Camp Holloway Discussion Forum Archive 02 - 05/07/01 to 02/28/03

Re: Seven Firefight In Vietnam
In Response To: Re: Seven Firefight In Vietnam ()

Here you go, Tom, the quotes:

Dave quoted the introduction to "Seven Firefights" as saying "...after US troops were first committed in force in 1965..."

He was challenged with, "1965?? I saw plenty of troops coming in the country in 1961."

The facts:

There were 888 US troops in South Vietnam at the end of 1961. If that qualifies as "plenty of troops" then I was mistaken in questioning the statement. Were there others "off the books?" Of course there were, but even if there were twice as many, that does not change the fact that the buildup came in 1965, not 1961.

When Dien Bien Phu fell in May 1954, the US had 128 troops in a Military Assistance Advisory Group and a bunch of "sheep-dipped" pilots and mechanics working with the French. The Geneva Accords that ended the fighting and divided Vietnam in July 1954 allowed for a total MAAG in the south of 888, composed of French, US, and others. 342 were actually US.

From 1956 to 1960, US personnel gradually replaced the French in MAAG, but the total authorized by the Accords remained 888.

In Feb 1962 MACV was formed and the US Army numbers went from 948 to 7,885 by the end of 1962. Total US forces increased from about 1,000 to about 11,000.

End of 1963 17,000 total US, 11,000 of which were Army.

End of 1964 23,000 total, 16,000 Army.

Mid-1965 to mid-1966, the numbers climb to 276,000 total, 166,000 Army, a tenfold increase. That, to me, qualifies as "in force." A thousand or two in 1961 does not.

Bob

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