Vietnam Veterans for Factual History

Facts not myths

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REASSESSING ARVN
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
by LEWIS SORLEY Copyright © 2006—o—A Lecture Delivered at the Vietnam Center Texas Tech University Lubbock, Texas No one account could hope to address all the many aspects of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam’s performance in such a long and complex endeavor as the Vietnam War. This morning, then, I would like to speak to selected aspects, and to
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Ho_Chi_Minh_1946
Ho Chi Minh's Entreaties to Truman
Paul Schmehl
Commentary
By Paul SchmehlWhenever discussing the Vietnam War, one of the topics that comes up is that the OSS worked with Ho during WWII, Ho requested help from the US by sending both letters and telegrams to President Truman and Ho quoted the American Declaration of Independence in his own declaration of independence.While all these things are true, they of
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vietnam-and-rules-of-engagement-and-rubber-trees-729x483-1
The Rules of Engagement in the 2nd Indochina War
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
By Paul SchmehlThis is a subject that is little known or discussed among the so-called experts on the war but had a significant impact on its outcome.  While it is well known that Washington micromanaged the war (thus the famous story about LBJ boasting that the military couldn't bomb an outhouse without his approval [1. Broughton, Jacksel, and Joh
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The Rest of the Story
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
So often the story of Viet Nam is told from a singular point of view.  Only part of the story is told, and that part impacts people's lives in multiple negative ways because the truth is not known.  One of the most impactful photographs of the 2nd Indochina War is the famous Eddie Adams photograph of Brig. General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing Bay Lop
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Meetings of Antiwar Activists With Communists
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
Comrades—Meetings 1963-1975Appendix IA--American “Peace Activist” Meetings[1] with Enemy During War, 1962-1975 by Roger Canfield in Comrades in Arms: How the Americong Won the War in Vietnam Against the Common Enemy-America available http://americong.com1962March, Hanoi, Ruth Gage-Colby, Women Strike for Peace, WSPJuly, Moscow, Dagmar Wilson, Ruth
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Comrades In Arms - An Excerpt
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
One of our members, Dr. Roger Canfield, has published a massive book detailing all of the associations and actions of the anti-war activists involved in the Vietnam War, demonstrating their close cooperation with worldwide communism.  (The book is over 2,100 pages and more than 6,000 footnotes.)  When I suggested, on an academic discussio
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Saigon-elections
The 1956 Vietnam Unification Elections
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
This past week the University of Texas at Austin held the Vietnam War Summit.  It was another disappointing attempt to analyze the war without the input of Vietnamese participants (other than the communist ambassador from Vietnam) and without views opposing the accepted wisdom of the anti-war scholars who dominate Vietnam War "scholarship".Particul
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cambodia-genocide
WHY NO KHMER ROUGE TRIAL FOR THE HANOI COMMUNISTS?
Mike Benge
Antiwar Activists
This article is posted at the request and with the permission of its author.The Khmer Rouge trial grinds on slowly on the outskirts of Phnom Penh largely ignored by the world and the citizens of Cambodia. As a Vietnam Veteran listening to testimony in February of 2015 describing the Maoist-inspired genocide that killed two million Cambodians, I was
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commentary
Here We Go Again
Paul Schmehl
Commentary
Paul Schmehl, Independent ResearcherWhenever Vietnam is mentioned in an opinion article, we always sit up and take notice. It is not at all uncommon for the history of Vietnam and the lessons of Vietnam to be invoked in reference to other conflicts. In fact Vietnam is the fulcrum from which all false arguments about war are launched. We are told we
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commentary
Thoughts From A Vietnam Veteran
Paul Schmehl
Commentary
Recently I received the below email from Del. Del is R. J. DelVecchio. He was a Marine combat photographer and wandered all over I Corps photographing Marines in combat, resting, taking care of Vietnamese civilians in MedCap operations and grieving over the loss of their buddies. Some of his photographs are featured on our website. Del is one of th
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SOG OP 35 and U.S. Army Special Forces in South Vietnam
Paul Schmehl
Montagnards
James D. McLeroy SOG OP 35 In January, 1961 President Kennedy ordered the CIA to begin unconventional warfare (UW) operations against North Vietnam. Because of the Cuban invasion fiasco in April of that year, he ordered all CIA paramilitary and UW programs transferred to the Pentagon. In early 1964, the Pentagon created the Studies and Observations
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Ngo-Dinh-Diem
The American Betrayal of President Diem
Paul Schmehl
Historical Perspective
Dr. Geoffrey D. T. ShawThis is an excerpt of an upcoming book (which you can pre-order) The Lost Mandate of Heaven: The American Betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam by Geoffrey D. T. Shaw by permission of the author, who is a member of VVFH.“The fall of the dictator, greeted at the beginning with joy by the Vietnamese as the grounds for
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Antiwar-Protestors-Communist-Flags
Antiwar Activists and Historians: Selected Quotes
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
Adopted from Roger Canfield’s Comrades in Arms: How the Americong Won the War in Vietnam Against the Common Enemy—America.SAM ANSON24-year-old Robert Sam Anson, a Time Magazine reporter who arrived in Vietnam in early 1970 was an experienced war protester who already believed the war was colonial, immoral, illegal and unwinnable.[1. Robert Sam Anso
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WINNING THE BATTLES AND LOSING THE WAR
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
By James D. McLeroy After the 1954 partition of Vietnam into a Communist north and an anti-Communist south, approximately 100,000 South Vietnamese Communists moved north to the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam (DRV). About 80,000 of them were Viet Minh veterans of the First Indochina War against the French, and an estimated 10,000 of those were Mont
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Ho-chi-minh-trail
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
By James D. McLeroy The first step in the North Vietnamese Politburo's grand strategy for the conquest of South Vietnam was its May, 1959 order to the Ministry of Defense to begin construction of the Truong Son Strategic Supply Route, later known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Ministry of Defense gave the task to its Rear Services Directorate, which
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The North Vietnamese Army
Paul Schmehl
1965-1973 Combat Phase
By James D. McLeroyAt various times and places the Second Indochina War (1959 to 1975) displayed some of the characteristics of a South Vietnamese revolution, insurgency, guerrilla war, and civil war. Primarily, however, it was always an incremental invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army, at first indirect and covert, then direct an
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Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
Recently I've been studying the Pentagon Papers and the events surrounding their release. In that regard I read a New York Times op-ed written by Daniel Ellsberg that purports to tell the story of what compelled him to release national secrets to the media. More than any other single event in American history, Ellsberg's perfidy opened the floodgat
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commentary
This Is What Passes For Logic in the Antiwar Crowd
Paul Schmehl
Antiwar Activists
Counterpunch is a leftist, communist commentary site.  It's sometimes worthwhile to visit the site to see what the enemies of America are thinking.  This article is a perfect example of the muddled thinking that passes for "logic" among communists.  Of course their goal isn't truth, so anything can be made to seem logical if one does
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SACEI
The SACEI Forum
Paul Schmehl
Historical Perspective
If you're interested in all things Vietnam, you may already be familiar with the Saigon Arts, Culture and Education Institute.  If you're not, you may want to pay them a visit.  I'll bet you end up bookmarking the site.  Filled with interesting articles about Vietnam, many of them concerning the view of the 2nd Indochina War and its aftermath from
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Flag of South Vietnam
Why Was Vietnam Lost to Communism?
Paul Schmehl
Commentary
By Paul Schmehl, Independent Researcher Millions of words have been written about the Vietnam War, or as we prefer to call it, the 2nd Indochina War. Many thousands of those words have been about why the war was lost. There are as many opinions about why the 2nd Indochina War was lost as there are writers to express them. A search on Amaz
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