Sarah Levete - The Vietnam War: Frontline Soldiers and Their Families

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Levete, Sarah.

The Vietnam War: frontline soldiers and their families / by Sarah Levete.

p. cm. (Frontline families)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-4824-3061-5 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-1-4824-3064-6 (6 pack)

ISBN 978-1-4824-3062-2 (library binding)

1. Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Juvenile literature. I. Levete, Sarah. II. Title. DS557.7 L48 2016

959.704d23

First Edition

Published in 2016 by

Gareth Stevens Publishing

111 East 14th Street, Suite 349

New York, NY 10003

2016 Gareth Stevens Publishing

Produced by Calcium

Editors for Calcium: Sarah Eason and Rachel Warren Chadd

Designers: Paul Myerscough and Jessica Moon

Picture researcher: Susannah Jayes

Picture credits: Cover: National Archives and Records Administration; Inside: Dreamstime: Jorisvo 7, Angela Ostafichuk 42; Shutterstock: Lefteris Papaulakis 6, Migel 39, Bill Ragan 41t, Sippakorn 38, Xuanhuongho 34, 44l; Wikimedia Commons: 8, 16, Library of Congress 24c, 33, Lycurgus 11, National Archives and Records Administration 1, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 17, 22, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 37tl, 37tr, Texas Tech University 21, U.S. Department of Defense, 36, 44r, U.S. Information Agency 12, 13, 18, U.S. Marine Corps 23, U.S. Navy 41b, U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation 19, Uwdigitalcollections 28.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except by reviewer.

Printed in the United States of America

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Vietnam War

Chapter 2 A War of Many Sides

Chapter 3 Conditions of War

Chapter 4 A Brutal War

Chapter 5 Living with the Vietnam War

Chapter 6 Living with the End

Glossary

For More Information

Index

CHAPTER 1

THE VIETNAM WAR

The Vietnam War lasted just over 20 years. The fighting and bombing killed and injured millions of people from several different countries, and the horrific experience of the long war caused millions more to suffer from long-term mental disorders. For every one of those millions, there was a family who grieved for the death of a loved one or who had to come to terms with the effect of the war on their lives.

A Divided Country

The war pitted the United States against the communist North Vietnamese in a fight over South Vietnam. The Americans named the conflict the Vietnam War. The North Vietnamese and their supporters named it the American War, or, in full, the War Against the Americans to Save the Nation. The North Vietnamese wanted to free South Vietnam from the influence of western countries and to bring it under communist control. The South Vietnamese government wanted to remain independent and allied to the United States and other western countries. The United States did not want South Vietnam to be taken over by communists. Civilians in South Vietnam were divided over what they wanted for their country.

The Vietnam War brought death and destruction to homes across Vietnam.

Where Is Vietnam?

Vietnam is a narrow, S-shaped country in Southeast Asia. It borders China to the north, and the South China Sea runs along its eastern side, down to the Gulf of Thailand. Laos and Cambodia border the western side. Inland, large areas of Vietnam are covered in thick, dense jungle. This landscape was of huge significance for the fighting forces in the Vietnam War.

A young soldier guards a supporter of the North Vietnamese. The Vietnam War would change forever the lives of both mens families.

Families and the War

A baby born at the beginning of the Vietnam War would have reached his or her twenties by the end of it. For some children in Vietnam, the background to family life was constant fighting and hardship. Explosions, gunfire, and fear dominated their world. For people in the United States and other countries that sent troops to Vietnam, the war meant missing a parent, child, or other loved one, and living with the often terrible consequences of a ruthless conflict.

WHAT CAUSED THE WAR?

France, a colonial power, had ruled Vietnam since the nineteenth century. The start of World War II presented a Vietnamese communist named Ho Chi Minhmeaning He Who Enlightenswith the chance to prepare his country for independence from France. In 1941, Ho Chi Minh established the Vietminh (League for the Independence of Vietnam).

Vietnam Under Foreign Masters

In 1941, the Japanese took control of the countries under Frances colonial rule, including Vietnam. The Vietminh fought against the Japanese and managed to take control of parts of North Vietnam. After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared the country the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. However, the French returned in 1946, and there then followed a period of war in which the French army lost thousands of men in battle. France finally withdrew in 1954.

This stamp shows an image of US President Lyndon Johnson. Three other US presidents were in office during the Vietnam War, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Nixon.

Trying to Solve the Problem

World powers, including the United States and the Soviet Union, came together in 1954 at an international gathering, called the Geneva Conference, to try to solve the conflict. It was agreed that communist Ho Chi Minh would control the North and an anticommunist named Ngo Dinh Diem would control the South. There would be elections, and Vietnamese people could decide in which part of the country they wished to live. However, Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold elections.

The United States dreaded the spread of communism that had already divided another Asian country, Korea, into South and North. The US sent advisors to South Vietnam in an effort to stop this from happening again.

Ho Chi Minh was determined to keep his country independent from colonial rule.