For instance, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, the number of U.S. military and civilian personnel still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War was given as 1,621 as of March 23, 2016. Then as of December 21, 2018, the number of U.S. military and civilian personnel still unaccounted for is 1,592.
Almost all were Army. Total helicopter pilots killed in the Vietnam War was 2,202. Total non-pilot crew members was 2704. Based on a databasefrom the Pentagon, we estimate that over 40,000 helicopter pilots served in the Vietnam War.
The aircraft made its debut in Vietnam in July 1965. Bombing raid commanders known as forward air controllers used OV-10s to make observations in preparation for air raids during the conflict in Vietnam. The Broncos were replaced by the jet powered A-10 Tankbuster aircraft (pictured) also known as the Warthog.
The US did not resort to using nuclear weapons in Vietnam for a variety of reasons: fear of the damage it would cause to the US's international reputation, domestic political considerations, a reluctance to break the 'tradition' of non-use, and a realization that, although there were plenty of viable targets such as
From 1964 to 1973, as part of the Secret War operation conducted during the Vietnam War, the US military dropped 260 million cluster bombs – about 2.5 million tons of munitions – on Laos over the course of 580,000 bombing missions.
The B-52 has been in service with the USAF since 1955. As of June 2019, 58 are in service, 18 in reserve, and about 12 in long-term storage.
The Huey remains a legend as the most successful rotorcraft in Aviation History. There are specific tail numbers for 11,827 total helicopters that served in the Vietnam War from all branches of the service. 1,925 Hueys were lost in combat, while 1,380 were lost in operational accidents.
There were two primary reasons for this long delay: There was a great fear that such bombing or an invasion of North Vietnam would escalate the conflict from being a merely a proxy war to a major escalation in hostilities between the superpowers of the US and both China and the Soviet Union.
Nearly all of the B-52 variants featured a radar-assisted tail position with four M3 machine guns, each firing at a rate of 1,200 rounds per minute. The ultimate version, the B-52H, came with a single 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon, able to spit out up to 100 shells every second, in their place.
The B-52's versatility makes it invaluable to the modern U.S. Air Force, which is determined to keep it flying as long as possible. It can haul up to 70,000 pounds of laser-guided bombs, GPS-guided bombs, and unguided bombs, plus the JASSM air-launched cruise missile and Quickstrike series of naval mines.
Only one other B-52 tail gunner had scored a successful kill against a Vietnamese fighter, though more than 30 B-52s had been shot down throughout the conflict. In fact, the first time a B-52 had ever shot down a Mig had only happened a few days prior. The kill was confirmed by another tail gunner named Tech.
Called to combat once again in the War on Terror, the B-52 continues to give front-line service in a variety of roles. What's more, its career is assured for at least 20 years more. Early in its eventful life, the B-52 was given the affectionate nickname “BUFF,” which some say stands for Big Ugly Fat Fellow.
The North Vietnamese had both amphibious tanks (such as the PT-76) and light tanks (such the Type 62) used during the conventional phase.
With its long range, minimal operating cost and ability to handle a wider array of weapons than any other aircraft, it just didn't make sense to get rid of it. Under the Air Force's current bomber plans, the B-52 will fly until 2050 — just shy of its 100th birthday.
The South Vietnamese stronghold of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) falls to People's Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975. The South Vietnamese forces had collapsed under the rapid advancement of the North Vietnamese.
The biggest ever bombing campaign by US B-52 aircraft took place over Christmas 40 years ago, when the US dropped at least 20,000 tonnes of explosives on North Vietnam, mostly Hanoi. On the evening of 18 December, 129 B-52s roared over Hanoi - huge bombers each capable of carrying many tonnes of explosives.
The War Zone blog states that the bomber will replace a B-52H that crashed and burned in 2015 at Andersen Air Force Base, on the island of Guam. Bringing the bomber back from Arizona will boost the B-52 fleet back to the desired number of 76 aircraft.
A total of 445 Air Force Phantom fighter-bombers were lost, 370 in combat and 193 of those over North Vietnam (33 to MiGs, 30 to SAMs, and 307 to AAA). The RF-4C was operated by four squadrons, and of the 83 losses, 72 were in combat including 38 over North Vietnam (seven to SAMs and 65 to AAA).
The majority of service members deployed to South Vietnam were volunteers, even though hundreds of thousands of men opted to join the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (for three or four year terms of enlistment) before they could be drafted, serve for two years, and have no choice over their military occupational
Congress considers the Vietnam Era to be “The period beginning on Feb. 28, 1961 and ending on May 7, 1975 … in the case of a veteran who served in the Republic of Vietnam during that period,” and “beginning on Aug. 5, 1964 and ending on May 7, 1975 … in all other cases.”
By the war's end, between 30,000 and 40,000 Hmong soldiers had been killed in combat, and between 2,500 and 3,000 were missing in action. An estimated one-fourth of all Hmong men and boys died fighting the Communist Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Army.
Total number of deaths
| Low estimate of deaths | Middle estimate of deaths |
|---|
| Subtotal Vietnam | 1,156,000 | 2,115,000 |
| Cambodians | 273,000 | 273,000 |
| Laotians | 28,000 | 62,000 |
| Grand total of war deaths: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (1954–75) | 1,450,000 | 2,450,000 |
It is estimated that more than 3 million land mines/UXO/cluster munitions remain buried in Vietnam. In the hospitals of Quang Tri province, part of the infamous DMZ, 80 percent of the land is still riddled with land mines and innocent children are dying each month.
The bombing of Cambodia was part of Nixon's "madman theory" that was meant to intimidate North Vietnam by showing that he was a dangerous leader capable of anything. By seeking advice from high administration officials, Nixon had delayed any quick response that could be explicitly linked to the provocation.
While no nuclear weapons were deployed in Vietnam, they were on board aircraft carriers and stockpiled in the region, increasing in numbers up through mid-1967. [22] CINCPAC plans for a major escalation of the war included both nuclear and nonnuclear options.
10 of the most devastating bombing campaigns of WWII
- SWINOUJSCIE (MARCH 12, 1945) – 5,000 to 23,000 deaths.
- LONDON (SEPTEMBER 1940-MAY 1941) – 20,000 deaths.
- BERLIN (1940-1945) – 20,000 to 50,000 deaths.
- DRESDEN (OCTOBER 1944-APRIL 1945) – 25,000 deaths.
- HAMBURG (SEPTEMBER 1939-APRIL 1945) – 42,600 deaths.
- TOKYO (NOVEMBER 1944-AUGUST 1945) – over 100,000 deaths.
U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968. This massive bombardment was intended to put military pressure on North Vietnam's communist leaders and reduce their capacity to wage war against the U.S.-supported government of South Vietnam.
Let's review. The Cambodian Civil War of the 1960s and 1970s began with he Samlaut Uprising in April 1967, whereby peasants in the Samlaut area of Cambodia rebelled against the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk, a man the country once credited with freeing them from French colonialism.
