There were no US soldier in Vietnam prior to March 1965?
My recollection is that there were advisors there long before that.
When did Vietnam start? I know we were there much earlier, but it was known as Indochina then.
He is clearly referencing tge arrival of Marine units in March 65. These were thr first combat formations deployed to the RoV.
Advisors under Eisenhower & Kennedy; combat unit deployments under Johnson beginning in 1965.
The US Army Center of Military History’s web page for Vietnam:
http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/resmat/vw.html
And links to full online editions of its published Vietnam Official Histories:
http://www.history.army.mil/html/bookshelves/collect/usavn.html
The author ought to have read up on his history or made it clearer that March of 1965 was when the commitment of troops went from Green Beret training squads and platoons to full scale Marine, Army, and Air Force units. It’s when the elephant decided to go from a toe in the water to a running jump into the swamp. There are plenty of “what if?” history novels about the Civil War and WWII. I wonder when a novelist will tackle how very different the 1960’s and 70’s to today would have been if LBJ had not decided to unzip and throw down to show what a manly man he was.
prior to that time, the military were serving as unarmed advisors to the South Vietnamese army
My dad was there prior to 1965. TDY, then went officially with the 1/7 until he was wounded in operation Starlight.
US Marines were there from April, 1962 onward. HMR-362 and HMR-161 flew from the USS Princeton, initiating Operation Shufly.
It's part of a game we play.
Prior to 1965 they were Special Forces soldiers and military advisors.
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Official Lie.
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