November 4

This Day in History

Also on This Day

Lead Story
Soviets put brutal end to Hungarian revolution, 1956
American Revolution
Patriot, politician and physician William Shippen dies, 1801
Automotive
Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Tehran, leading to oil embargo, 1979
Civil War
Rebels attack Yankee supply base at the Battle of Johnsonville, 1864
Cold War
Soviets crush Hungarian revolt, 1956
Crime
One of New York's most notorious gamblers is shot to death, 1928
Disaster
Heavy rain leads to flooding in New England, 1927
General Interest
Entrance to King Tut's tomb discovered, 1922
Iranians storm U.S. embassy, 1979
Yitzhak Rabin assassinated, 1995
Barack Obama elected as America's first black president, 2008
Hollywood
Dances with Wolves debuts, 1990
Literary
T.S. Eliot wins Nobel Prize in literature, 1948
Music
Anne Murray earns a #1 pop hit with "You Needed Me", 1978
Old West
Will Rogers is born in Oklahoma, 1879
Presidential
Abraham Lincoln marries Mary Todd, 1842
Sports
End of an era for the Yankees, 2001
Vietnam War
South Vietnamese battle communists along the Cambodian border, 1969
U.S. hands over air base to the Vietnamese Air Force, 1970
World War I
Poet Wilfred Owen killed in action , 1918
World War II
Gen. Sir John Dill dies, 1944

Vietnam War

Nov 4, 1970:

U.S. hands over air base to the Vietnamese Air Force

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The United States hands over an air base in the Mekong Delta to the Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) as part of the Vietnamization program. President Richard Nixon initiated this program in 1969 to increase the fighting capability of South Vietnam so they could assume more responsibility for the war. It included the provision of new equipment and weapons and an intensified advisory effort. Secretary of the Air Force Robert Seamans and Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam, attended the ceremony. The air base became the home of two South Vietnamese helicopter squadrons, with the United States providing 62 aircraft, 31 of which were turned over along with the air base. By 1973, after additional equipment and aircraft transfers had been made to VNAF, the air base had a fleet of 1,700 aircraft, including more than 500 helicopters.

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This Week in History, Nov 4 - Nov 10

Nov 04, 1969
South Vietnamese battle communists along the Cambodian border
Nov 04, 1970
U.S. hands over air base to the Vietnamese Air Force
Nov 05, 1968
Nixon wins presidential election
Nov 05, 1970
U.S. combat deaths down
Nov 06, 1963
General Minh takes over leadership of South Vietnam
Nov 06, 1970
South Vietnamese forces attack into Cambodia
Nov 07, 1964
U.S. intelligence asserts numbers of North Vietnamese in South Vietnam growing
Nov 07, 1966
McNamara shouted down at Harvard speech
Nov 07, 1972
Nixon re-elected president
Nov 08, 1965
Lawrence Joel earns Medal of Honor
Nov 09, 1965
Antiwar protestor sets himself afire
Nov 09, 1967
Captain Lance Sijan shot down over North Vietnam
Nov 09, 1970
Supreme Court refuses to rule on legality of Vietnam War
Nov 10, 1964
McNamara says that U.S. has no plans to send combat troops to Vietnam
Nov 10, 1970
No U.S. combat fatalities reported
Nov 10, 1971
Khmer Rouge forces attack Phnom Penh airport

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