AP US History: The Vietnam War – Unit s 13 and 14
The Vietnam War: Timeline
“Preliminary” Events
1930: Indochinese Communist Party, opposed to French rule, organized by Ho Chi Minh.
1932: Bao Dai returns from France to reign as emperor of Vietnam under the French.
September, 1940: Japanese troops occupy Indochina, but allow the French to continue their colonial administration of
the area. Japan's move into southern part of Vietnam in July 1941 sparks an oil boycott by the U.S. and Great Britain.
The resulting oil shortage strengthens Japan's desire to risk war against the U.S. and Britain.
1945: An OSS (Office of Strategic Services, forerunner of the CIA) team parachutes into Ho Chi Minh's jungle camp in
northern Vietnam and saves Ho Chi Minh, who is ill with malaria and other tropical diseases, from the Japanese.
August, 1945: Japan surrenders. Ho Chi Minh establishes the Viet Minh, a guerilla army. Bao Dai abdicates after a
general uprising led by the Viet Minh.
September 2, 1945: Ho Chi Minh reads Vietnam's Declaration of Independence to end 80 years of colonialism under
French rule and establish the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi. Vietnam is divided north and south.
November, 1946: Ho Chi Minh attempts to negotiate the end of colonial rule with the French without success. The
French army shells Haiphong harbor in November, killing over 6,000 Vietnamese civilians, and, by December, open war
between France and the Viet Minh begins.
1950: The U.S., recognizing Boa Dai's regime as legitimate, begins to subsidize the French in Vietnam. In China, with
the Chinese Communists having won their civil war in 1949, begin to supply weapons to the Viet Minh.
August 3, 1950: A U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) of 35 men arrives in Saigon. By the end of the
year, the U.S. is bearing half of the cost of France's war effort in Vietnam.
December 23, 1950: United States signs a Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement with Vietnam.
April 1954: President Eisenhower tells the American press that it is necessary for the U.S. to aid in the resistance to
Communism in Indochina, saying it is like if you “have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what
will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.”
May 7, 1954: French are defeated at Dien Bien Phu. France is forced to withdraw, ending the French-Indochina War.
June, 1954: Bao Dai selects Ngo Dinh Diem as prime minister of his government.
July 20, 1954: The Geneva Conference on Indochina declares a demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel with the North
under Communist rule and the South under the leadership of Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem.
October 24, 1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges support to Diem's government and military forces.
1955: U.S.-backed Ngo Dinh Diem organizes the Republic of Vietnam as an independent nation; declares himself
president.
1956: Fighting begins between the North and the South.
July 8, 1959: First American deaths in Vietnam occur when Viet Cong attack Bien Hoa: two U.S. advisers are killed.
There are some 760 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam by the end of 1959.
1960: The National Liberation Front (NLF) -- called the Viet Cong -- is founded in South Vietnam.
February, 1961: The U.S. military buildup in Vietnam begins with combat advisors. By year’s end, there are 3,205 U.S.
military personnel in Vietnam.
May, 1962: President Kennedy sends 5,000 marines and 50 jets to Thailand to counter Communist expansion in Laos.
Number of American advisors in Vietnam is increased to 12,000.
January 1962: Army of the Republic of South Vietnam suffers major defeat against a smaller Vietcong force at the
Battle of Ap Bac.
June 16, 1963: Anti-government demonstrations by Buddhist monks provoke violent reprisal. In protest, a Buddhist
monk immolates (committing suicide by setting yourself on fire) himself in Saigon. Buddhist protests and immolations
continue through August.
November 1, 1963: South Vietnamese General Duong Van Minh leads a coup. President Ngo Dinh Diem is
assassinated.
November 22, 1963: President John F. Kennedy assassinated. Vice-president Lyndon Johnson becomes President.
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December, 1963: By the end of the year, President Johnson has increased American military personnel to 16,300.
January 30, 1964: South Vietnam General Nguyen Khanh seizes power, retaining Minh as a figurehead leader.
May 4, 1964: Trade embargo imposed on North Vietnam in response to attacks from the North on South Vietnam.
June 20, 1964: General William Westmoreland succeeds General Paul Harkins as head of the U.S. forces in Vietnam.
Remainder of 1964
August 2 and 4: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident. On August 2, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attack the U.S.
destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin as it conducts electronic surveillance. On August 4, a second attack allegedly
occurs on the Maddox and the Turner Joy. There is doubt today that this second “attack” ever occurred. .
August 5: U.S. planes bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for these attacks.
August 5: President Lyndon Johnson asks Congress for a resolution against North Vietnam following the Gulf of
Tonkin incident.
August 7: Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allows the president to take any necessary measures
to repel further attacks and to provide military assistance to any South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) member.
August 26: Lyndon Johnson nominated at the Democratic National Convention; chooses Hubert Humphrey as his
running mate. Pledging before the election to “seek no wider war,” Johnson defeats Republican Barry Goldwater in a
landslide election.
October 30: Vietcong attack U.S. airbase at Bien Hoa.
December 31: Number of American advisers in Vietnam rises to 23,300.
1965
February 7: Following a Vietcong attack on a U.S. base at Pleiku, President Johnson orders air raids against North
Vietnam in retaliation.
February 24: U.S. begins Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained bombing of North Vietnam.
March 8-9: The first American combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
April 6: President Johnson authorizes the use of U.S. ground combat troops for offensive operations.
April 7: President Johnson calls for talks with Hanoi to end the war. North Vietnam rejects the offer.
April 17: Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) sponsor the first major anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.
June 11: Air Vice-Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky takes control of South Vietnams government, naming himself prime
minister.
October 15-16: Anti-war protests are held in about 40 American cities.
November 14-16: In the first major military engagement between U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, U.S. is victorious
in the Ia Drang Valley.
December 25: President Johnson suspends bombing in an attempt to get the North to negotiate. American troop
strength is nearly 200,000. Combat losses total 636 Americans killed. At home, draft quotas are doubled.
1966
January 31: U.S. resumes bombing of North Vietnam after “peace offensive” fails.
June 29: American planes bomb oil depots near Haiphong and Hanoi in response to North Vietnamese infiltration into
the South to aid the Vietcong.
September 23: U.S. military announces it is using chemical defoliants, Agent Orange, among them, to destroy the
Vietcong’s cover in the jungle. Agent Orange has since been linked to health problems in veterans and their children.
October 25: In a conference call between Johnson and heads of six allied nations in Vietnam (Australia, the Philippines,
Thailand, New Zealand, South Korea, and South Vietnam) issue a peace plan calling for the end of North Vietnamese
aggression.
December 31: U.S. troop strength nearly 400,000 men. Combat losses for the year are 5,008 killed and 30,093
wounded (totals since 1961 are 6,664 killed and 37, 738 wounded).
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1967
January 8: Thirty thousand American and South Vietnamese troops begin Operation Cedar Falls, an offensive against
enemy positions in the “Iron Triangle,” twenty miles north of Saigon.
January 28: North Vietnam announces the U.S. bombing must stop before there can be peace talks.
September: Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam. Major communist offensive begins.
Oct. 21-23: 50,000 people demonstrate against the war in Washington, D.C.
December 8: 585 war protestors arrested in New York City, including Dr. Benjamin Spock.
December 31: U.S. combat strength in Vietnam close to 500,000 men. American combat losses for the year are 9,378
killed and 56,013 wounded.
1968
January 21: Battle at Khe Sanh, a strategic hamlet, begins, ending six months later. Seeking to avoid another Dien Bien
Phu, sends large numbers of reinforcements and successfully defends the encampment.
January 23: Pueblo incident. U.S. electronic surveillance ship U.S.S. Pueblo captured by North Korea.
January 31: The Tet Offensive. Communist forces launch attacks on Hue´ and 31 other South Vietnamese provincial
capitals and military bases. One assault team gets inside the walls of the U.S. embassy in Saigon but is driven back.
February 29: Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns after concluding the U.S. cannot win the war.
March 12: Senator Eugene McCarthy, an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, almost defeats Johnson in the New
Hampshire Democratic Primary.
March 16: My Lai massacre. At least 150 (probably more) unarmed Vietnamese civilians are killed by U.S. troops.
Thirteen officers and enlisted men are charged with war crimes. Only Army Lt. William L. Calley Jr. is convicted. He
is sentenced to life imprisonment. In response to public sentiment that Calley was being used as a scapegoat, President
Nixon reduces the sentence. Calley is later paroled.
March 16: Following McCarthy’s near upset of Johnson, Senator Robert F. Kennedy announces he will seek the
Democratic nomination for president.
March 22: President Johnson names General William Westmoreland as Army Chief of Staff. He is replaced in Vietnam
by General Creighton W. Abrams.
March 31: Addressing the nation on television, President Johnson announces a partial bombing halt, offers peace talks,
and stuns the nation by announcing he will not run for a second term of his own.
April 4: Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 23: Members of the SDS seize five buildings at New York’s Columbia University in protest of the war.
May 10: Paris peace talks begin between U. S. and North Vietnamese officials.
May 10-20: Battle for Hamburger Hill
June 6: Following his victory in the California primary, Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.
June 14: Dr. Benjamin Spock is convicted of conspiracy to aid draft evasion. Conviction is later overturned.
August 5: Meeting in Miami, Republican Party nominates Richard M. Nixon for president.
August 26: Democratic National Convention opens in Chicago. In the midst of antiwar protests and violent police
response, Vice-president Hubert Humphrey is nominated for president.
November 6: In one of the closest presidential elections, Nixon defeats Hubert Humphrey, with third-party candidate
George Wallace receiving more than 9 million votes.
December: American troop strength in Vietnam is 540,000. American combat losses for the year are 14,595 killed and
87, 388 wounded.
1969
January: Paris peace talks are expanded to include South Vietnam and the Vietcong.
March 18: Seeking to stop troop and supply infiltration, President Nixon orders the secret bombing of
Cambodia.
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June 8: Nixon announces the withdrawal of 25,000 U.S. forces from South Vietnam, the first step in his
“Vietnamization” plan to turn the war over to the South Vietnamese.
September 3: Ho Chi Minh, leader of the North since the 1950’s, dies at age 77
October 15: The “Moratorium”, first of many large, nationwide protests against the war.
November 3: Attempting to defuse war protests, Nixon makes his “silent majority” speech, claiming large numbers of
Americans support his efforts to end the war.
November 15: A second “Moratorium” occurs as 250,000 people demonstrate against the war in Washington, D.C.
November 16: The 1968 My Lai massacre is revealed, further stirring antiwar feelings.
December 1: The first draft lottery since 1942 begins in an effort to reduce criticism of the draft as being unfair.
American combat losses for the year are 9, 424 killed and 55,390 wounded.
1970
February 18: Following a long, theatrical trial, the “Chicago Seven” are acquitted on charges of conspiracy to incite a
riot in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention.
February 20: National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger begins secret Paris negotiations with the North.
March 10: Captain Ernest Medina charged with murder for the murders at My Lai. Events leading up the My Lai
Courts-Martial begin, ending with the conviction of Lieutenant William Calley on March 29, 1970.
April 20: Nixon promises to withdraw another 150,000 men from Vietnam by year’s end. The withdrawals are
decreasing American casualties.
April 30: The armies of the U.S. and South Vietnam invade Cambodia to roust North Vietnamese troops. The invasion
sparks campus protests across the U.S.
May 4: During antiwar protests, four students are killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in Ohio. The
killings sparked hundreds of protest activities across college campuses in the United States. Some protesters, like those
at Jackson State College in Mississippi, where two students were killed, were met with violence.
May 6: More than 100 colleges are closed due to student riots over the invasion of Cambodia.
October 7: President Nixon proposes a “standstill cease fire” in Vietnam.
December: U.S. troop strength in Vietnam falls to 280,000. American combat losses for the year are 4,221 killed and
24,835 wounded.
1971
February 8: South Vietnam and the U.S. invade Laos in an attempt to sever the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
June 13: The New York Times begins publication of the “Pentagon Papers,” the top-secret history of American
involvement in Vietnam, which has been turned over to them by Pentagon employee Daniel Ellsberg. President Nixon
tries to stop the publication, but on June 30 the Supreme Court rules that the newspapers have the right to publish them.
Nixon orders a group called the “plumbers” (because they were supposed to stop “leaks”) to secretly investigate
Ellsberg. The “plumbers” are used later to break-in to the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate
Office Building in Washington, D.C.
November 12: President Nixon announces the withdrawal of 45,000 more men. U.S. troop strength now at 139,000.
American combat losses for the year are 1,380 killed and 18,109 wounded.
1972
January 13: President Nixon announces the withdrawal of an additional 70,000 troops.
January 25: President Nixon reveals that Henry Kissinger has been in secret negotiations with North Vietnam.
March 30: North Vietnam launches a massive offensive across the Demilitarized Zone into the South.
April 15: Nixon orders a resumption of the bombing of North Vietnam, which had been suspended 3 years earlier.
May 8: President Nixon announces the mining of Haiphong harbor and stepped-up bombing raids against the North.
June 17: Five men arrested at the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Office Building.
November 7: Nixon is reelected in a landslide victory over Democratic Senator George McGovern, an outspoken critic
of the war.
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December 18: Bombing of Hanoi and North Vietnam resumes.
December 24: Bob Hope gives his last show to U.S. servicemen in Saigon. It was his 9th consecutive Christmas show
in Vietnam. President Nixon suspends Operation Linebacker II for 36 hours to mark the Christmas holiday.
December 28: North Vietnam announces they will return to Paris if Nixon ends the bombing. The bombing campaign
is halted and the negotiators agree to meet during the first week of January, 1973. American combat losses for the year
are 300 killed and 3,936 wounded.
1973
January 23: United States, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam sign Paris Peace Accords, ending American combat role
in war. U.S. military draft ends. During the Vietnam War, 2.2 million American men were drafted. A cease-fire goes
into effect 5 days later.
March 29: Last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam. (See Table at end for complete casualty report.)
February 12-27: POWs begin to come home as part of Operation Homecoming
April 1: Hanoi releases last 591 acknowledged American POWs.
April 30: Nixon aides Haldeman, Ehrichman, and Dean resign amid charges that the White House has obstructed justice
in the Watergate investigation.
June 25: Former Nixon aide John Dean accuses Nixon of authorizing a cover-up. Another White House aide reveals the
existence of a secret taping system within the Oval Office.
August 14: U.S. officially halts bombing of Cambodia.
October 10: Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigns after pleading “no contest” to charges of income tax evasion while he
was governor of Maryland. Under the 25th Amendment, President Nixon nominates House minority leader Gerald Ford
to be Vive President.
November 7: Over President Nixon’s veto, Congress passes the War Powers Act, which restricts the President’s power
to commit troops to foreign countries without congressional approval.
Aftermath to the Vietnam War
January, 1974: South Vietnam President Thieu announces that war has begun again. Communists building up troops
and supplies in the South.
August 9, 1974: Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States. Gerald Ford sworn in as President.
September 8, 1974: President Ford pardons Nixon for all crimes he “committed or may have committed.”
September 16, 1974: President Ford offers clemency to draft evaders and military deserters. The program offered
partial relief for war resisters. This clemency program was considered a complement to Ford’s pardon of President
Nixon. The program covered: convicted draft violators, convicted military deserters and AWOLs, draft violators who
had never been tried, and veterans with less than honorable discharges for absence offenses.
April 21, 1975: South Vietnamese President Thieu resigns.
April 29-30, 1975: Saigon falls. U.S. Navy evacuates U.S. personnel and South Vietnamese refugees. The last
American combat death in Vietnam occurs. South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh surrenders.
April 30, 1975: North Vietnamese forces take over Saigon; South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam, ending the war
and reunifying the country under communist control, forming the Independent Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Washington extends an embargo to all of Vietnam.
January 21, 1976: President Jimmy Carter unconditionally pardons most of the 10,000 men who evaded the draft
December, 1978: Vietnam invades Cambodia and topples Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge government, ending its reign of
terror.
1979: Western European countries and non-communist Asian nations support U.S.-led embargo against Vietnam, in
protest against invasion of Cambodia.
February, 1982: Vietnam agrees to talks on American MIAs.
November 11, 1982: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, "The Wall," is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
September/October, 1988: United States and Vietnam conduct first joint field investigations on MIAs.
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September 1989: Vietnam completes Cambodia withdrawal.
April 21, 1991: United States and Vietnam agree to establish U.S. office in Hanoi to help determine MIAs' fate.
Washington presents Hanoi with a roadmap for phased normalization of relations and the lifting of the embargo.
October, 1991: Vietnam supports U.N. peace plan for Cambodia. Secretary of State James Baker says Washington is
ready to take steps towards normalizing relations with Hanoi. Washington presents Hanoi with ''roadmap'' plan for
phased normalization of relations and lifting of U.S. embargo.
December, 1991: Washington lifts ban on organized U.S. travel to Vietnam.
April 29, 1992: Washington eases trade embargo by allowing commercial sales to Vietnam that meet basic human
needs, lifts restrictions on projects by American non-governmental and non-profit groups, and allows establishment of
telecommunications links with Vietnam.
October, 1992: Retired General John Vessey, U.S. presidential envoy on MIA issue, makes sixth trip to Hanoi, obtains
Vietnamese agreement on wider MIA cooperation, which Washington describes as a breakthrough.
December 14, 1992: President George Bush grants permission for U.S. companies to open offices, sign contracts and do
feasibility studies in Vietnam.
July 2, 1993: President Bill Clinton ends U.S. opposition to settlement of Vietnam's $140 million arrears to the
International Monetary Fund, clearing the way for the resumption of international lending to Vietnam.
September 13, 1993: President Clinton eases economic sanctions against Vietnam to allow American firms to bid on
development projects financed by international banks, another step toward normalization.
January 16, 1994: Admiral Charles Larson, head of U.S. Pacific Command, visits Vietnam, the highest-ranking activeduty U.S. military officer to do so since the war's end. He concludes that lifting the trade embargo would help efforts to
account for Americans missing from the war.
January 27, 1994: Backed by broad bipartisan support, the Senate approves non-binding resolution urging President
Clinton to lift embargo, a move they felt would help get a full account of Americans still listed as missing in the
Vietnam War.
February 3, 1994: President Clinton announces the lifting of the trade embargo.
October 5, 1994: House passes bill saying MIA accounting should remain central to U.S. policy in Vietnam and the
main function of a U.S. liaison office in Vietnam.
January 27, 1995: U.S. and Vietnam sign agreements settling old property claims and establishing liaison offices in
each other's capitals.
April 4, 1995: The Hanoi government reveals that the true civilian casualties of the Vietnam War were 2,000,000 in the
North, and 2,000,000 in the South. Military casualties were 1.1 million killed and 600,000 wounded in 21 years of war.
These figures were deliberately falsified during the war by the North Vietnamese Communists to avoid demoralizing the
population. Note: Given a Vietnamese population of approximately 38 million during the period 1954-1975,
Vietnamese casualties represent 12 to 13% of the entire population. To put this in perspective, consider that the
population of the US was 220 million during the Vietnam War. Had The US sustained casualties of 13% of its
population, there would have been 28 million US dead.
April 30, 1995: Vietnam celebrates the 20th anniversary of the end of the war.
May 15, 1995: Vietnam gives U.S. presidential delegation batch of documents on missing Americans, later hailed by
Pentagon as most detailed and informative of their kind.
May 23, 1995: Senators John Kerry (D, Mass) and John McCain (R,-Ariz.), both Vietnam veterans, urge Clinton to
normalize relations.
May 31, 1995: Vietnam turns over 100 pages of maps and reports about U.S. servicemen killed or captured during the
war. An American veteran's map helps locate a mass grave of communist soldiers killed during the war.
June 1995: Senators Kerry and McCain say they plan to offer a Senate resolution approving normalized relations with
Vietnam. Secretary of State Warren Christopher recommends to President Clinton that the United States establish formal
diplomatic relations with Vietnam. State Department praises Hanoi authorities for increasing counter-narcotics
cooperation with the United States. Vietnamese President Le Duc Anh announces he will visit the United States in
October for a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
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July 11, 1995: President Clinton announces normalization of relations with Vietnam, saying the time has come to move
forward and bind up the wounds from the war.
July 28, 1995: Vietnam becomes a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
August 5, 1995: Secretary of State Warren Christopher opens U.S. embassy in Hanoi.
September 4, 1995: Former President George Bush visits Vietnam.
November 7-10, 1995: Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara visits Vietnam.
July 12, 1996: U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake visits Hanoi to mark the first anniversary of normalization
of relations.
April 10, 1997: Former POW Douglas "Pete" Peterson is confirmed by the Senate as the first ambassador to Vietnam
since the end of the war and the first ever to be posted to Hanoi. Vietnam's Le Van Bang is confirmed as Vietnam's
ambassador to the United States.
April 16, 1997: U.S. and Vietnam reach copyright protection agreement, a step toward Most Favored Nation status.
May 9, 1997: Ambassador Peterson arrives in Hanoi to take up his new post. Ambassador Le Van Bang arrived in
Washington on May 7.
June 24, 1997: Secretary of State Madeline Albright arrives in Vietnam on an official visit.
March 10, 1998: President Clinton waives the Jackson-Vanik Amendment for Vietnam, allowing American investors in
Vietnam to compete more effectively in Vietnam and to receive financial help from U.S. government agencies such as
the Export-Import Bank.
July 13, 2000: The United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and Vietnam's Trade Minister Vu Khoan
sign a major trade agreement intended to provide Vietnam with access to the U.S. market on the same terms granted to
most other nations. Vietnam agrees to lower tariffs and other trade barriers on American products and services. The
trade agreement is the last step in normalizing relations between the U.S. and Vietnam.
November 16-19, 2000: President Bill Clinton and his family, Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, arrived in
Hanoi for a historic visit. Clinton was the first President to visit Vietnam since President Nixon's visit in 1969. The
purpose of Clinton's trip was to discuss relations between the two countries. Clinton said, "I think it is time to write a
new chapter here."
July 24-26, 2001: Secretary of State Colin Powell pays a three-day visit to Vietnam where he attended the ASEAN
Regional Forum in Hanoi. It was Powell's first visit to Vietnam since he served in the war in 1969.
October 3, 2001: The United States Senate approves an agreement normalizing trade between the United States and
Vietnam.
November 28, 2001: Vietnam's National Assembly ratifies the trade agreement with the United States but warns that
any U.S. interference in Vietnam's internal affairs could jeopardize implementation of the agreement. The Vietnamese
government voices strong concerns over the U.S. House of Representatives' passage of a Vietnam Human Rights Act
which ties future U.S. non-humanitarian aid to improvements in Vietnam's human rights record.
November 10, 2003: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld meets with Vietnam's Defense Minister Pham Van Tra.
This is the first time a senior Vietnamese military official visits Washington, D.C. since the war ended.
November 19, 2003: Navy missile frigate USS Vandegrift docks in the port of Ho Chi Minh City, a symbolic act aimed at
boosting relations between Vietnam and the United States. Many of the crew were sons and daughters of Vietnam War
veterans. It is the first U.S. ship to dock in Vietnam since the end of the war.
January 14, 2004: Nguyen Cao Ky, who served as premier of South Vietnam until 1967 and then as vice president from
1967 to 1971, visits relatives in Vietnam for the Tet holiday. Permission for the visit was given by the Vietnamese
government. The visit caused controversy among overseas Vietnamese who felt it would legitimize the current
government in Vietnam. Ky fled to the United States prior to the fall of Saigon in 1975.
March 25, 2005: Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai welcomes Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Han, who was
banned from returning to Vietnam in 1966. The Zen Master was invited by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha's International
Religious Board and will stay in Vietnam for 3 months.
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AP US History: The Vietnam War – Unit s 13 and 14
Casualties for the Entire War
Force
US Forces
ARVN
KIA
WIA
MIA
CIA
47,378 A 304,704 B 2,338 C 766 D
223,748 1,169,763
NA
NA
South Korea
4,407
17,060
NA
NA
Australia
469
2,940
NA
NA
Thailand
351
1,358
NA
NA
New Zealand
55
212
NA
NA
NA
26,000
NVA/VC
1,100,000 600,000
Note A: there were an additional 10,824 non-hostile deaths for a total of 58,202
Note B: of the 304,704 WIA, 153,329 required hospitalization
Note C: this number decreases as remains are recovered and identified
Note D: 114 died in captivity
Legend: KIA = Killed In Action
WIA = Wounded In Action
MIA = Missing In Action
CIA = Captured In Action
One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,169 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of
2.59 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were
300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled.
This table shows the numbers of U.S. troops and of battle deaths in Vietnam in the period 1965 through 1972.
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