On March 29, we at the Fort Campbell Historical Foundation wish to honor the service of the over 2,700,000 veterans who served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1973.
American ground troops arrived in Vietnam on March 8, 1965, to protect the American airbase at Da Nang. What followed was years of arduous, brutal combat that resulted in thousands of casualties on both sides.
Soldiers in the field experienced challenge after challenge after challenge as the war continued for nearly eight long years through the jungles of Vietnam. This war also was the first war where military forces and operations were televised. Americans at home saw what their troops saw for the first time.
Finally, March 29, 1973, marked the day that the last American combat forces withdrew from Vietnam. The U.S. Vietnam War Commemoration stated that on that same day, Hanoi released the last of its acknowledged prisoners of war.
National Vietnam War Veterans Day was established in 2012, as a way for all Americans to remember and honor the service of the military who served during the Vietnam War.
58,318 Americans laid down their lives in service of our country, and are now honored at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
We want to acknowledge and thank the brave men and women who served during the war for their service and give them the respect that they may not have found when they returned many years ago. May this be a day of remembrance for those who gave all in the name of the United States of America, and for their families who they left behind.