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Vietnam Stories

Early on March 16, 1968, U.S. soldiers descended on South Vietnam on a search-and-destroy mission that within a few hours left hundreds of infants, children and other civilians dead. A historian contends that the massacre would have likely never happened if not for the ambitious officer who planned the mission and longed for a battalion command.

Don Luce, activist who exposed Vietnam War horrors, dies at 88

Don Luce evolved from a bystander in the Vietnam War to an influential activist who helped boost the antiwar movement back home in the U.S. in 1970 by showing members of a congressional team the horrific conditions inside a prison run by U.S.-ally South Vietnam.



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Documentarians peel back decades of pain in 'The Vietnam War'

The camera captured something unthinkable: American veterans going back to Vietnam and embracing men who once tried to kill them. It’s a culminating chapter in the long journey home from war for these veterans and it punctuates the final episode of “The Vietnam War,” the epic documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

US, Communists locked in a bloody stalemate, each looking for an edge

The year 1967 was a turning point in the war, a period of violent escalation when the U.S. military deployed larger troop formations, waged bigger battles and killed hundreds of enemy fighters. The Communists, meanwhile, learned from their losses, modifying their tactics to cope with vastly greater U.S. firepower and wear down American will.

War stories: Vietnam War journalists share examples of courage

Vietnam-era war correspondents wore uniforms, ate field rations and shared many of the deprivations and dangers of ordinary fighting men. Five decades later, their ranks are thinning but those who remain are still telling stories about “the last good war” for combat journalists.

Charlie Company, 1967: an unlikely friendship

From massive moments of traditional warfare like Operation Junction City, to battles in defense of exposed and vulnerable Marine bases along the Demilitarized Zone like Con Thien, to stealthy long-range reconnaissance patrols – American forces across the length and breadth of South Vietnam sought to bring overwhelming firepower to bear on their North Vietnamese and Viet Cong foes.

The sparks that kindled the flames of war

Viewed through the prism of time, the years after World War II can seem like an idyllic era, with U.S. power supreme, the middle class thriving and families living stable “Ozzie and Harriet” lives after decades of war and economic depression.

Vietnam at 50: 1966

It was the year of the reality check. In 1966, Americans began to grasp what they faced in Vietnam. Back home the U.S. administration struggled to sell the war as a necessary sacrifice to stop global communism and save a backward people from an evil aggressor seeking to enslave them.

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