sides escalated! //Truman give 23 million dollars in aid package to help the French fight the Russians with VN being the Virtual Chessboard.
Suddenly, North Korea attacks South Korea! By 1953, the French have been fighting seven years and lost over 100,000 men. Commands changed all the time looking for a solution. They changed commanders six times!//The United States now was funding hundreds of millions of dollars, 80% of the total cost for the VN war.
Episode #2
All North VN men were conscripted to fight in VN.
Episode #3: “The River Styx”
Jan 1964 - Dec 1965.
Basically S. VN was getting its butt kicked. More and more “American advisors” [actual troops] were helping with helicopters, artillery, Napalm. Then active bombing of North VN by U.S. forces joined in, but the steady stream of supplies still supported the Viet Cong [N. VN].
To protect the aircraft performing the bombings raids, Gen. Westmoreland asked for 3,500 marines. Then they asked for tens of thousands of Americans troops to actively fight in combat because the South VN soldiers were losing the war badly!
LBJ was forced to escalate American involvement because losing would be a national embarrassment to America.
War protest were everywhere in American Universities. Circa 1965.
There was no censorship of press like in WW2. Over 200 reporters were killed in the war. The Marines guarding Da Nang air base quickly discovered they needed a 20 mile perimeter of safety to prevent rockets and mortar fire from attacking them.
The Jungle was so thick it sometimes took four hours to walk a half mile. At the same time, the Viet Cong knew the trails of the area and ran circles around the Marines.
China gave the Viet Cong 320,000 troops to serve behind the lines which freed up tens of thousands of Viet Cong to fight in everyday combat. Russia gave Hanoi rockets, modern weapons and powerful defenses for protection. Hanoi became the most heavily defended city in the World.
McNamara, secretary of defense, told LBJ in 1965 the war is unwinable!
In June, General Westmoreland, who said he could win the war in three years, now sent an urgent cable to Washington aking for 200,000 more troops.
Why didn’t anyone listen to Mcnamara in 1965?
But instead of looking for a compromise from Hanoi, they quickly voted to give Westmoreland the 200,000 troops.
[The remaining parts of the documentary were not that interesting. Basically we kept on losing ground and troops plus tons of money. In the end the country was overrun by the Viet Cong and America pulled out leaving the poor S. VN people to become captured, raped tortured and many times robbed of everything they owned and killed.]
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My Grandparents:
Adolph Nickles B: May 24, 1862 D: July 16, 1937 [75]
Janna Bell Nickles B: Jan 2, 1873 D: Jan 31, 1948 [75]
Amelia Myrtyle Nickles (my dad’s sister)
B: Nov 14, 1905 D: July 1, 1935 [29]
REF: Google search Newspaper St. James, Mo.
Helen M. Nickles B: Oct 12, 1918 D: Jun 28, 1999 [80]
Henry E. Nickles B: Mar 18, 1915 D: Aug 28, 2000 [85]
Vietnam: 2,500 Jet fighters shot down in Vietnam war. Ref: Thud pilots documentary.
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