Where the Domino Fell - America And Vietnam 1945-1995
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1970
Feb. 20 Henry Kissinger opens secret peace negotiations in Paris.
Mar. 18 Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia deposed by General Lon Nol.
Apr. 15 U.S. First Infantry Division withdraws from Vietnam.
29 Operations in Cambodia begin.
30 United States invades Cambodia.
May 4 National Guard troops kill four students at Kent State University during demonstrations against the Cambodian invasion.
June 30 Operations in Cambodia end.
Oct. 11 U.S. Third Brigade, Ninth Infantry Division, leaves Vietnam.
Nov. 21 Unsuccessful raid on the Son Tay Prison in North Vietnam.
Dec. 7 U.S. Fourth Infantry Division leaves Vietnam.
8 U.S. Twenty-fifth Infantry Division withdraws from Vietnam.
22 U.S. Congress prohibits U.S. combat forces or advisers in Cambodia and Laos.
31 U.S. military personnel strength in Vietnam declines to 334,600; 44,245 U.S. military personnel killed in action to date. Allied military personnel declines to 67,700.
1971
Jan. 30 Operation Lam Son 719 begins.
31 Winter Soldier Investigation begins in Detroit.
Mar. 3 U.S. Fifth Special Forces Group leaves Vietnam.
5 U.S. Eleventh Armored Cavalry Regiment withdraws from Vietnam.
29 Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., found guilty of murder.
Apr. 6 Operation Lam Son 719 ends.
14 U.S. III Marine Amphibious Force withdraws from Vietnam.
20 Demonstrators in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco call for an end to the war.
29 U.S. First Cavalry Division withdraws from Vietnam.
30 U.S. Second Brigade, Twenty-fifth Infantry Division, withdraws from Vietnam.
May 3–5 People’s Coalition for Peace and Justice demonstrates against the war in Washington, D.C.
June 13 New York Times starts publishing the Pentagon Papers.
30 Supreme Court allows publication of the Pentagon Papers.
Aug. 25 U.S. 173d Airborne Brigade withdraws from Vietnam.
27 U.S. First Brigade, Fifth Infantry Division, withdraws from Vietnam.
31 Royal Thai Army withdraws from Vietnam.
Nov. 12 Nixon confines U.S. ground forces to a defensive role.
Dec. 26 Nixon orders resumption of bombing of North Vietnam.
31 U.S. military personnel strength declines to 156,800; 45,626 U.S. military personnel killed in action to date. Allied military personnel in Vietnam declines to 53,900.
1972
Feb. 21 Nixon seeks détente with the People’s Republic of China by visiting Beijing.
Mar. 10 U.S. 101st Airborne Division leaves Vietnam.
23 United States suspends Paris peace talks until North Vietnam and the NLF enter into “serious discussions.”
30 Eastertide Offensive begins.
Apr. 7 Battle of An Loc begins.
15 U.S. bombing of Hanoi begins again.
15–20 Widespread antiwar demonstrations across the United States.
27 Paris peace talks resume.
May 1 North Vietnamese conquer Quang Tri.
4 United States suspends the Paris peace talks.
8 U.S. Navy mines North Vietnamese ports.
June 18 NVA forces an end to the battle of An Loc.
22 Watergate break-in and arrests.
26 U.S. Third Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, withdraws from Vietnam.
29 U.S. 196th Infantry Brigade withdraws from Vietnam.
July 1 General Bruce Palmer, Jr., becomes acting chief of staff, U.S. Army.
13 Paris peace talks resume after ten weeks.
Aug. 23 U.S. Third Battalion, Twenty-first Infantry, withdraws from Vietnam.
Sept. 15 ARVN forces recapture Quang Tri.
26–27 Henry Kissinger conducts secret talks with North Vietnamese diplomats in Paris.
Oct. 16 General Creighton Abrams becomes chief of staff, U.S. Army.
17 Peace talks begin in Laos.
19–20 Kissinger meets with President Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon to secure South Vietnamese support for the pending Paris Peace Accords.
Nov. 7 Nixon is reelected president in a landslide over Senator George McGovern.
20–21 Kissinger and Le Duc Tho put finishing touches on the Paris Peace Accords.
Dec. 13 Paris peace talks stall.
18–29 Operation Linebacker II conducted.
31 U.S. military personnel strength declines to 24,000; 45,926 U.S. military personnel killed in action to date. Allied military personnel drops to 35,500. SVNAF personnel killed in action to date numbers 195,847.
1973
Jan. 8–12 Kissinger and Le Duc Tho convene more private negotiations.
15 Nixon halts all U.S. offensive action against North Vietnam.
27 Peace pact signed in Paris by the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front.
30 Elliot L. Richardson becomes secretary of defense.
Feb. 12 First of American POWs released by North Vietnam.
21 Peace agreement signed in Laos.
Mar. 16 ROK Capital Division and Ninth Infantry Division withdraw from Vietnam.
29 MACV headquarters removed. Last of American POWs released by North Vietnam.
June 13 Implementation accord signed in Paris by the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the National Liberation Front.
24 Graham Martin becomes U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam. Congress prohibits all bombing in Cambodia after August 15.
July 2 James Schlesinger becomes secretary of defense.
Aug. 14 All direct American military operations end in all of Indochina.
Sept. 22 Henry Kissinger becomes secretary of state.
Nov. 7 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam drops to 50. To date, 46,163
Dec. 31 U.S. military personnel killed in action. No Allied military personnel remain in Vietnam.
1974
Aug. 9 Nixon resigns the presidency. Gerald Ford is inaugurated as president of the United States.
20 Congress reduces aid to South Vietnam from $1 billion to $700 million.
Sept. 4 General Creighton Abrams dies.
16 Ford offers clemency to draft evaders and military deserters.
Oct. 3 General Frederick Weyand becomes chief of staff, U.S. Army.
Dec. 13 Combat between NVA and ARVN is conducted in Phuoc Long Province.
31 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam remains at 50.
1975
Jan. 6 NVA troops take control of Phuoc Long Province.
8 North Vietnam decides on a massive invasion of South Vietnam.
Mar. 10 NVA captures Ban Me Thuot.
14 President Nguyen Van Thieu withdraws ARVN forces from Central Highlands.
19 NVA captures Quang Tri Province.
26 Hue falls to the NVA.
30 Danang falls to the NVA.
Apr. 1 Cambodian President Lon Nol flees Cambodia in face of Khmer Rouge invasion. South Vietnam abandons the northern half of the country to North Vietnam.
8–20 Battle of Xuan Loc.
11–13 Operation Eagle Pull removes U.S. embassy personnel from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
12 President Nguyen Van Thieu resigns.
17 Cambodia falls to Khmer Rouge troops.
29–30 Operation Frequent Wind evacuates all American personnel and some South Vietnamese from Vietnam. NVA captures Saigon.
30 Vietnam War ends.
May 12 Mayaguez seized in Kampuchean waters.
Glossary and Guide to Acronyms
AID:
Agency for International Development.
Airborne:
People or material delivered by helicopter.
Amtrack:
An amphibious vehicle, equipped with armor, primarlily used by the Marine Corps to transport troops and material.
ARVN:
Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
Base Area:
An area of installations, defensive fortifications, or other physical structures used by the enemy.
Base Camp:
A semipermanent field headquarters and center for a given unit, usually within the unit’s tactical area of responsibility.
Battalion Days in the Field:
Days when battalions are patrolling in the field. It was a standard measure of battalion productivity.
Body Bags:
Plastic bags used for retrieval of bodies in the field.
Charlie, Charles, Chuck:
Nickname used by American troops for the Vietcong.
Chieu Hoi:
An amnesty program offered to the Vietcong by the government of the Republic of Vietnam.
CIA:
Central Intelligence Agency.
CIDG:
Civilian Irregular Defense Group.
CINCPAC:
Commander in Chief, Pacific (U.S. Navy).
Clear and Hold:
An American military tactic in which U.S. troops tried to capture and permanently hold an area.
CORDS:
Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support.
COSVN:
Central Office of South Vietnam.
DeSoto:
U.S. Navy destroyer patrols in the South China Sea. DMZ: Demilitarized Zone.
DRV:
Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam).
Firebase:
A temporary artillery firing position, often secured by infantry.
Firefight:
An exchange of small-arms fire between opposing units.
I Corps:
Northernmost military region in South Vietnam.
IV Corps:
Southernmost military region in South Vietnam, located in the Mekong Delta.
Frag:
To kill or attempt to kill one’s own officers or sergeants.
Free Fire Zone:
Any area in which permission was not required prior to firing on targets.
Gooks:
Slang term, brought to Vietnam by Korean War veterans, for anyone of Asian descent.
Green Berets:
U.S. Special Forces troops.
Guerrilla Warfare:
Military operations conducted in hostile territory by irregular, pri marily indigenous forces.
GVN:
Government of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
Hedgehogs:
Isolated outposts in which the French high command concentrated troops.
Hot Pursuit:
Policy allowing American troops to chase Vietcong and NVA soldiers across the border into Cambodia.
JCS:
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Khmer Rouge:
Cambodian communists.
Light at the End of the Tunnel:
Term used to describe the imminent demise of the Vietcong and North Vietnamese.
MAAG:
Military Assistance and Advisory Group.
MACV:
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (Mac-Vee)
Main Force:
Vietcong and North Vietnamese military units.
M-16:
The standard American rifle used in Vietnam after 1966.
Napalm:
An incendiary used by French and Americans as a defoliant and as an antipersonnel weapon.
NLF:
National Leberation Front (the political organization of the Vietcong until 1969).
NVA:
North Vietnamese Army.
Pacification:
Several programs of the South Vietnamese and the US. governments to destroy the Vietcong in the villages, gain civilian support for the Republic of South Vietnam and stablize the countryside.
Pathet Lao:
Laotian communists.
PAVN:
People’s Army of Vietnam (North Vietnamese Army, NVA). PLVN: People’s Liberation Army of Vietnam (Vietcong troops).
PRGVN:
Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (the political organi zation of the Vietcong after 1969).
Punji Stake:
A razor-sharp bamboo stake sometimes coated with poison or feces and usually hidden under water, along trails, at ambush sites, or in deep pits.
ROKs:
Troops from the Republic of Korea.
Ruff-Puffs:
South Vietnamese Regional Forces and Popular Forces; paramilitary forces usually of squad or platoon size recruited and utilized in a hamlet or village.
RVN:
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
SAM:
Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles.
Sappers:
North Vietnamese or Vietcong demolition commandos.
Search and Destroy:
Offensive operations designed to find and destroy enemy forces rathern than establish permanent government control.
II Corps:
Central Highlands military region in South Vietnam.
Seventeenth Parallel:
Temporary division line between North and South Vietnam. Sortie: One aircraft making one takeoff and landing to conduct a mission for which it was scheduled.
Special Forces:
U.S. soldiers, populary known as Green Berets, trained in techniques of guerrilla warfare.
SRV:
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Tet:
Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday period.
III Corps:
Military region between Saigon and the Central Highlands. Vietcong: Communist forces fighting in South Vietnam.
Vietminh:
Communist forces fighting the French before 1954.
Vietnamization:
President Nixon’s program to gradually turn the war over to the South Vietnamese while phasing out American troops.
Index
4400th Jungle Jim
A Shau Valley
Abell, Bess
Abrams, Creighton
Accelerated Pacification Campaign,
Acheson, Dean
Ackley, Gordon
Adler, Renata
Afghanistan
Agency for International Development,
Agricultural Reform Tribunals
Agroville Program
Aiken, George
Air America
air defense system, North Vietnam
Air Force, U.S. See also bombing raids
air power. See bombing raids
Americal division
American Friends of Vietnam (Vietnam Lobby)
Anderson, Terry H.
Annam
anticommunism
antiwar movement
Ap Bac, battle of (1963)
Ap Bia Mountain (Hamburger Hill),
Apocalypse Now (movie)
Arc Light raids (B-52 raids inside South Vietnam)
Army, U.S. See United States troops
Arnett, Peter
ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) in 1962
1972 North Vietnamese offensive and,
and battle of Ap Bac
in Cambodian invasion
further weakness and corruption of,
holiday during Tet See also Vietnamization policy
atomic weapons
attrition strategy
Australia
Ba Cut
Baez, Joan
Ball, George, warnings resignation of
Bao Dai, Emperor
Barnes, Platoon Sergeant
Batangan Peninsula, battle of
Bay of Pigs invasion
Bay Vien
Ben Suc
Ben Tre
Berlin Airlift
Bidault, Georges
Bien Hoa, air base at
Binh Xuyen
boat people
bombing raids
North Vietnam
Pause See also Arc Light Raids
Bonnet, Henri
Born on the Fourth of July, (movie),
&nbs
p;