Vietnam War

A Brief Summary:

This conflict was fought mainly in South Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It was started initially by the South Vietnamese Vietcong guerillas who were attempting to overthrow the South Vietnam government of Ngo Dinh Diem.

Fighting on one side was a coalition of forces which included the United States, the Republic of Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

The North Vietnamese alliance of forces included the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front, a communist led South Vietnamese guerrilla movement. These forces were backed largely by the Chinese Communist regime.

This conflict has also been considered another "proxy" war between the United States and its allies and the communist regimes of the Soviet Union and China. The war was part of a larger regional conflict involving the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos, which was also known as the Second Indochina War!

This was a long and costly war for the United States. Approximately 51,000 soldiers died from 1959 through 1973, when the U.S. troops were withdrawn. Another 150,000 troops were wounded during this same period. There is also much speculation that there may still be some POW's in the region.

Click on this link for a list of Vermonters killed during the Vietnam War as listed by the National archives.

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