Vietnam Memories

The Vietnam War,  was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1, 1955 to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. While the war was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, the North was supported by the Soviet Union and China. The South was supported by the United States and other anti-communist allies, making the war a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It lasted almost 20 years, with direct U.S. military involvement ending in 1973.

The war had an enormous human cost: It is estimated that 58,220 United States service members died in the conflict. Vietnam had been under French control as a part of French Indochina since the mid-19th century. Under French rule, Vietnamese nationalism was heavily suppressed, and as a result Vietnamese revolutionary groups often conducted their activities abroad, namely in France and China. 

Approximately, 18.2 million gallons of Agent Orange, some of which was contaminated with Dioxin, was sprayed over Southern Vietnam as part of the herbicidal warfare program Operation during the Vietnam War, from 1961 to 1971. The Videos below with pictures are from the 9th Infantry Division and Navy Mobile Riverine Force.