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President Johnson Visits Vietnam Soldiers

William Westmoreland

President Johnson Visits Vietnam Soldiers

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Photo Galleries (2)

  • Vietnam War: Leaders
    Vietnam War: Leaders

    15 Photos

    View images of the Presidents, politicians, and military leaders who influenced American involvement in the Vietnam War.

    (15 Photos)
  • Vietnam War
    Vietnam War

    14 Photos

    The Vietnam War lasted longer than any other war in U.S. history and cost 58,000 American lives

    (14 Photos)

Videos (21)

  • A Soldier's Story: Hamburger Hill
    A Soldier's Story: Hamburger Hill

    Video Clip (4:41)

    In 1969, Arthur Wiknik found himself in one of the Vietnam War's most notorious battles.

    Video Clip (4:41)
  • A Soldier's Story: Khe Sanh
    A Soldier's Story: Khe Sanh

    Video Clip (3:06)

    Amid a siege that would last 77 days, medic Raymond Torres was dropped into central Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:06)
  • Tet Offensive
    Tet Offensive

    Video Clip (4:53)

    This massive North Vietnamese surprise attack during the 1968 Tet holiday was a crucial turning point in the war.

    Video Clip (4:53)
  • Search and Destroy
    Search and Destroy

    Video Clip (3:01)

    Search and Destroy missions were a crucial part of the American war strategy in Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:01)
  • On Patrol
    On Patrol

    Video Clip (4:14)

    In the field, many soldiers spent their time on patrol, seeking out communist forces, and avoiding lethal booby traps.

    Video Clip (4:14)
  • Barry Romo
    Barry Romo

    Video Clip (3:24)

    Fresh out of high school, Barry Romo enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve in Vietnam. Romo was awarded a bronze star for his efforts but grew disillusioned with the war and later joined a controversial group called Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

    Video Clip (3:24)
  • Joe Galloway
    Joe Galloway

    Video Clip (3:49)

    Reporter Joe Galloway covered the Vietnam War from the frontlines while embedded with the Command Unit of the 1st Cavalry Division.

    Video Clip (3:49)
  • Raymond Torres
    Raymond Torres

    Video Clip (2:52)

    Navy medic Raymond Torres joined the Navy to attend medical school and was assigned to a Marine Corps company. While tending to wounded Marines during the Khe Sanh battle, Torres was critically injured when a grenade exploded near him.

    Video Clip (2:52)
  • Keith Connolly
    Keith Connolly

    Video Clip (4:31)

    Air Force pilot Keith Connolly was among the first USAF units to be stationed within South Vietnam. During his second tour, he flew F-4 Phantoms targeting the Ho Chi Minh Trail and witnessed two of his men go missing after his plane had been hit.

    Video Clip (4:31)
  • Gery Benedetti
    Gery Benedetti

    Video Clip (3:18)

    Gery Benedetti was a member of the "Brown Water River Rats," whose missions were a crucial but dangerous component of the American combat operation in Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:18)
  • Donald Devore
    Donald Devore

    Video Clip (3:22)

    in the summer of 1968, Donald Devore was drafted and sent off to basic training. Devore was assigned to an artillery unit in Vietnam and after four months, was granted leave to attend the birth of his first child.

    Video Clip (3:22)
  • Elizabeth Allen
    Elizabeth Allen

    Video Clip (3:11)

    Psychiatric nurse Elizabeth Allen volunteered for the Army and requested frontline duty in Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:11)
  • Bob Clewell
    Bob Clewell

    Video Clip (3:35)

    Bob Clewell dropped out of college to join the Army, and arrive in Vietnam just weeks after the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. During his third tour, he was trained as a helicopter pilot, providing air support for ground troops during the Lam Son 719 offensive.

    Video Clip (3:35)
  • Arthur Wiknik
    Arthur Wiknik

    Video Clip (3:42)

    As an 18-year-old draftee, Arthur Wiknik was rushed through officer candidate's school. After one month in Vietnam he found himself in the middle of the battle of "Hamburger Hill"--one of the most notorious battles of the war.

    Video Clip (3:42)
  • Karl Marlantes
    Karl Marlantes

    Video Clip (3:26)

    Marine Karl Marlantes left behind a Rhodes scholarship to volunteer for service in Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:26)
  • The Seawolves
    The Seawolves

    Video Clip (4:56)

    A surprise phone call reunites two Vietnam war veterans, George Heady and Al Billings, with films of their service in the Navy Seawolves helicopter unit.

    Video Clip (4:56)
  • Charles Brown
    Charles Brown

    Video Clip (3:07)

    Raised in the segregated South, Charles Brown thought his best shot at a better life was to join the Army. He was stationed with the 101st Airborne Division and quickly appointed platoon sergeant, leading search and destroy missions through the jungles of Vietnam.

    Video Clip (3:07)
  • Anne Purcell
    Anne Purcell

    Video Clip (3:57)

    As a military wife, Anne Purcell had already sent her husband off to war once before, in Korea. But less than six months after her husband Ben volunteered for Vietnam, he was reported "missing in action."

    Video Clip (3:57)
  • The Tet Offensive
    The Tet Offensive

    Video Clip (3:47)

    A calculated series of attacks take American and South Vietnamese forces by surprise, but the Viet Cong's offensive quickly spirals out of control.

    Video Clip (3:47)
  • Veteran's Home Movies
    Veteran's Home Movies

    Video Clip (2:44)

    Find out why more veterans came home with home movies from Vietnam and how they helped give Vietnam in HD a unique perspective of the war.

    Video Clip (2:44)
  • Vietnam
    Vietnam

    Video Clip (1:42)

    Whether they volunteered or were drafted, 1 out of 10 soldiers did not survive Vietnam.

    Video Clip (1:42)

Speeches & Audio (5)

  • Westmoreland on the Vietnam War
    Westmoreland on the Vietnam War

    Audio Clip (2:01)

    On April 28, 1967, Gen. William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. operations in Vietnam, describes to a joint session of Congress the challenges of fighting a relentless enemy.

    Audio Clip (2:01)
  • Senator Morse Calls for Vietnam Withdrawal
    Senator Morse Calls for Vietnam Withdrawal

    Audio Clip (1:38)

    In an address before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 10, 1968, Sen. Wayne Morse, a vehement critic of the war in Vietnam, attacks President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy after Gen. William Westmoreland requested that 200,000 more troops be sent in response to the Tet Offensive.

    Audio Clip (1:38)
  • LBJ on Resumption of Air Strikes in North Vietnam
    LBJ on Resumption of Air Strikes in North Vietnam

    Audio Clip (1:16)

    In a broadcast from the White House on January 31, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson informs the nation that U.S. airstrikes on Vietnam have resumed after a 37-day pause in bombing.

    Audio Clip (1:16)
  • Nixon on the Vietnam War
    Nixon on the Vietnam War

    Audio Clip (1:06)

    While campaigning for reelection in 1972, President Richard M. Nixon promises to end the war in Vietnam in such a way as to ensure a "a full generation of peace."

    Audio Clip (1:06)
  • Vietnam POWs Return Home
    Vietnam POWs Return Home

    Audio Clip (1:07)

    On February 14, 1973, 18 days after the Vietnam peace agreement was signed, the first American prisoners of war returned home from Vietnam. The first man off the plane, Capt. Jeremiah A. Denton Jr., calls for U.S. citizens to unify.

    Audio Clip (1:07)

Interactives (1)

Read More about William Westmoreland

General William Westmoreland commanded U.S. military operations during the Vietnam War from mid-1964 to mid-1968.

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