we did not lose one battle in Vietnam, and we would have steamrolled Ho Chi Minh City if our leaders had had any huevos.
We lost the war here at home.
Amen to that
The first, the Indochina War, was fought by the French to retain control of Indochina, but was lost primarily after Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
The second, what we refer to as the Vietnam War, was fought from 1959-1973 and ended with an Allied victory after the Christmas bombing campaign forced North Vietnam to sign a peace treaty and end the fighting.
The third, which should be called the Second Vietnam War but it is usually just considered a continuation of the first, was fought in 1975 and was almost entirely a domestic conflict, as nearly all US forces had withdrawn from Vietnam at the time.
Thank you Uncle Walter.
And the drive-by media is doing it's level best to do to Iraq what they did to Vietnam . . . .
After Operation Pegasus in April and May of 1968, I was in the First Marine Regiment in Khe Sanh; the 26th Marines whom we replaced were still in the vicinity. In effect, the Third Marine Division(reinforced) was a five regiment division instead of the usual three. The First Air Cavalry was still in the region. The 82d Airborne as nearby. We were issued maps of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and we thought we were going to Hanoi to take the aftermath of the Tet Offensive to its logical conclusion. One could only conclude that it was right then when LBJ lost the will to win, and let the best opportunity for decisive victory of that war slip away. In my opinion the forces we had mustered in the Khe Sanh vicinity at that time were so seasoned and mobile that they would have sliced North Vietnam in two in a week and finished the whole business in maybe three months.
After Operation Pegasus in April and May of 1968, I was in the First Marine Regiment in Khe Sanh; the 26th Marines whom we replaced were still in the vicinity. In effect, the Third Marine Division(reinforced) was a five regiment division instead of the usual three. The First Air Cavalry was still in the region. The 82d Airborne as nearby. We were issued maps of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and we thought we were going to Hanoi to take the aftermath of the Tet Offensive to its logical conclusion. One could only conclude that it was right then when LBJ lost the will to win, and let the best opportunity for decisive victory of that war slip away. In my opinion the forces we had mustered in the Khe Sanh vicinity at that time were so seasoned and mobile that they would have sliced North Vietnam in two in a week and finished the whole business in maybe three months.
“We lost the war here at home”.
Amen! You’re right. (Also, the ridiculous Rules of Engagement played a big part as well).