During WWII, the US provided training and equipment for a Vietnamese group called the Viet Minh that was resisting Japanese occupation. The Viet Minh became the foundation of the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong that the US fought during the Vietnam War.
Vietnam war
The CIA paid Vietnam War spies…
The CIA paid Vietnam War spies by ordering them items from the Sears catalog because the spies operated in areas that had a barter economy and didn’t rely on cash.
In 1989, the American Homecoming Act…
In 1989, the American Homecoming Act helped children born from U.S soldiers in Vietnam come to the U.S with their families. They based this only on the child’s appearance. About 23,000 Amerasians and 67,000 of their relatives entered the United States under this act. It was controversial since it didn’t apply to the kids of U.S soldiers in other countries.
Playboy founder and U.S. Army veteran…
Playboy founder and U.S. Army veteran Hugh Hefner provided his plane, the “Big Bunny,” to transport Vietnamese children to New York during the evacuation of Saigon. Playboy bunnies were the ones who cared for the babies until they reached their destination.
The founding father of modern Vietnam…
The founding father of modern Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh that led Vietnam’s communist revolution against French colonial rule and then took on the US has long had an admiration for the US and repeatedly sought the country’s help in the decades before the Vietnam War.
The US provided Laos with funds…
The US provided Laos with funds and concrete to expand an airport which could serve as a base for US fighter jets during the Vietnam War. But as the funds and concrete arrived before any contract was signed, Laos decided instead to build a memorial to soldiers who died in World War II.
At the start of the Vietnam War…
At the start of the Vietnam War, the South Vietnamese government favored Catholics over Buddhists so much that some Catholic priests ran private armies that forced conversions and demolished Buddhist pagodas with mortar fire.
In 1967, hippies attempted a ritual…
In 1967, hippies attempted a ritual to levitate the Pentagon in the air to end the Vietnam War.
During the Vietnam war, many American…
During the Vietnam war, many American soldiers stationed in Japan went AWOL and fled to Sweden. Swedish PM Palme was vehemently against the war and promised that he would grant asylum to deserters.
A quiet American POW was nicknamed…
A quiet American POW was nicknamed “The Incredibly Stupid One” by his Vietnamese captors. Upon his return to the US, he provided the names of over 200 prisoners of war, which he had memorized to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
When they threw him out of Vietnam, he came out with 256 names that Joe Crecca had taught him memorized by service, by rank and alphabetically; next to each name he had a dog’s name, kid’s name or social security number to verify the quality of the name which we had picked up by tap code, deaf spelling code or secret notes. He still has those names memorized today and sings them to the tune of “Old MacDonald Has a Farm.” One of our intelligence officers asked him if he could slow the recitation down to make for easier copying. Doug replied “No” that it was like riding a bike, you had to keep moving or you would fall off.