The Vietnam War was born out of the ashes of World War II. It became the longest, most costly armed conflict that the United States has ever been involved in. The war began in 1954 (though conflict stretches back to the mid-1940s in the region) after Ho Chi Minh rose to power against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year. The USA bowed it’s head in defeat and the country and it’s veterans struggled to gain perspective of the events that had just occurred. Why had we become involved in this effort only to lose the war 20 years later? The photos in this gallery are dedicated to the young men who fought in a war they didn’t deserve to be in. God Bless our troops.
Thousand Mile Stare
A wounded and dazed looking American soldier during the deadly, Battle of Khe Sanh, Vietnam, 1968 Photo:Reddit
