The US Congress has designated March 30 as "Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day" in rememberance of March 30, 1973, the day all military personnel were ordered to depart from Vietnam.
I just got back from a get-together at the American Legion to remember this day, even though it was a day earlier.
I lost a BIL to small arms fire, two cousins, and a few friends were WIA.
Made it back safely, myself, picked up in a rice paddy in a huey, and transported home.
Life was tough afterward because the media portrayed the veterans as baby killers, in film and print. There were no unit deployments. One person, one deployment. No flags, or celebrations when coming home. Hiding the fact you were a veteran was the norm.
Job discrimination was rampant if the employers found out you were a VV, so, you lied about your military service.
The war itself was one of the hardest fought wars in history. VV spent more time in battle than any combat force in history.
There were few POW camps on either side. The only POW's were high value assests that were held for political reasons.
The captured and wounded were executed. Fight to the death, or die anyway. Anybody remember there were only 501 POW's released after the war? The rest have never been accounted for.
Just a few stats from a blog:
The average infantryman in the South Pacific during WWII saw about 40 days of combat in FOUR years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in ONE year. People would always look at me funny or make an unbelievable type smile when I told them these figures. I was also surprised by these figures. I saw approximately 100 days of combat, but I was not an infantryman. These figures became very clear when I started my research in order to write a book.
The most famous march in WWII was General Patton third (3rd) Army Division during the Battle of the Bugle. Patton’s army marched 100 miles in 48 hours, two days, to relieve the besieged American troops at Bastogne. Because of the mobility provided by Huey helicopters used in Vietnam, Patton‘s army would have been there in less than an hour and then on to another battle within hours. The soldiers in Vietnam were asked to secure an area three times that of soldiers in WWII.
I also believe the craziness in which Hollywood portrays the Vietnam Soldiers did not help. Therefore the American public did not see Vietnam combat soldiers in the same light compared to WWII soldiers. The American public saw Vietnam soldiers smoking pot, dancing, acting crazy, or fighting with their fellow soldiers.
In WWII, Hollywood showed soldier’s leaving home while kissing their mothers and girlfriends goodbye. Fathers quoting, “Give them hell son.” This was all great. Some of the worst fighting was on the island of Iwo Jima. The island was secure in 21 days.
Heavy bombers during WWII would fly missions lasting for hours but would only be exposed to hostile fire for about twenty (20) minutes. In Vietnam Huey gunships and Huey Cobras helicopters would be under enemy fire for hours in a day almost every day.
One in every ten (10) Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. The percent of KIA is similar to other wars. But because of the nature of the fighting in Vietnam, amputations or crippling wounds were “300 percent higher” than in WWII.
A few more statics:
Vietnam War Statistics
Personnel
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era (5 August 1965-7 May 1975)
8,744,000 personnel were on active duty during the war (5 August 1964-28
March 1973)
3,403,100 (including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the SE Asia
Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews based in Thailand and sailors
in adjacent South China Sea waters).
2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam
( I January 1965 - 28 March 1973)
Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964
Of the 2.6 million, between 1 and 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in
combat, provided close combat support or were at least fairly regularly
exposed to enemy attack.
7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam was 543,482, on 30 April 1969.
Casualties:
Hostile deaths: 47,359
Non-hostile deaths: 10,797
Total: 58,156 (including men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties).
Highest state death rate: West Virginia--84.1. (The national average death rate for males in 1970 was 58.9 per 100,000).
WIA: 303,704 - 153,329 required hospitalization, 50,375 who did not.
Severely disabled: 75,000, 23,214 were classified 100% disabled. 5,283 lost
limbs, 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than in Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WWII.
MIA: 2,338
POW: 766, of whom 114 died in captivity.
Draftees vs. volunteers: 25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII)
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Reservists KIA: 5,977
National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died.
Ethnic background:
88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian, 10.6%
(275,000) were black, 1.0% belonged to other races
86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (including Hispanics)
12.5% (7,241) were black.
1.2% belonged to other races
170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2%) of whom died there.
86.8% of the men who were KIA were Caucasian
12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged to other races.
14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were black
34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms.
Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam when the percentage
of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the population.
Socioeconomic status:
76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working
class backgrounds
75% had family incomes above the poverty level
23% had fathers with professional, managerial, or technical occupations.
79% of the men who served in 'Nam had a high school education or better.
63% of Korean vets had completed high school upon separation from the service)
Winning & Losing:
82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of a lack of political will. Nearly 75% of the general public (in 1993) agrees with that.
Age & Honorable Service:
The average age of the G.I. in 'Nam was 19 (26 for WWII) 97% of Vietnam era vets were honorably discharged.
Pride in Service:
91% of veterans of actual combat and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country. 66% of Viet vets say they would serve again, if called upon. 87% of the public now holds Viet vets in high esteem.
Helicopter crew deaths accounted for 10% of ALL Vietnam deaths. Helicopter losses during Lam Son 719 (a mere two months) accounted for 10% of all helicopter losses from 1961-1975.
Women Who Died In Vietnam:
U.S. Army
* 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba
* 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA, Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.
* Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander
* 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ, and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI, died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac., and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac. in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI, and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.
* 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.
* 1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.
* Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa
Lt. Col. Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 14, 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.
U.S. Air Force
* Capt. Mary Therese Klinker
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.
To my Brothers and Sisters that served........WELCOME HOME!
I just got back from a get-together at the American Legion to remember this day, even though it was a day earlier.
I lost a BIL to small arms fire, two cousins, and a few friends were WIA.
Made it back safely, myself, picked up in a rice paddy in a huey, and transported home.
Life was tough afterward because the media portrayed the veterans as baby killers, in film and print. There were no unit deployments. One person, one deployment. No flags, or celebrations when coming home. Hiding the fact you were a veteran was the norm.
Job discrimination was rampant if the employers found out you were a VV, so, you lied about your military service.
The war itself was one of the hardest fought wars in history. VV spent more time in battle than any combat force in history.
There were few POW camps on either side. The only POW's were high value assests that were held for political reasons.
The captured and wounded were executed. Fight to the death, or die anyway. Anybody remember there were only 501 POW's released after the war? The rest have never been accounted for.
Just a few stats from a blog:
The average infantryman in the South Pacific during WWII saw about 40 days of combat in FOUR years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in ONE year. People would always look at me funny or make an unbelievable type smile when I told them these figures. I was also surprised by these figures. I saw approximately 100 days of combat, but I was not an infantryman. These figures became very clear when I started my research in order to write a book.
The most famous march in WWII was General Patton third (3rd) Army Division during the Battle of the Bugle. Patton’s army marched 100 miles in 48 hours, two days, to relieve the besieged American troops at Bastogne. Because of the mobility provided by Huey helicopters used in Vietnam, Patton‘s army would have been there in less than an hour and then on to another battle within hours. The soldiers in Vietnam were asked to secure an area three times that of soldiers in WWII.
I also believe the craziness in which Hollywood portrays the Vietnam Soldiers did not help. Therefore the American public did not see Vietnam combat soldiers in the same light compared to WWII soldiers. The American public saw Vietnam soldiers smoking pot, dancing, acting crazy, or fighting with their fellow soldiers.
In WWII, Hollywood showed soldier’s leaving home while kissing their mothers and girlfriends goodbye. Fathers quoting, “Give them hell son.” This was all great. Some of the worst fighting was on the island of Iwo Jima. The island was secure in 21 days.
Heavy bombers during WWII would fly missions lasting for hours but would only be exposed to hostile fire for about twenty (20) minutes. In Vietnam Huey gunships and Huey Cobras helicopters would be under enemy fire for hours in a day almost every day.
One in every ten (10) Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. The percent of KIA is similar to other wars. But because of the nature of the fighting in Vietnam, amputations or crippling wounds were “300 percent higher” than in WWII.
A few more statics:
Vietnam War Statistics
Personnel
9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era (5 August 1965-7 May 1975)
8,744,000 personnel were on active duty during the war (5 August 1964-28
March 1973)
3,403,100 (including 514,300 offshore) personnel served in the SE Asia
Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, flight crews based in Thailand and sailors
in adjacent South China Sea waters).
2,594,000 personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam
( I January 1965 - 28 March 1973)
Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964
Of the 2.6 million, between 1 and 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in
combat, provided close combat support or were at least fairly regularly
exposed to enemy attack.
7,484 women served in Vietnam, of whom 6,250 or 83.5% were nurses.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam was 543,482, on 30 April 1969.
Casualties:
Hostile deaths: 47,359
Non-hostile deaths: 10,797
Total: 58,156 (including men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez casualties).
Highest state death rate: West Virginia--84.1. (The national average death rate for males in 1970 was 58.9 per 100,000).
WIA: 303,704 - 153,329 required hospitalization, 50,375 who did not.
Severely disabled: 75,000, 23,214 were classified 100% disabled. 5,283 lost
limbs, 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WWII and 70% higher than in Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WWII.
MIA: 2,338
POW: 766, of whom 114 died in captivity.
Draftees vs. volunteers: 25% (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees. (66% of U.S. armed forces members were drafted during WWII)
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Reservists KIA: 5,977
National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died.
Ethnic background:
88.4% of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian, 10.6%
(275,000) were black, 1.0% belonged to other races
86.3% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (including Hispanics)
12.5% (7,241) were black.
1.2% belonged to other races
170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2%) of whom died there.
86.8% of the men who were KIA were Caucasian
12.1% (5,711) were black; 1.1% belonged to other races.
14.6% (1,530) of non-combat deaths were black
34% of blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms.
Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam when the percentage
of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the population.
Socioeconomic status:
76% of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working
class backgrounds
75% had family incomes above the poverty level
23% had fathers with professional, managerial, or technical occupations.
79% of the men who served in 'Nam had a high school education or better.
63% of Korean vets had completed high school upon separation from the service)
Winning & Losing:
82% of veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of a lack of political will. Nearly 75% of the general public (in 1993) agrees with that.
Age & Honorable Service:
The average age of the G.I. in 'Nam was 19 (26 for WWII) 97% of Vietnam era vets were honorably discharged.
Pride in Service:
91% of veterans of actual combat and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country. 66% of Viet vets say they would serve again, if called upon. 87% of the public now holds Viet vets in high esteem.
Helicopter crew deaths accounted for 10% of ALL Vietnam deaths. Helicopter losses during Lam Son 719 (a mere two months) accounted for 10% of all helicopter losses from 1961-1975.
Women Who Died In Vietnam:
U.S. Army
* 2nd Lt. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba
* 2nd Lt. Elizabeth Ann Jones
Lt. Drazba and Lt. Jones were assigned to the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon. They died in a helicopter crash near Saigon, February 18, 1966. Drazba was from Dunmore, PA, Jones from Allendale, SC. Both were 22 years old.
* Capt. Eleanor Grace Alexander
* 1st Lt. Hedwig Diane Orlowski
Capt. Alexander of Westwood, NJ, and Lt. Orlowski of Detroit, MI, died November 30, 1967. Alexander, stationed at the 85th Evac., and Orlowski, stationed at the 67th Evac. in Qui Nhon, had been sent to a hospital in Pleiku to help out during a push. With them when their plane crashed on the return trip to Qui Nhon were two other nurses, Jerome E. Olmstead of Clintonville, WI, and Kenneth R. Shoemaker, Jr. of Owensboro, KY. Alexander was 27, Orlowski 23. Both were posthumously awarded Bronze Stars.
* 2nd Lt. Pamela Dorothy Donovan
Lt. Donovan, from Allston, MA, became seriously ill and died on July 8, 1968. She was assigned to the 85th Evac. in Qui Nhon. She was 26 years old.
* 1st Lt. Sharon Ann Lane
Lt. Lane died from shrapnel wounds when the 312th Evac. at Chu Lai was hit by rockets on June 8, 1969. From Canton, OH, she was a month short of her 26th birthday. She was posthumously awarded the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm and the Bronze Star for Heroism. In 1970, the recovery room at Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lt. Lane had been assigned before going to Viet Nam, was dedicated in her honor. In 1973, Aultman Hospital in Canton, OH, where Lane had attended nursing school, erected a bronze statue of Lane. The names of 110 local servicemen killed in Vietnam are on the base of the statue.
* Lt. Col. Annie Ruth Graham, Chief Nurse at 91st Evac. Hospital, Tuy Hoa
Lt. Col. Graham, from Efland, NC, suffered a stroke in August 14, 1968 and was evacuated to Japan where she died four days later. A veteran of both World War II and Korea, she was 52.
U.S. Air Force
* Capt. Mary Therese Klinker
Capt. Klinker, a flight nurse assigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines, was on the C-5A Galaxy which crashed on April 4 outside Saigon while evacuating Vietnamese orphans. This is known as the Operation Babylift crash. From Lafayette, IN, she was 27. She was posthumously awarded the Airman's Medal for Heroism and the Meritorious Service Medal.
To my Brothers and Sisters that served........WELCOME HOME!
