The Vietnam War

“Wet Going”
This photograph of two men trudging through a
surely hot, muddy swamp demonstrates the
physical, material things which the soldiers of
Vietnam had to carry. Marine Private First Class
J.L. Collins, the front of the two soldiers, is clearly
shown desperately attempting to keep his M-16
and battery pack dry and clean in hopes of arriving
at their destination safely. Laborious and difficult
wouldn’t even begin to describe the amount of
work it would have been to wade through chest-
deep mud with 30-plus pounds of extra weight
strapped around their entire bodies.
Questions:

1. Why did the Vietnam War start?

2. What were the living conditions during the Vietnam War?

3. How many soldiers were involved in the Vietnam War?

1. Why did the Vietnam War start?

The Vietnam War and active U.S. involvement in the war began in 1954, though
ongoing conflict in the region had stretched back several decades. The Vietnam
War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government
of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.
More than 3 million people were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of
the dead were Vietnamese civilians.
2. How many soldiers were involved in Vietnam
War?

One out of every 10 Americans who

served in Vietnam was a casualty.
58,148 were killed and 304,000
wounded out of 2.7 million who
served. Although the percent that
died is similar to other wars,
amputations or crippling wounds
were 300 percent higher than in
World War II.
 3. What living conditions did the soldiers have during vietnam war?

The life and conditions in the Vietnam War was

cruel. The soldiers at war had to deal with
extreme heat conditions. The conditions were
so bad that many of the soldiers got
malaria. Many soldiers obtained the disease
of malaria which caused many deaths and
spread from one soldier to another. The
weather conditions of the war kept on
changing as well. It would be very hot on
day and than the rain would not stop
coming down.
 Battle Tactics

Facing the most powerful nation in the world, North Vietnamese communists
wisely chose to wage a war of attrition. They planned to make a long, bloody,
and expensive war for the U.S. This strategy’s purpose was to turn American
public opinion against American involvement in the conflict, and therefore, forced
them to leave Indochina so that the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) could
conduct major offensives against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
and unify the country under a communist government.