Title: Early Days of US Involvement in VN Source:
National Archives and Records Administration URL Source:[None] Published:Apr 20, 2011 Author:Unknown Post Date:2011-04-20 11:12:45 by sneakypete Ping List:*Military or Vets Affairs*Subscribe to *Military or Vets Affairs* Keywords:None Views:53454 Comments:64
Poster Comment:
This is a documentary type thing from the early days in VN about Special Forces involvement in recruiting and training the locals. Notice the guys are still wearing regular fatigues,white name tags,and gold stripes,and they are all still carrying WW-2 weapons. Not real sure of the year,but I was issued a full-auto AR-15 and jungle fatigues when I got to Bragg in 64. Which means this was probably a team that was TDY from the 5th while it was still at Bragg. IIRC,the 5th deployed to VN in 65,and by then they should have all been wearing jungle fatigues.
Gatlin or harrowup sez he was Vietnam when it REALLY started in 1955. Got any video from that year?
He's correct. SEATO was signed about that time and we started stockpiling weaponry in LAOS 1954. Both Eisenhower and LBJ had the USAF specifically target places in Laos, Cambodia an North Viet Nam for nuclear weapons.
Gatlin or harrowup sez he was Vietnam when it REALLY started in 1955. Got any video from that year?
LOL! Good one!
American involvement in VN started during WW-2,when King Franklin sent some OSS officers to VN to serve with Ho Chi Mihn and help them defeat the Japanese. They all left when the war ended in 1945 and VN was turned over to the VN communists in the north,and the French in the south.
There were a few officer observers with the French,but very few. I believe at least one was at Dien Binh Phu when the French surrendered and were taken prisoners.
After the fall of French Indo-China (south VN)in 1954,I am not aware of any US military presence in SVN until 1959. There were some US Military observers in VN in 1959. IIRC,the first combat troops were sent there in 1961. They were SF troops,mostly from Okinawa,but a few were from the 77th and the 5th SFG's at Bragg.
Harrowup claims to have been a Naval Officer,so if he was there in 55 it was either as a part of a Navy port call,or he was assigned to the embassy in Saigon as a Naval Observer. Either way it was in a non-combat role. Back in 55 we and the commies in were picking teams,and since the commies were backing the team from the north,we backed the team from the south. As a result of this a LOT of WW-2 surplus arms,equipment,uniforms,vehicles,and everything else under the sun was given to the SV government,and there had to be some supply/accounting type personnel there to account for everything and make sure it was signed for. After all,we gave them everything from toilet paper to fighter planes,and somebody had to keep track of all that stuff.
