NVA T-54s in front of the Norodom Palace, now the Reunification Palace, in Saigon. 30 April 1975
🇺🇸US Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr… he saved the lives of several Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai Massacre. An American hero that is rarely talked about.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3a4j09JcWy/?igshid=625bhwogyudb
🇺🇸US Army helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson Jr… he saved the lives of several Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai Massacre. An American hero that is rarely talked about.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3a4j09JcWy/?igshid=625bhwogyudb
On this day, 10 October 1971 at 11 AM, the men of Bravo Company, 1/12, First Cavalry Division of the US Army by the Cambodian border declared a private unofficial ceasefire with the North Vietnamese. The move was following a mutiny shortly before where six men refused to go on a dangerous mission, and were now facing court martial. A petition was circulated in support of the mutineers and was signed by two thirds of the company. The petition was leaked to the French press via a journalist and the army dropped the court martials and shipped out Bravo Company to safety, replacing them with Delta Company. A few days later 20 men in Delta Company refused to head out, and the army pulled them out and the artillery company they were supporting, abandoning the position. This is a great account of this and another rebellion of troops during the Vietnam war: https://libcom.org/history/gi-revolts-breakdown-us-army-vietnam And episodes 10 and 11 of our podcast are about the GI resistance, find it here or your favourite podcast app by searching “working class history”: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/08/06/e10-the-gi-resistance-in-vietnam-part-1/
Pictured: Bravo Company members signing the petition https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1231712067013941/?type=3
On this day, 10 October 1971 at 11 AM, the men of Bravo Company, 1/12, First Cavalry Division of the US Army by the Cambodian border declared a private unofficial ceasefire with the North Vietnamese. The move was following a mutiny shortly before where six men refused to go on a dangerous mission, and were now facing court martial. A petition was circulated in support of the mutineers and was signed by two thirds of the company. The petition was leaked to the French press via a journalist and the army dropped the court martials and shipped out Bravo Company to safety, replacing them with Delta Company. A few days later 20 men in Delta Company refused to head out, and the army pulled them out and the artillery company they were supporting, abandoning the position. This is a great account of this and another rebellion of troops during the Vietnam war: https://libcom.org/history/gi-revolts-breakdown-us-army-vietnam And episodes 10 and 11 of our podcast are about the GI resistance, find it here or your favourite podcast app by searching “working class history”: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/08/06/e10-the-gi-resistance-in-vietnam-part-1/
Pictured: Bravo Company members signing the petition https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1231712067013941/?type=3
I’ve looked up american fragging incidents in Vietnam (800 in one year), a prison riot at Long Binh, men leaving to go on patrol only to turn around after like, twenty metres or refusing to go all together. I even heard of a firebase mutiny where soldiers actually put their officers under siege in their command bunker. How did the US military break down so badly?
> Draft
> Heavy counter-culture movements in the country
> A country no one knew existed until the army came
> Terrible humid climate that made everyone miserable
> Extreme use of drugs and alcohol.
> Pointless bloody battles fought in places that seemed random
> No clear goals, frontlines and even enemy formations
Way too much stuff got in the way to make it one hell of a war.
Failure to learn from he past.
The US was fighting a colonial resource war, the Vietnamese were fighting a war of national liberation.
President Richard Nixon speaking to soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division during his visit to South Vietnam, July 1969
Hard crowd.
President Richard Nixon speaking to soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division during his visit to South Vietnam, July 1969
Hard crowd.
