1960-62
Vietnam War Timeline
1960-62 |
Vietnam War Timeline |
1960
Recognizing that the sea was a likely avenue of approach for Communists infiltrating
from North Vietnam or moving along the South Vietnamese littoral, in April 1960 the navy
established the paramilitary Coastal Force. In line with its emphasis on counterinsurgency
warfare, the Kennedy administration wholeheartedly endorsed the development of this junk
fleet, providing the force with American naval advisors, boat design and construction
funds, and stocks of small arms. By the end of 1964, the 3,800-man, 600-junk force
patrolled the offshore waters from 28 bases along the coast. To coordinate the operations
of these 28 separate divisions, U.S. advisors helped set up coastal surveillance centers
in Danang , Cam Ranh, Vung Tau, and An Thoi, the respective headquarters of the 1st, 2d,
3d, and 4th Coastal Districts.
May 5 - US MAAG strength is increased from 327 to 6850 members.
June and July , Men of US Naval Beach Group 1 and Underwater Demolition
Team (UDT) 12 pushed 430 miles up the unpredictable, rapid-strewn Mekong River to deliver
ten landing craft to the Laotian armed forces.
August
5 - Captain "Kong Le's paratroopers sieze Vietiane, the administrative captial of Laos.
9 - Kong Le acussing the United States of colonialism and urges restoration of a
neutral Laos under Prince Souvanna Phouma . This is opposed by "Phoumi Nosavan and Boun Oum supported by the United States and "Thailand.
August - Malayan Emergency ends.
12 October 1960: If ever there was a war where we would have been engaged
in a hopeless struggle without allies, for an unpopular colonialist cause, it
John F. Kennedy
October 1960 - The US Navy formed the River Transport Escort Group as
protection for the vital foodstuffs being convoyed through the Mekong Delta to Saigon.
Later in the period, the navy created the River Transport Group to move army forces in the
delta.
November 11-1 2 - In South Vietnam a military coup against Ngo
Dinh Diem fails.
December 16 - The forces of Phoumi Unshaven capture Vientiane and Kong Le flees to
north-central Laos and links up with the communist Pathet Lao, who are supported by the
Soviet Union. The United States increases aid to Phoumi Nosavan.US Special Forces train
the Royal Army and the North Vietnamese match this by sending Viet Cong cadre to Pathet Lao units.
December 20 - The Communist National Liberation Front (NLF) of South Vietnam is formed.
Temporarily deployed American mobile training teams complemented the advisory effort.
These small detachments accomplished such specialized tasks as helping to develop a
full-fledged intelligence department on the Vietnamese Naval Staff, reactivating an old
French boat repair yard adjacent to the Saigon Naval Shipyard, and teaching courses in
radar technology. In addition, the mobile training teams instructed Vietnamese Air Force
mechanics in the maintenance of 63 Douglas A-1H Skyraiders and 15 North American T-28
Trojan aircraft that were transferred to the allied air service from 1960 to 1964. Also
during this period, many Vietnamese naval personnel received training at U.S. facilities
in the United States, including the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island and the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Other Vietnamese sailors served short
tours in Seventh Fleet ships or benefited from combined antisubmarine warfare exercises
with U.S. submarines Bluegill (SS 242), Queenfish (SS 393), and Capitaine
(AGSS 336).
At the end of 1960 the communists in the South announced the formation of the National Liberation Front (NLF), which was designed to serve as the political arm of the Viet Cong and also as a broad-based organization for all those who desired an end to the Diem regime. The Front's regular army, usually referred to as the “main force” by the Americans, was much smaller than Diem's army, but it was only one component of the Viet Cong's so-called People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF). At the base of the PLAF were village guerrilla units, made up of part-time combatants who lived at home and worked at their regular occupations during the day. Their function was to persuade or intimidate their neighbors into supporting the NLF, to protect its political apparatus, and to harass the government, police, and security forces with booby traps, raids, kidnappings, and murders. The guerrilla forces also served as a recruiting agency and source of manpower for the other echelons of the PLAF. Above the guerrillas were the local or regional forces, full-time soldiers organized in platoon- or company-sized units who operated within the bounds of a province or region. As members of the guerrilla militia gained experience, they might be upgraded to the regional or main forces. These forces were better-equipped and acted as full-time soldiers. Based in remote jungles, swamps, or mountainous areas, they could operate throughout a province (in the case of regional forces) or even the country (in the case of the main force). When necessary, the full-time forces might also reinforce a guerrilla unit or several units for some special operation.
1961
In the spring of 1961 their offensive appeared on the verge of overwhelming the pro-
American Royal Laotian Army. Once again the fleet sortied into Southeast Asian waters. By
the end of April most of the ">Seventh fleet was deployed off the Indochinese Peninsula
preparing to initiate operations into Laos. The force consisted of Coral Sea
(CVA
43) and Midway (CVA 41) carrier battle groups, antisubmarine support carrier Kearsarge
(CVS 33), one helicopter carrier, three groups of amphibious ships, two submarines, and
three Marine battalion landing teams. At the same time, shorebased air patrol squadrons
and another three Marine battalion landing teams stood ready in Okinawa and the
Philippines to support the afloat force. Although the administration of President John F.
Kennedy already had decided against American intervention to rescue the Laotian
government, Communist forces halted their advance and agreed to negotiations. The
contending Laotian factions concluded a cease-fire on 8 May 1961, but it lasted only a
year.
January 4 - Prince Boun Oum organizes a pro-Western government in Laos; North Vietnam
and theUSSR send aid to the Pathet Lao communist insurgents.
19 January 1961: President Eisenhower opened the discussion on Laos by
stating that the United States was determined to preserve the independence of
Laos. It was his opinion that if Laos should fall to the Communists, then it
would be just a question of time until South Vietnam,Cambodia, Thailand and Burma would collapse. He felt that the Communists had designs on all of
Southeast Asia, and that it would be a tragedy to permit Laos to fall.
--Memorandum of Conversation, Eisenhower-Kennedy meeting on Laos.
19 January 1961: As I listened to him [Eisenhower] in the Cabinet
Room that January morning, I recalled that it was President Eisenhower who had acquainted the public with the phrase "domino theory" by using
it to describe how one country after another could be expected to fall under Communist control once the process started in Southeast Asia. -Clark Clifford.
January 20. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
takes the office of President of the United
States of America.
April 9. President Ngo
Dinh Diem is re-elected as President of South Vietnam.
US Ambassador Frederick Nolting reveals that Diem, "did not want combat troops in
Vietnam".
April 10 - First defoliation test mission is flown in Vietnam.
Exercise Pony Express, conducted on the northern coast of Borneo by 60 ships and 26,000
personnel from SEATO member states between late April and early May 1961, prominently
displayed U.S. naval power and allied military solidarity. Throughout this period, the
Navy took other steps to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to friendly governments. Heavy
cruisers Toledo (CA 133) in October 1959 and Saint Paul (CA 73), the
flagship of Commander Seventh Fleet, in October 1960 visited Saigon to participate in
Vietnamese Independence Day celebrations.
May 5. President Kennedy at a press conference declares that if necessary the use
of US forces would be considered "to help South Vietnam resist communist
pressures". The President also decides not to send troops to Laos.
May 8. A task force of US sub-cabinet officials makes a recommendation
that US forces in South Vietnam be increased from a few hundred to several thousand.
President Kennedy authorises an increase of 100 advisers and 400 Special Forces troops to
train South Vietnamese.
May 11-1 3 -Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam for talks with
Diem. Johnson is briefed by the President to proclaim America's solidarity.
May 16. A 14 nation conference in Geneva affirms Lao's neutrality.
May 23. Vice President Johnson returns to the United States from a visit
to Southeast Asia and gives a report to Kennedy on his trip. He states that the US must
either help the countries of Southeast Asia or pull back its defenses to San Francisco.
June 16. Following a meeting between South Vietnam's President Diem and
Kennedy, the United States agrees to increase the number of American advisors in Vietnam
from 340 to 805. The commitment places the prestige of the Kennedy Administration behind
the efforts in Vietnam.
July. Australia is "distressed" by Britain's announcement that they will
seek to join the EEC.
August - Conditions in in Laos are deteriorating and US Secretary of
State, Dean Rusk states at a White House meeting that the US should be ready to defend
Indochina under a SEATO plan, which calls for the dispatch of 30,000 combat troops
supplied by Great Britain, France and the United States. Both Britain and and France have
already made it clear that they had no intention of sending troops.
1 August 1962, US Minesweeping Division 71 sailed from the area, thus
ending the 7-month-long combined patrol. Other Seventh Fleet ships gathered information on
the suitability of South Vietnamese beaches for amphibious landings. During January 1962,
high-speed transport Cook (APD 130) conducted beach surveys along the South
Vietnamese coast from Quang Tri in the north to Vung Tau in the south. In February and
March of the following year, Weiss (APD 135) made a similar transit along the South
Vietnamese littoral. On several occasions, the Viet Cong fired on shore parties from the
ship. Fleet units also transported American support forces to South Vietnam.
27 August - US Commander Mine Division 93, with ocean minesweepers
Leader (MSO 490) and Excel (MSO 439), made the first official visit by ships of the U.S.
Navy to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
September 1-4 -Viet Cong forces carry out a series of attacks in Kontum Province,
South Vietnam.
September 18 - A Viet Cong battalion seizes the provincial capital of Phuoc Vinh
some 55 miles (89km) from Saigon.
October 8 - The Lao factions agree to form a neutral coalition headed by Souvanna
Phouma, but fail to agree on the apportionment of cabinet posts.
A Report on South Vietnam by Roger Hilsman - Director of US Intelligence and Research
October 11 - President Kennedy announces that his principal military
adviser General Maxwell D. Taylor, USA, will go to South Vietnam to investigate the
situation.
After the fact-finding mission General Maxwell D. Taylor, the Kennedy administration,
responded by: 1) increasing military aid and the number of advisors in-country, 2)
adopting specialized counterinsurgency measures, and 3) deploying American support forces
to Southeast Asia. The U.S. Navy played an important role in each of these three major
programs. Paralleling the overall rise in MAAG strength, the Navy Section increased from
79 men in 1959 to 154 in early 1964. In addition, the naval advisors began to accompany
South Vietnamese ships, river assault groups, and other units on combat operations.
Another small naval contingent served on the staff of the Military Assistance Command,
Vietnam (MACV), established on 8 February 1962 to coordinate the total U.S. effort in the
Republic of Vietnam. The command function was centralized when the MAAG was disestablished
on 15 May 1964, and its resources were absorbed by MACV. Thereafter, the Naval Advisory
Group (NAG) continued the work of the old Navy Section. By the end of the year, 235 naval
The Kennedy administration concluded early that in addition to providing military aid and
advice to friends in their fight against Communist "wars of national
liberation," specially trained American units might be necessary to combat the
enemy's political-military offensive. The Taylor mission to South Vietnam in October 1961
invigorated the American effort to develop specialized counterinsurgency units in the U.S.
Armed Forces.
October 11 - Operation "Farm Gate" . Training of SVN Air force
October 11 - US
Secretary of Defence - McNamara's report to President Kennedy
DRAFT MEMO FROM THE
SEC'Y OF DEFENSE (MCNAMARA) TO THE PRES WASHINGTON, 11-5-61 TOP SECRET
SEC'Y MCNAMARA'S MEMO FOR
THE PRES ON THE SUBJECT OF RVN MEMO FROM LIEUTENANT COMMANDER WORTH S BAGLEY TO
THE PRES'S MILITARY REP (TAYLOR) WASHINGTON, 11-7-61 TOP SECRET
Memo from the Sec'y of
Defense (McNamara) to the JCS Chairman (Lemnitzer) Washington, 11-13-61
MEMO FROM THE SECDEF
(MCNAMARA) TO THE JCS CHAIRMAN (LEMNITZER) WASHINGTON, 11-13-61 TOP SECRET
October 11 - Memorandum From the President [Kennedy] to the Secretary of State [Rusk] and the Secretary of Defense [McNamara]
November - Colonel S.C Graham, Australian Director of Military
Intelligence tours Vietnam and concludes that; "...the war in Vietnam had already
reached a stage similar to that which existed before Dien Bien Phu".
November 15. President Kennedy has doubts about US involvement in Vietnam.
November 16 - As a result of the Taylor mission, President Kennedy decides to
increase military aid to South Vietnam, without committing US combat troops .
U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE 95/03/06 Foreign Relation ons, 1961-63, Vol XXIII, Southeast Asia, Office
of the Historian
NATIONAL
SECURITY ACTION MEMORANDUM NO. 1 11, November 22, 1961
Memo from the Joint
Chiefs of Staff to the Sec'y of Defense (McNamara) Washington, 11-22-61, Top
Secret
Telegram from the Sec Def
(McNamara) to the Commander in Chief Pacific (Felt) and the Chief MAAG Vietnam (McGarr)
Washington, 11-28-61, TOP SECRET; Priority
December - Indonesia proclaims that they would reclaim Dutch New Guinea by the end
of 1962.
11 December 1961, Aircraft Ferry Core (T-AKV 13) of the Navy's
Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) arrived in Saigon and offloaded two Army
helicopter transportation companies. At the end of January 1962, Card
(T-AKV 40)
carried another such unit to Subic Bay. There, it was transferred to amphibious assault
ship Princeton (LPH 5), LST 629, and LST 630 for the last leg of the
journey to Danang.
14 December - In this 1961 letter, Kennedy expressed his strong support for Diem, and his "embattled country" facing an insurrection "supported and directed from outside by the authorities at Hanoi." He further promised that "We shall promptly increase our assistance to your defense effort" — something JFK in fact did. This letter is in ironic contrast to later documents which show the frustration of American officials with what they saw as the repressive policies of Diem. There is, for example, a telegram from Secretary of State Dean Rusk and read and approved by President Kennedy to Henry Cabot Lodge in Saigon, instructing him on how to deal with the South Vietnamese government, and this telegram, transmitted immediately after a companion telegram instructing Ambassador Lodge on dealing with the Diem government
31 December - US military personnel total 3,200.
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By the middle of 1960 it was apparent that the South Vietnamese army and security forces could not cope with the new threat. During the last half of 1959, VC-initiated ambushes and attacks on posts averaged well over 100 a month. In the next year 2,500 government functionaries and other real and imagined enemies of the Viet Cong were assassinated. It took some time for the new situation to be recognized in Saigon and Washington. Only after four VC companies had attacked and overrun an ARVN regimental headquarters northeast of Saigon in January 1960 did Americans in Vietnam begin to plan for increased U.S. aid to Diem. They also began to search for ways to persuade Diem to reform and reorganize his government—a search that would prove futile. Under U.S. President John F. Kennedy, the number of U.S. advisers to the South Vietnamese military rose from 1,500 to 15,000. |
During the 1961 spring crisis, antisubmarine support carrier Bennington (CVS 20)
carried 14 Sikorsky H-34 helicopters to the Gulf of Siam where they were flown off and
transferred to friendly forces in Laos, then preparing to meet the next Pathet Lao assaults. However, relative calm settled over the country during the latter half of 1961
and early 1962. This lull was shattered when the Communists overran the pro-American
defenders of Nam Tha on 6 May 1962, renewing fears for the survival of a non-Communist
Laotian government.
Among the ships and craft provided between 1961 and 1964 by the United States to the
Vietnamese Navy's Sea Force were an additional 5 escorts (PCE), 12 motor gunboats
(PGM), 3
medium landing ships (LSM), and 3 tank landing ships (LST), 1 fuel barge (YOG), and 12
minesweeping launches (MLMS). These vessels gave the oceangoing force a greater capability
to carry out its responsibility for patrol and transport along the 1,200-mile coastline,
gunfire support of troops ashore, amphibious landings, minesweeping, and open sea
operations.
As a result of "President Kennedy's decision in November 1961 to expand the use of American
support units in South Vietnam, in "limited partnership" with the South
Vietnamese Armed Forces, the U.S. Navy deployed major fleet units to the increasingly
hostile region. Beginning in December 1961,Seventh Fleet and Vietnamese Navy units
conducted combined surface and air patrol operations from the 17th parallel eastward to
the Paracel Islands. The purpose of the patrols was to train the South Vietnamese Sea
Force in open sea deployments and to determine the extent of any waterborne infiltration
of munitions from North Vietnam. Aided in their surveillance mission by Martin SP-5B
Marlin seaplanes based on Taiwan, five minesweepers of Minesweeping Division 73 carried
out the first patrols. Faster and more seaworthy destroyer escort ships soon relieved the minesweepers on patrol.
During the 1961 fall crisis, planes from Ticonderoga(CVA 14) conducted
photographic reconnaissance over the Central Highlands. In September and October, Douglas
A D-2P Skywarriors and Vought F8U-IP Crusaders flew random missions over suspected
infiltration routes.
1962
1 January 1962 - The US Navy established in the Atlantic and Pacific
Fleets 60-man naval special warfare units called SEAL teams (the name reflects a
capability to fight on the sea, in the air, and on land). Their chief purpose was to carry
out guerrilla and anti guerrilla operations in rivers, canals, harbours, and on adjacent
land areas. The units were also charged with training American and allied forces for
special operations.
First US planes arrive at Tan Son Nhut Airport for Operation "Ranch Hand"
12 January - In Operation Chopper, helicopters flown by U.S. Army pilots ferry 1,000 South Vietnamese soldiers to sweep a NLF stronghold near Saigon. This marks the first American Combat Missions against the Viet Cong
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Jan 12 - The US Air Force launches Operation Ranch Hand -
(Herbicides in Southeast Asia) to deny the Vietcong the use of
the road and trails. Using a defoliating herbicide named Agent Orange, over 10% of the
vegetation in Vietnam is destroyed during the course of the war. The defoliant also causes
severe disabilities among Vietnam veterans and the population of Vietnam. Between 1963 and 1966, 6 million gallons of agent orange were used in Vietnam. Agent Orange usage from 1961 to 1971 was by far the most used of the so-called ""Rainbow Herbicides"" utilized during the program. Degradation of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) released dioxins, which have caused health problems for those exposed during the Vietnam War. Video-Operation "Ranch Hand" - Video Duration 5:23 mins |
13 - The US Joint Chiefs of Staff urge President Kennedy to authorise the deployment
of troops to Vietnam to prevent 'Vietnam's loss'.
13 January 1962: It must be recognized that the fall of South Vietnam
to Communist control would mean the eventual Communist domination of all of the
Southeast Asian mainland. . . . Of equal importance to the immediate losses are
the eventualities which could follow the loss of the Southeast Asian mainland.
All of the Indonesian archipelago could come under the domination and control of
the USSR and would become a Communist base posing a threat against Australia and
New Zealand. The Sino-Soviet Bloc would have control of the eastern access to
the Indian Ocean. The Philippines and Japan could be pressured to assume, at
best, a neutralist role, thus eliminating two of our major bases of defence in
the Western Pacific. Our lines of defence then would be pulled north to Korea,
Okinawa and Taiwan resulting in the subsequent overtaxing of our lines of
communications in a limited war. India's ability to remain neutral would be
jeopardized and, as the Bloc meets success, its concurrent stepped-up activities
to move into and control Africa can be expected. . . . It is, in fact, a planned
phase in the Communist timetable for world domination. --US Gen. Lyman
Lemnitzer, Chairman, US Joint Chiefs of Staff
February
February 2 - C-123 Provider-- Lost 53 total, 21 in combat. First loss was C-123B 56-4370 attached to the 464th TAW which came down on an Operation Ranch Hand (defoliation) training flight between Bien Hoa and Vung Tau, SVN on February 2, 1962 -Final loss 1971
February 3 -The "Strategic Hamlet" program begins in South Vietnam. he object of the program was to concentrate rural populations into more defensible positions where they could be more easily protected and segregated from the Viet Cong. The hamlet project was inspired by a similar program in Malaya, where local farmers had been moved into so-called New Villages during a rebellion by Chinese Malayan communists in 1948–60. In the case of Vietnam, however, it proved virtually impossible to tell which Vietnamese were to be protected and which excluded. Because of popular discontent with the compulsory labour and frequent dislocations involved in establishing the villages, many strategic hamlets soon had as many VC recruits inside their walls as outside. Operation "
Sunrise". Objective of Operation,
"to establish hamlets in one of the least secure areas in South Vietnam
Descriptive Narrative of Operation".
This was a pilot Strategic Hamlet program. Hamlets were constructed to remove the
peasants from the countryside, and thus from VC control. A war correspondent reported that
only 4 of the 14 camps were constructed by November 1962 and the main hamlet, Ben Tuong,
February 5 - Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara reports: "
The actions which the South Vietnamese Government has taken to counter the very serious
threat of subversion and aggression, covert aggression, in that nation, are beginning to
be effective...'.
February 7 - American military strength in South Vietnam reaches 4,000, with the arrival of
two additional Army aviation units.
19 February 1962, US Admiral George W. Anderson, the Chief of Naval
Operations, authorized establishment of another type of unit designed to counter Communist
insurgencies through civic action programs. The 13-man Seabee Technical Assistance Teams (STAT), formed to help win the support of indigenous populations for their governments,
also constructed traditional military posts for American and friendly forces.
27 - President Ngo
Dinh Diem escapes injury when two South Vietnamese aircraft attack the
Presidential Palace.
Seeking to verify any Communist infiltration of arms and supplies from Cambodia into the Ca Mau Peninsula and adjacent areas, U.S. and South Vietnamese naval forces mounted a
similar effort in the Gulf of Siam. Training the Vietnamese Navy in blue-water
surveillance operations also became a goal in this area. Destroyer escorts Wiseman
(DE 667) and Walton "(DE 361) initiated the combined patrol when they steamed into
the gulf on 27 February 1962. For the next three months, U.S. ships' radar vectored South
Vietnamese ships toward suspicious contacts for boarding and search. Nonetheless, the
gulf's shallow waters precluded combined operations by U.S. and Vietnamese ships, thus
allowing little opportunity for training. At the same time, the forces found no
appreciable infiltration. Accordingly, U.S. participation in the gulf patrol was ended on
21 May, when the ships of Escort Division 72 departed South Vietnamese waters for their
scheduled return to the United States.
March
31 - President Ngo
Dinh Diem writes to Australian Prime Minister Menzies, drawing his
attention to, "the grave threat to peace in Vietnam".
April
7 April 1962: The following considerations influence our thinking on
Vietnam: 1. We have a growing military commitment. This could expand step by
step into a major, long-drawn out indecisive military involvement. 2. We are
backing a weak and, on the record, ineffectual government and a leader who as a
politician may be beyond the point of no return. 3. There is consequent danger
we shall replace the French as the colonial forces in the area and bleed as the
French did. John
Kenneth Galbraith
Australian Army Colonel Ted Serong and future Commanding Officer of the Australian
Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) visits Vietnam and concludes "Vietnam was one of
restrained optimism".
'Get Me Ten Years': Australia's Ted Serong in Vietnam, 1962-1975."
May
ANZUS Council meeting in Canberra. US Secretary of State Dean Rusk states that the US
wants more support in Vietnam from its allies and asks Sir Garfield Barwick, Australian
Minister for External Affairs for a contribution of instructors. US Secretary of State Dean Rusk “freely admitted to the ANZUS meeting in Canberra in May 1962, that the US armed forces knew little about jungle warfare”
6 - Phoumi Nosavan having refused to co-operate in forming a coalition cabinet in
Laos masses troops on China's border area. North Vietnamese troops invade Laos. 5,000
defenders flee in panic. Nosavan agrees on a coalition government with Pathet Lao and
rightist elements, headed by Souvanna Phouma. The North Vietnameses now have protection on
the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the main supply route into Vietnam.
Determined to preserve the status quo and at the same time reassure American allies, President Kennedy again ordered the Seventh Fleet into the South China Sea. The Hancock CVA 19) carrier group and the Bennington submarine hunter-killer group steamed to
a position off Danang, and the fleet's Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) carried the Marine
Special Landing Force (SLF) into the Gulf of Siam. Then, in mid-May, U.S. ground, air, and
naval forces deployed to Thailand. On the 17th, the Amphibious Ready Group landed a Marine
ground-air team, which quickly moved forward to Adorn on the Thai-Laotian border. Other
units, including elements of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 10, joined this force in
succeeding days to form the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. With the forces in the area
now more in balance, political compromise was possible.
10 May 1962: Eisenhower dwelt at length on the danger to South Vietnam
and Thailand as both will be outflanked if Laos is in Communist hands and
concluded that such a situation would be so critical to Southeast Asia and so
important to the U.S. that most extreme measures, including the commitment of
U.S. forces to combat in Laos, were justified. . . . Finally Eisenhower warned
of the consequences of losing Southeast Asia, pointing out that if it is lost,
nothing would stop the southward movement of Communism through Indonesia and
this would have the effect of cutting the world in half. --John
McCone
15 - Australian Cabinet resolves that military assistance to South Vietnam can only
be undertaken at the request of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), but should such a request be
made, Australia was willing to send a small force of advisers and instructors.
23 - Australian Government announces that the No 79 Squadron RAAF, equipped with Sabre
Jet fighters is to be stationed in Ubon, Thailand.
24 - Australian Minister for Defence, Athol Townley announces that 30 Army
Instructors are to be sent to Vietnam and states; "If the communists were to achieve
their aims in Vietnam, this would gravely affect the security of the whole of Southeast
Asia and ultimately Australia".
June
June 7 - 
Under SEATO contingency plans the 79 Sqn(RAAF) is deployed to Ubon in Thailand to provide air security of Thai airspace. Ten RAAF Sabre Jets are deployed(2 as spares)
June 17- 20. Australian Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies visits Washington and conducts talks with President Kennedy.
July
23 July 1962, the various Laotian parties formally agreed at the Geneva
Conference to form a coalition government headed by the neutralist, Prince Souvanna Phouma.
23 - Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara reports: "Our military assistance to Vietnam is paying off. The South Vietnamese are beginning
to hit the Viet Cong insurgents where it hurts most - in winning the people to the side of
the government....".
COMUSMACV General Paul Harkins: "There is no doubt we are on the
winning side".
CIA Director John McCone late wrote that MACV and the Embassy: "...
had been grossly misinformed by the South Vietnamese province and district chiefs .....
The province and district chiefs felt obliged to 'create statistics' which would meet the
approbation of the Central Government".
This was a period of disinformation or highly exaggerated reports by the South Vietnamese
government. SVN officers disgruntled by the situation leaked sensitive information to
the press in hope that some of the truth would reach Washington.
August
August 3 - 30 Advisors from the Australian Army Training Team(AATTV)arrive in South Vietnam and are met by the Australian Ambassador. They become the first Australian troops involved in the Indochina war. The Australian military assistance was to be in jungle warfare training, and the Team comprised highly qualified and experienced officers and NCO's, led by Colonel Ted Serong
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Responding to South Vietnamese reports of air intrusions by unidentified aircraft in
August 1962, the US Navy dispatched an AD-5Q (EA-IF) Skyraider detachment of Air Early
Warning Squadron 13 to Tan Son Nhut Airfield near Saigon.
October
9 October - Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara reports: "I think it is too
early to say that the tide has turned or to predict the final outcome....".
November 1962 to February 1963, Douglas RA-3B Skywarriors of Heavy
Photographic Squadron 61 photographed large segments of the country for use in a crash
mapmaking program.
Sir Garfield Barwick, Australian Minister for External Affairs
"The courageous people of Vietnam [are in the] front line struggle against
communist aggression ... Recruits are obtained by kidnapping and other coercive measures,
and sent to North Vietnam for training and indoctrination. Later they come back to form
new Viet Cong units".
Australian AATTV Captain Barry Peterson’s work with raising an anti-communist Montagnard force in the central highlands between 1962 and 1964 highlighted another problem – South Vietnamese officials sometimes found sustained success by a foreigner difficult to accept.
Copyright © 1997 AUSVETS
Last modified:
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