Photo courtesy of Bill Smith
Bill Smith, now an instructor at Los Altos High School, served in the U.S. Army intelligence and cross-trained in the infantry during the Vietnam War.
Special to the Town Crier
Los Altos-Los Altos Hills Veterans Day Salute
The U.S. participation in the Vietnam War became one of the most divisive foreign policy issues in United States history. Americans disagreed on both the objective and the strategy of our involvement.
The war became increasingly unpopular as casualties increased and chances for victory began to decrease.
Hank Nagao, a retired United States Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and Los Altos resident, was involved in the thick of the combat as an assault helicopter commander.
"I did what I was told. Whatever the order given to me I complied with, but didn't always agree with it," Nagao said.
Caught in a no-win struggle during the war and underappreciated after it, local Vietnam vets will be given long-overdue recognition Thursday at a Veterans Day celebration in the Community Plaza in downtown Los Altos. Richard T. Schlosberg III, chief executive officer of the Packard Foundation and a Vietnam-era fighter pilot himself, will give the keynote address. The one-hour celebration is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.
The military struggle in Vietnam was fought from 1959 until 1975. The conflict began as an attempt by Communist guerrillas (the Viet Cong) in South Vietnam, backed by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow the government of the south.
The United States and some 40 other countries supported South Vietnam by supplying troops and munitions, while the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the People's Republic of China furnished munitions to North Vietnam.
In 1961, the United States signed a goodwill treaty with South Vietnam and in December of that year, the first U.S. troops comprising 400 uniformed army personnel, arrived in Saigon.
A year later, U.S. military strength in Vietnam stood at 11,200 troops.
Bill Smith, now an instructor at Los Altos High School, served in U.S. Army intelligence and cross-trained in the infantry during the war. A history teacher, he devotes a unit of study to the history of the Vietnam War.
"It gave you an adrenalin high from fear and stress, and then at other times it was boring," Smith said. "But then, when you would least expect it you were under siege."
The war escalated in the first week of August 1964 when North Vietnamese torpedo boats were reported to have attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. The U.S. passed the Tonkin Resolution, increasing military involvement.
In February 1965, American combat strength was nearly 200,000. The war went on despite attempts of negotiations. The U.S. continued its military buildup and extended its bombings on North Vietnam.
The mounting death toll accompanied a growing sentiment within the United States for an end of the war. Accelerating the peace movement was the issue of atrocities committed by U.S. troops in Vietnam.
USN Chaplain George Wright, retired, and a Los Altos resident, consoled numerous navy wives whose husbands were in combat or MIAs in Vietnam.
When Vietnam released its prisoners, they were temporarily stationed at the Oakland Naval Hospital and Wright again counseled the families.
From February 1965 to the end of all-out involvement in 1973, South Vietnamese forces mainly fought against the Viet Cong guerrillas, while U.S. and allied troops fought the North Vietnamese in a war of attrition.
Sam Harding, a Navy veteran, and president of the Rotary Club of Los Altos, spent two tours in Vietnam when he was 24 years old.
On his second tour, he was part of the Riverine Patrol Force in the Mekong Delta.
"It was a scary experience seeing war first-hand, and I often wondered what I was doing there," he said.
In April 1970, U.S. combat troops entered Cambodia following a political coup. Within three months, the campaign in Cambodia ended, but air attacks on North Vietnam were renewed. In April 1972, the United States started deep-penetration bombing even as secret peace meetings were held in Paris.
The peace negotiations continued until Jan. 23, 1973, when President Nixon announced over television that a formal cease fire had been reached.
The Vietnam War marked a turning point in the history of warfare with the use of combat troops and heavy reliance on helicopters.
In the end, that more than 2 million Vietnamese were killed and 2 million wounded. Casualties for the U.S. totaled 57,685 killed, and 153,303 wounded. Less measurable, but still significant, were the social tolls in the United States.
Many Americans believed the conflict in Vietnam was a civil war and the United States should not have become involved. They maintained that U.S. security was not at stake and the U.S. should not be a "world policeman." Such arguments continue today as the United States is involved in conflicts in Central America, Bosnia and the Middle East.
Town Crier offices will be closed for the duration of Thursday's Veterans Day ceremony.