The United States Army served in Vietnam as early as the 1950s with advisors and helicopter pilots in support of the Republic of Vietnam to keep Communist North Vietnam and Vietcong (NFL) from taking over South Vietnam, it was followed by American combat troops shipped to Vietnam in1965. As the war widened and the casualties greatly increased, the number of American soldiers in Vietnam continued to rise in large numbers over the next four years. The United States considerably increased its draft (conscription) of young men to fight in this war, it was becoming “The American War”. Due to large and widespread national protest in the United States against the war in Vietnam the number of military service men in Vietnam begun to be reduce in 1969, however heavy fighting and casualties continued for four more years until on the 29th of March 1973 when the last U.S. soldiers along with all American military forces departed Vietnam. Two years later on the 30th of April 1975 the Republic of Vietnam armed forces and government collapsed, and South Vietnam fell to the forces of North Vietnam followed by the unification of the country, both North and South, into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Young American soldiers fought in the jungles, rice paddies, mountains, villages, and cities throughout South Vietnam, they were called grunts, they fought and died under very challenging conditions against Vietcong (National Liberation Front) and the People’s Army of Vietnam PAVN soldiers, also known as NVA, a very well-disciplined courageous enemy, led by superb idealistic leadership.
American soldiers named the Vietnam war the helicopter war, 90% of all American helicopters serving in Vietnam belonged to the Army, operated by Army pilots, crew chiefs, door gunners and medics, over 11,000 American helicopters were in use in Vietnam - most of all the Bell UH-1D Huey helicopter which transported troops and supplies into combat, Dust Off / Medevac helicopters, frequently under enemy fire, rescued wounded and dead soldiers from the field. The Hughes OH-6 Loach observation helicopters searched for the enemy and the Bell AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter gunships provided fire support for ground troops and escorted Medevac helicopters as they descended into unsafe landing zones. 5,086 American helicopters were lost in Vietnam by enemy gun fire, mechanical malfunction and by accidents mostly caused by bad weather. 38,224 American soldiers died in Vietnam, the number does not include Marines, Navy and Airforce. In total 58,220 Americans died in Vietnam, over 1 million North Vietnamese and NLF soldiers died and over 250,000 soldiers from the Republic of Vietnam. It is estimated that 2 million Vietnamese civilians died on both sides in the Vietnam war between 1955 and 1975.
American soldiers fought courageously and gave their lives, most of all, for the men who fought beside them in Vietnam.
I was a 19-year-old Dust Off/Medevac UH-1H Huey helicopter crew chief in Vietnam, I served with the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) U.S. Army Vietnam
1972-1973.
I was an American Soldier in Vietnam, only one of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers who were sent by our government to fight in Vietnam, each soldier has his own story, his own “Vietnam Experience”, an experience that never goes away from his mind.
Isidro Trevino