Friday, March 29, 2013

Mar 29, 1973: Last Combat Troops Leave Vietnam

"If military action is worth our troops' blood, it should be worth our treasure, too; not just in the abstract, but in the form of a specific ante by every American." -Andrew Rosenthal 10 Feb. 2013

And the Country ignored us as to PTS, Agent Orange, so many issues as they have others who've serve since then. Desert Storm and Gulf War Syndrome. These present wars, Iraq officially over and the abandoned years back Main Missions for our sending the Military into that region, Afghanistan, winding down. The Burn Pits ailments, DU poisonings, suicides, backlogs at the decades long underfunded Veterans Administration long ignored and no Sacrifice from the Country while these wars have yet to be even paid for, rubber stamping in Congress and rapidly rising deficits had started Before 9/11!!

Back then the Country said in one voice "We will never forget the lessons of!" which were quickly forgotten, including the Military lessons, especially the Countries responsibility to those that serve and are sent. Veterans' of, a tiny fraction of the population who serve, are out of site, mind and conscious talk, even in the media, as to the populations Responsibility to. But us Veterans and the Veterans Administration are very easy for most to blame instead of each individual self and their collective Responsibility as a society, especially by those we hire to represent us and control the purse strings of our treasury and with that our responsibilities!

U.S. Forces Out of Vietnam; Hanoi Frees the Last P.O.W.
Saigon, South Vietnam, March 29 -- The last American troops left South Vietnam today, leaving behind an unfinished war that has deeply scarred this country and the United States.

There was little emotion or joy as they brought to a close almost a decade of American military intervention.

Remaining after the final jet transport lifted off from Tan Son Nhut air base at 5:53 P.M. were about 800 Americans on the truce observation force who will leave tomorrow and Saturday. A contingent of 159 Marine guards and about 50 military attaches also stayed behind.

The fighting men were gone, but United States involvement in South Vietnam was far from ended. read more>>>

March 1973 The last American combat soldiers leave South Vietnam, though military advisors and Marines, who are protecting U.S. installations, remain. For the United States, the war is officially over. Of the more than 3 million Americans who have served in the war, almost 58,000 are dead, and over 1,000 are missing in action. Some 150,000 Americans were seriously wounded.

"We are dealing with veterans, not procedure; with their problems, not ours." General Omar Bradley, First Administrator of the Veterans Administration

Vietnam War - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Military engagements of the Vietnam War

The Vietnam War (Vietnamese: Chiến tranh Việt Nam) was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955[A 1] to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries.[28] The Viet Cong (also known as the National Liberation Front, or NLF), a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist common front directed by the North, largely fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region. The Vietnam People's Army (North Vietnamese Army) engaged in a more conventional war, at times committing large units into battle. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces relied on air superiority and overwhelming firepower to conduct search and destroy operations, involving ground forces, artillery, and airstrikes.

The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. The North Vietnamese government and Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. They viewed the conflict as a colonial war, fought initially against France, backed by the U.S., and later against South Vietnam, which it regarded as a U.S. puppet state.[29] American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina beginning in 1950. U.S. involvement escalated in the early 1960s, with troop levels tripling in 1961 and tripling again in 1962.[30] U.S. combat units were deployed beginning in 1965. Operations spanned international borders, with Laos and Cambodia heavily bombed. American involvement in the war peaked in 1968, at the time of the Tet Offensive. After this, U.S. ground forces were gradually withdrawn as part of a policy known as Vietnamization. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued. read more>>>

Mar 29, 1973: U.S. withdraws from Vietnam
Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. America's direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end. In Saigon, some 7,000 U.S. Department of Defense civilian employees remained behind to aid South Vietnam in conducting what looked to be a fierce and ongoing war with communist North Vietnam. read more>>>

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln


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