The United States began giving aid to French forces in Indo-China in 1950 to try and keep Communism from spreading into that area. The Northern part of Viet-Nam was under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. The Southern part of Viet-Nam wanted to remain a democracy. The country was split along the 17th parallel and a demilitarized zone was created. By the early 1960’s the North had begun an offensive against the South. By 1964 the United States who already had support troops in Viet-Nam began a major offensive to send troops and weapons to drive the North back. The other nations bordering Viet-Nam such as Laos, Cambodia, and China were being affected by the conflict. The United States lost over 54,000 troops and many hundreds of thousands were wounded and many captured. Henry County once again sent many of their young men into the jungles of Southeast Asia. Some came home giving the ultimate sacrifice.
A plaque was placed on the square in McDonough honoring those who gave that ultimate price. A monument to those that gave their lives in Viet-Nam was established in Washington DC. It would be known as the Wall.
The war in Viet-Nam began in 1950 and we sent so many. The U.S. made a treaty to stop the aerial bombing in 1973 in exchange for our prisoners of war. Then South Viet-Nam fell to the North in 1975 and the United States had a massive pullout of our military personnel and all the South Vietnamese that could escape, and the country of Viet-Nam
Was consolidated into one country again under Communist rule.
References:
1. U.S. Military History, 1969.
2. UPI, 1964 & 1968.
3. New World Press, 1968.
4. City of McDonough 2008.
“Viet Nam”
“Many thousands of our young men fought and died in the hot forbidding jungles of Southeast Asia. They fought to protect a sovereign nation from being invaded from it’s neighbor which had split and went another way. But in the end another stalemate would weigh itself upon our nation. Our boys came home and what they fought and died for became part of the communist world. Many have asked what we fought for in Viet Nam,
and all they need to remember is for freedom and liberty which we had done the same for ourselves. With memorial to the dead we can see those who gave their lives and give some closure to a time filled with pain with God’s help.”
The Staff of the CRG
