A slice of Viet Nam history '69 for those who don't know ! A Must Read!

[KoKo]

I highly recommend this site for the total history of the Viet Nam War starting back with the French involvement up until the end of the War.
The site is an easy scrolling read and will help many of you here who want to see it in full and experience it in headlines have some understanding that you won't get anywhere else. This is a wonderful site. Just give it a click and you won't be disappointed.

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index.html
====================================================================


May 1969 - The New York Times breaks the news of the secret bombing of Cambodia. As a result, Nixon orders FBI wiretaps on the telephones of four journalists, along with 13 government officials to determine the source of news leak.
..............

May 10-May 20 - Forty-six men of the 101st Airborne die during a fierce ten-day battle at 'Hamburger Hill' in the A Shau Valley near Hue. 400 others are wounded. After the hill is taken, the troops are then ordered to abandon it by their commander. NVA then move in and take back the hill unopposed.

The costly assault and its confused aftermath provokes a political outcry back in the U.S. that American lives are being wasted in Vietnam. One Senator labels the assault "senseless and irresponsible."

It is the beginning of the end for America in Vietnam as Washington now orders MACV Commander Gen. Creighton Abrams to avoid such encounters in the future. 'Hamburger Hill' is the last major search and destroy mission by U.S. troops during the war. Small unit actions will now be used instead.

A long period of decline in morale and discipline begins among American draftees serving in Vietnam involuntarily. Drug usage becomes rampant as nearly 50 percent experiment with marijuana, opium, or heroin which are easy to obtain on the streets of Saigon. U.S. military hospitals later become deluged with drug related cases as drug abuse causalities far outnumber causalities of war.
..................
May 14, 1969 - During his first TV speech on Vietnam, President Nixon presents a peace plan in which America and North Vietnam would simultaneously pull out of South Vietnam over the next year. The offer is rejected by Hanoi.
...................
June 8, 1969 - President Nixon meets South Vietnam's President Nguyen Van Thieu at Midway Island and informs him U.S. troop levels are going to be sharply reduced. During a press briefing with Thieu, Nixon announces "Vietnamization" of the war and a U.S. troop withdrawal of 25,000 men.
....................
June 27, 1969 - Life magazine displays portrait photos of all 242 Americans killed in Vietnam during the previous week, including the 46 killed at 'Hamburger Hill.' The photos have a stunning impact on Americans nationwide as they view the once smiling young faces of the dead.
....................
July 1969 - President Nixon, through a French emissary, sends a secret letter to Ho Chi Minh urging him to settle the war, while at the same time threatening to resume bombing if peace talks remain stalled as of November 1. In August, Hanoi responds by repeating earlier demands for Viet Cong participation in a coalition government in South Vietnam.
....................
July 8, 1969 - The very first U.S. troop withdrawal occurs as 800 men from the 9th Infantry Division are sent home. The phased troop withdrawal will occur in 14 stages from July 1969 through November 1972.
.....................
July 17, 1969 - Secretary of State William Rogers accuses Hanoi of "lacking humanity" in the treatment of American POWs.

July 25, 1969 - The "Nixon Doctrine" is made public. It advocates U.S. military and economic assistance to nations around the world struggling against Communism, but no more Vietnam-style ground wars involving American troops. The emphasis is thus placed on local military self-sufficiency, backed by U.S. air power and technical assistance to assure security.
......................
July 30, 1969 - President Nixon visits U.S. troops and President Thieu in Vietnam. This is Nixon's only trip to Vietnam during his presidency.
........................
August 4, 1969 - Henry Kissinger conducts his first secret meeting in Paris with representatives from Hanoi.
........................
August 12, 1969 - Viet Cong begin a new offensive attacking 150 targets throughout South Vietnam.
........................
September 2, 1969 - Ho Chi Minh dies of a heart attack at age 79. He is succeeded by Le Duan, who publicly reads the last will of Ho Chi Minh urging the North Vietnamese to fight on "until the last Yankee has gone."
.........................
September 5, 1969 - The U.S. Army brings murder charges against Lt. William Calley concerning the massacre of Vietnamese civilians at My Lai in March of 1968.
.........................
September 16, 1969 - President Nixon orders the withdrawal of 35,000 soldiers from Vietnam and a reduction in draft calls.
.........................
October 1969 - An opinion poll indicates 71 percent of Americans approve of President Nixon's Vietnam policy.
..........................
October 15, 1969 - The 'Moratorium' peace demonstration is held in Washington and several U.S. cities.

Demonstration organizers had received praises from North Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, who stated in a letter to them "...may your fall offensive succeed splendidly," marking the first time Hanoi publicly acknowledged the American anti-war movement. Dong's comments infuriate American conservatives including Vice President Spiro Agnew who lambastes the protesters as Communist "dupes" comprised of "an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals."
...........................
November 3, 1969 - President Nixon delivers a major TV speech asking for support from "the great silent majority of my fellow Americans" for his Vietnam strategy. "...the more divided we are at home, the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris...North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that."
.............................
November 15, 1969 - The 'Mobilization' peace demonstration draws an estimated 250,000 in Washington for the largest anti-war protest in U.S. history.
................................
November 16, 1969 - For the first time, the U.S. Army publicly discusses events surrounding the My Lai massacre.
.................................
December 1, 1969 - The first draft lottery since World War II is held in New York City. Each day of the year is assigned a number. Those with birthdays on days with low numbers will likely be drafted.
.................................
December 15, 1969 - President Nixon orders an additional 50,000 soldiers out of Vietnam.
..................................More.......
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index.html

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Ahh, Koko...

Seems so much like today. :(

[KoKo]

2. Doesn't it? Scrolling through that site is eerie and some folks here

really need to check it out because Viet Nam history is getting re-written.

[Jacobin]

3. Fricking deja vu

I still CANNOT believe these morons did it again. Its the same damn thing all over again, except this time how the hell do we get out?

[Imalittleteapot]

4. Wow. Great site. Thanks.

I will forward the link to friends that weren't born yet, or were too young to remember.

[KoKo]

5. Great! The site is a fascinating timeline and such an easy read for

sound bytes, or is it "eye bytes" that it should appeal to folks who are younger with shorter attentions spans (not dissing anyone) or those who don't have much time to sit down and pour through history books for information.

[G_j]

6. this history is crucial, excellent site

thanks for posting!
It's so very important, especially now.

[Ganja Ninja]

7. To those who are too young to remember Viet Nam..

It may not be as apparent as it is to those of us who can remember it. This war is becoming just what Nam was. A war to save someone's political ass. You can't win a peace if your viewed as an occupier. It's a futile struggle that can only end when we leave. The only question is how many lives and how much money are we going to throw away until reality is finally recognized.

[Eloriel]

12. That is exactly right

And the one (ONLY) GOOD thing we were supposed to have gotten out of it was precisely that valuable lesson.

It makes me so very, very sad. It makes me even sadder that those 58,000+ really did die in vain if we didn't at least learn that lesson.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tibbiit]

9. undecided my ass

tib

[TahitiNut]

10. Here's more ...

January 1, 1969 - Henry Cabot Lodge, former American ambassador to South Vietnam, is nominated by President-elect Nixon to be the senior U.S negotiator at the Paris peace talks.
------------------------
January 4, 1969 - A frightened TahitiNut, former civilian, arrives at Bien Hoa Repo Depot at 6am enroute to USARV HQ at Long Binh Post and views his first Vietnamese woman wearing an ao dai while backlit by the rising sun. (Wow! Now that's something to fight for!)
------------------------
February 23, 1969 - Viet Cong attack 110 targets throughout South Vietnam including Saigon.
------------------------
February 24, 1969 - An augmented battalion of NVA attack the southern perimeter of Long Binh Post and meet stiff resistance from the REMFs and office pogues (including TahitiNut) while, in the air above, Airman First Class John L. Levitow earns the Medal of Honor after his AC-47 gunship ("Puff") is hit by enemy fire.
------------------------
March 17, 1969 - President Nixon authorizes Operation Menu, the secret bombing of Cambodia by B-52s, targeting North Vietnamese supply sanctuaries located along the border of Vietnam.
------------------------
March, 1969 - TahitiNut learns to sleep through bomb drops about 20 miles northwest of Long Binh by B-52s which, unable to dump their loads in Cambodia due to cloud cover and other impediments, get rid of their loads before returning to Guam and other Air Farce bases. These bomb drops shake the ground enough to move bunks up to 12" across the floor.
------------------------
April 9, 1969 - 300 anti-war students at Harvard University seize the administration building, throw out eight deans, then lock themselves in. They are later forcibly ejected.
------------------------
April 9, 1969 - TahitiNut spends 4 weeks on TDY at Fort Shafter in Hawaii, working 12-24 hour shifts isolated in the DSC under armed guard security conditions testing and debugging the (highly classified) USARV Strength Accountability System, which he designed to provide current (rather than 6-months-old) data regarding the number, specific location, assignment, and conditon of American troops in Vietnam.
------------------------
April 30, 1969 - U.S. troop levels peak at 543,400. There have been 33,641 Americans killed by now, a total greater than the Korean War.
------------------------
April 30, 1969 - TahitiNut observes that the reported U.S. troop levels are understated and continued to increase the next month to over 600,000. TahitiNut returns to Vietnam through Ton Son Nhut and Saigon.
------------------------
May 1969 - The New York Times breaks the news of the secret bombing of Cambodia. As a result, Nixon orders FBI wiretaps on the telephones of four journalists, along with 13 government officials to determine the source of news leak.
------------------------
Late May 1969 - The new USARV Strength Accountability System is implemented. According to scuttlebutt, the command structure and Nixon administration is mildly stunned by the numbers.
------------------------
May-July 1969 - A long period of decline in morale and discipline begins among American draftees serving in Vietnam involuntarily. Drug usage becomes rampant as nearly 50 percent experiment with marijuana, opium, or heroin which are easy to obtain on the streets of Saigon. U.S. military hospitals later become deluged with drug related cases as drug abuse causalities far outnumber causalities of war.
The commander of the USARV HQ company reports that drug problems among his troops are low and that "all our guys are alcoholics" (since an Imperial quart of Smirnoff 100-proof vodka only costs $1.25). TahitiNut sips on a vodka gimlet while enjoying the "contact high" from the good pot easily available.
------------------------
July 1969 - President Nixon, through a French emissary, sends a secret letter to Ho Chi Minh urging him to settle the war, while at the same time threatening to resume bombing if peace talks remain stalled as of November 1. In August, Hanoi responds by repeating earlier demands for Viet Cong participation in a coalition government in South Vietnam.
------------------------
July-August 1969 - One side of the USARV HQ Co bulletin board is covered approximately 1.5" deep with "Dear John" letters. TahtitNut stops getting letters from his wife, to whom he was married less than two months before arriving in Vietnam. TahitiNut continues drinking vodka gimlets and thinking about his M16. Sang loi, GI.
------------------------
August 12, 1969 - Viet Cong begin a new offensive attacking 150 targets throughout South Vietnam.
------------------------
August 1969 - Night-time rocket attacks increase in their frequency from once a week to about 3 times a week. Some times they even hit something, like a Warrant Officer hooch (killing one) or MP hooch (killing four). TahitiNut, long since working the night shift from 6pm-6am 6 days each week, is annoyed quite often and frightened constantly despite flak jacket, m16, ammo pouches, steel pot, and other typical desk accessories.
------------------------
(much omitted)
------------------------
November 15, 1969 - The 'Mobilization' peace demonstration draws an estimated 250,000 in Washington for the largest anti-war protest in U.S. history.
------------------------
November 15, 1969 - TahitiNut, returning through a 'spitting' SFO to an empty DTW airport, arrives by taxi at wife's apartment after 2am. (She's staying overnight with her lover.) Sang loi, GI.
:shrug:

[KoKo]

13. Tahiti, your post brings the memory into even more personal focus for us.

And when the Iraq Timeline appears as "History" sadly a new group of former soldiers will be placing their names into the events with their personal experience embedded.

I didn't think the country would go through this again in my memory. :-(

Thanks for your post.

[TahitiNut]

20. Yeah... sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump.

So much of my life was "right there" when history was being made. :shrug:

[KoKo]

24. I think folks are missing it on this thread. It's YOUR life Story!

You worked through this all pretty good Tahiti, or at least from what I've seen here on DU...in private it may be another story, but it's good to know that we can appear sane on DU and maybe something else outside?

Would that all of us could remain sane in any fashion after the trauma from Viet Nam. And, I wasn't there...just lived through the "Hell" on the outside. Resiliance of the young and adventuresome.....or just that somehow you got through it, but wouldn't want to do it again....

And, the crap we're going through today, is pretty awful and will leave it's own scars....on all of us.....everywhere...I think....

[Jackpine Radical]

27. I went and scanned over the period from July '67 to July '68,

when I was in the 1st Cav. It was quite a flashback experience.

[General Discontent]

38. Incredible story

Thanks for sharing it. Hats off to you, Tahiti Nut....


DWolfman

[DrWeird]

11. Didn't that secret bombing of Cambodia...

directly result in B-52s carpet bombing thousands of civilians and indirectly result in the Khmer Rouge slaughtering some 2 millions civilians?

I think Nixon touted it as the perfect example of "Nixon policy."

[KoKo]

19. Kick

:kick:

[marie123]

14. what was going on in 66

when kerry enlisted?

If the draft didnt start until 69 why did bush join in 68?

[KoKo]

15. That was the Jungle War Period. Here's the link to take you right to it:

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html

[marie123]

16. thanks

I do see similarities. Scary!

[KoKo]

17. Here's a snip just through March of 1968. It was a tumultuous year:

1968


March 14, 1968 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy offers President Johnson a confidential political proposition. Kennedy will agree to stay out of the presidential race if Johnson will renounce his earlier Vietnam strategy and appoint a committee, including Kennedy, to chart a new course in Vietnam. Johnson spurns the offer.

March 16, 1968 - Robert F. Kennedy announces his candidacy for the presidency. Polls indicate Kennedy is now more popular than the President.

During his campaign, Kennedy addresses the issue of his participation in forming President John F. Kennedy's Vietnam policy by stating, "past error is no excuse for its own perpetuation."

March 16, 1968 - Over 300 Vietnamese civilians are slaughtered in My Lai hamlet by members of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry U.S. Army, while participating in an airborne assault against suspected Viet Cong encampments in Quang Ngai Province. Upon entering My Lai and finding no Viet Cong, the Americans begin killing every civilian in sight, interrupted only by helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson who lands and begins

The rest of that year is here........

http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/vietnam/index-1965.html

[BrotherBuzz]

18. Draft was going strong in '68

It was the lottery that was started in '69.

[bobbieinok]

22. there was a draft from the beginning - 64

You were exempt from being drafted if you were a full-time student in good standing.

I was a foreign language instructor at the U of FL 65-66. One student failing the course told me that if I 'gave' him an F, I would be sending him to VN.

Educational deferments were dropped in the fall of 68. My husband working on a Ph.D in physics, began an intensive discussion with the Am Assoc of Physicists to see if there would be some way he could finish his degree. All engineering and scientific professional societies were inundated with calls from grad students all over the country asking the same type of questions.

He was called up for a pre-induction physical twice, but for some reason ('the grace of God,' his mother's prayers, ...) he was not inducted.

He was 26 in May 68 - and was no longer eligible for the draft.

[BrotherBuzz]

23. Deferments were abolished in '71

Deferments were abolished for 1971 college freshmen, although upperclassmen retained draft deferments. Deferments were good for only four years so your husbands deferment proably expired.

I know this to be true because I was drafted in 1972 while attending college! I entered college in 1970 when I was 17 and registered with draft when I turned 18. I waited to sign up for my four year deferment the following year to extend my protection another 12 months (19 year olds got drafted). The law changed during that period, and I got stung! A two year no cut contract!

[bobbieinok]

25. Well, he had a deferment until fall 67

and he and many other grad students knew they might be drafted.

He did not have a deferment after some point in fall 67, and we all freaked.

He was called twice to pre-induction physicals.

(mistake in my previous post - educational deferments dropped in the fall of 67 - husband became 26 in May 68 and was no longer eligible for the draft)

It might be that there were different rules for undergrads and grads.

In the fall of 67, the deans of a great many grad schools at prominent univs testified before congress protesting the dropping of grad school deferments.

Their main argument...

....grad schools would be left with 'the lame, the halt, the crippled.......and (horrors of horrors) WOMEN!!!'

My sister women grad students and I really appreciated hearing how we ranked.

[BrotherBuzz]

26. Hmmm, we're both right

July 2 1967 Congress passes Selective Service Act reform: ends grad student deferments & puts them in a pool to be drafted in June 68

[KoKo]

28. Kick.

:kick:

[kenny blankenship]

33. bush left yale in 68

making him eligible. Plus at the begining of '68, the Tet offensive demonstrated to everyone, just how out of control the situation was in VN. Prior to Tet, most Americans were lulled by Pentagon and WHitehouse assurances that we were winning the war. Whether Tet was a military failure or not is somewhat beside the point -- it was a pubic relations turning point that convinced many Americans, who had given the benefit of the doubt to Johnson and Westmoreland, that we were in over our heads and that the road to a victory if possible at all and the war's end was way steeper and longer than had been promised. Manpower needs had been increasing and increasing, and then Tet came along and showed that close to a half a million US troops were still not enough to knock the fight out of the enemy.
An interested onlooker like Bush would conclude that the Army would soon be drawing in much more than just replacements. And I think they did up their VN deployment after Tet by about 100,000 people.

[fleetus]

21. Thanks, I bookmarked the link. (n/t)

[RedEarth]

29. Outstanding site.....brings back many memories.......nt

[KoKo]

30. Kick

:kick

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[Jack from Charlotte]

32. Bobbieinok, I was also at UF.........

from '68 through '74. I remember the night they did the first lottery. Was a soph living in Hume Hall. Only lottery I ever "won." was something like #89. As soon as my student deferment was done.... ....out of here, dear. Back then if you were...."out of phase," the University turned your name in to the draft board and you were gone. The University had an office in the basement of the administration building that did nothing but deal with draft board reporting. "Out of phase" meant you had not completed the correct number of hours to graduate in 4 years. That was 16 quarter hours at the University of Florida at the time. I dropped a course after my soph year and had to make it up in the summer or....... gone. Summer school attendance soared... with mostly all men, back then. I got back "in phase" that summer and still got a draft notice the following Fall. My mother called from Miami and told me I was supposed to report for a physical in Coral Gables in a few weeks. The school didn't notify my draft board that since I attended summer school I was back in phase. And that was their policy they said. "When you're out of phase we notify them, when you get back in phase it's your job to notify them. Was I crabby about that.

Sometime when I've got more time, I'll tell you all the ways guys did things to get out of the draft from about '69 through '73. I was the guy in my frat that took guys to the bus station at 5AM that transported them to their draft physicals in Jacksonville. No one would go unless I drove them. The reason was.... the streak. I took something like 12 guys to the bus station for their draft physicals and not one of them passed.........

When I was called for my physical in May of '72 in Coral Gables, I'd just had knee surgery...... and was rejected. I still had a hip cast (Jones Bandage) on my leg. 1st thing they did was ask if anyone had doctors records, which I did..... I was the only one in my group....... and the rest of my group were all black guys and they were all 18 years old. I was 22. I've often wondered how many of those kids went to VN.

[Moderator]

34. KoKo01

Per DU copyright rules please
post only four paragraphs from
the news source.


Thank you


DU Moderator

[KoKo]

35. Mods, I thought it was okay because it's from a history site and not a

current copyright news info site. I didn't see anything on the site which said you couldn't use it. I will go back and check it. I can't edit the post now because it's past the time. :shrug: what do I do?

[KoKo]

36. Kick!

:kick:

[Beam Me Up]

37. Berkeley in the Sixties

Kicking this and recommending the documentary "Berkeley in the Sixties" especially to those who were born after the Viet Nam war. You can rent it from netflix. Gives a feel for the youth/student movement of the times.

BMU

[KoKo]

39. One last kick. Since Viet Nam is all over the Pundit shows, this a.m.

:kick:

[KoKo]

40. Kick this "dustball" for those who are still posting about Viet Nam!

Tweety is talking about "Nam and Grunts." Like he was really there.....yeah......whoo hoo....Matthews was at "Hamburger Hill!"

Along with Bob Dornan....his favorite person....:D

[Lisa]

41. the 1969 draft lottery -- wasn't it later shown to be "nonrandom"?

Later used as a classic example of randomization failure, in stats courses ...


http://wetzel.psych.rhodes.edu/random/draftlottery.html



Find out if you would have been drafted (type in birthdate):

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/the.draft/