Vietnam War Facts

Australian soldier mans machine gun position in Vietnam. Via Wikimedia CommonsThe Vietnam War is one of the most well known wars to happen after both World War One and World War Two. The Vietnam is also the war that many do not understand because the information given in the media is usually incorrect and full of bias facts.

While the Vietnam War was a resounding defeat for America, it doesn’t mean that the negative facts on the war are true.

Today you are going to find out the real true facts of the Vietnam War. You will find out the real information that proves that the information peddled by the media about this conflict is nothing more than sensationalised propaganda to sell copies of newspapers and magazines.

The Outline of the Vietnam War

Prior to 1949 Vietnam had been a colony of France for some fifty to a hundred years, but with the Second World War and France losing early on to the Germans many of her Colonies turned to become Vichy French. This title meant they turned in support of the Germans.

Early on in the Second World War a group in Vietnam called the Viet Minh was created, a group that wished to gain independence from France and ensure no Japanese or other powers could try and take Vietnam for themselves.

At the end of the Second World War the Viet Minh Leader, Ho Chi Minh stood in front of a crowd and stated the Democratic Republic of Vietnam independent from France. While this speech roused the Vietnamese people, it did not have any effect on the Allied leaders who stated that Vietnam was still French.

NLF Main Force troops, SVN 1968 US Army Via Wikimedia CommonsAs French armed forces were obliterated in the war and the Navy was reduced to mere paddle boats they had no way of controlling Vietnam, this meant another form of security needed to be put in place. The British, French, Americans and Soviets agreed that the north would be protected by Nationalist Chinese forces and the south by the British.

The French eventually came to reclaim Vietnam in 1946; this move saw them oust the Viet Minh from Hanoi, but not the country. This move saw the Viet Minh start their own guerrilla war against the French.

Post World War Two the Cold War started between the Soviet Union and America, Communism also started to grow in the east. By 1950 the coalition of Communist nations under the leadership of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, much to the anger of France.

By 1954 the Viet Minh had forced the French out of Vietnam after a resounding victory at The Battle of Dien Bien Phu, after this Vietnam became split at the 17th parallel under a Geneva Convention directive.

The north started to move into communist circles under Soviet support. This was followed by raids into the south that the south did not have the ability to combat given their weak army. This was the catalyst that started the Vietnam War

Key Vietnam War Facts

A common held belief that many American soldiers were drafted to the Vietnam War against their will is unfounded, only one third of American soldiers were drafted with all others joining voluntarily.

In total over 2.7 million American soldiers served on active duty in the Vietnam War between 1964 and 1975 with 58,220 killed and 75,000 disabled. Over half the American soldiers killed were under 21 years.

The media openly reported that African American soldiers were used as cannon fodder in the war, but death rates in African American soldiers were no higher than that of any other ethnicity. Official reports prove these media reports to be inaccurate.

Media reports also state that suicide rates in Vietnam Veterans is higher than any other group, upon investigation this has also been found not to be the case.

In total over 1.5 million military and civilians from all sides perished in the war with four times more North Vietnamese and communist dying than South Vietnamese and anti-communists.

The war finished in victory to North Vietnam and caused America to withdraw from the Vietnamese theatre and Vietnam being reunified as one nation under North Vietnamese rule.

  1. 2,709,918 American served in uniform in Vietnam.
  2. 85% of returning Vietnam Veterans successfully adapted to civilian life.
    Read More
  3. Drug usage of Vietnam Veterans is the same as as people who are non Vietnam Veterans of the same age group.
  4. 86% of Americans who died in Vietnam were Caucasians 1.2% were other races, 12.5% were black
  5. Because of the Vietnam war south easy Asia did not become a communist hot spot the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of communist conflict because of the Vietnam war.
  6. During world war 2 infantryman in the south pacific saw on average 40 days of combat in 4 years. During the Vietnam war an infantryman saw 240 days of combat in 1 year.
  7. 58,148 Americans were killed during Vietnam, 34,000 were wounded  out of 2.7 million who served.
  8. 75,000 Vietnam Veterans were disabled.
  9. 87% of Americans have a great deal of respect for Vietnam Veterans.
  10. 5 men in Vietnam who were killed were only 16 year of age.
  11. The oldest man killed in Vietnam was 62 years old.
  12. As of January 2004, 1875 Americans are still unaccounted for in Vietnam.
  13. 97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharge, 91% of Vietnam Veterans were they are glad they served.

14 thoughts on “Vietnam War Facts”

  1. Thank You for putting facts of the Vietnam War on the internet. Though, I wish I could understand why my daddy has the problems he has from the Vietnam War.
    I think I would prefer to have cancer. At least ther is a pain killer for that. My daddy and I can’t have a relationship due to his problems, and he refuses to take any medication. Nobody understands the mental pain that I am in. I wish I could understand.

    Reply
    • [quote name=”Lisa”]Thank You for putting facts of the Vietnam War on the internet. Though, I wish I could understand why my daddy has the problems he has from the Vietnam War.
      I think I would prefer to have cancer. At least ther is a pain killer for that. My daddy and I can’t have a relationship due to his problems, and he refuses to take any medication. Nobody understands the mental pain that I am in. I wish I could understand.[/quote]

      Try this website, it is sad what war can do to people.

      [url]http://www.vva.org/benefits/ptsd.htm[/url]

      Reply
  2. thank you for putting the right facts instead of putting the wrong ones.most of these web sights are really stupid. first their talking about the war then they are talking about a fight.next they are talking about fried chicken

    Reply
  3. thank you for putting these facts on here for us to read and actually know what reaally happend. i was doing my essay for english and this helped me out so much! i am glad this is here for us to read and getsome info on our past.

    Reply
  4. Thankyou for this useful information. I will now have useful topics to share with my class for our project. I have one question, when was this article posted?

    Reply
  5. Well these facts were very helpful, but there were 2 different numbers for how many Americans were killed during the war. So I’m confused, were there 58,148 killed or 58,220 Americans killed?

    Reply
  6. I think the most ignored fact of the Vietnam War is the fact that most American soldiers never fired a shot. Although they weren’t involved in combat, they still had issues to deal with. For a first-hand perspective of the life of the support soldier you can check out: Inside the Wire: An Alternative View of the Vietnam War ; an ebook available on Apple iBooks or Barnes & Nobel. The first 20% is available as a free sample.

    Reply

Leave a Comment