What was the deadliest job in Vietnam?

Overall, the U.S. military used nearly 12,000 helicopters in Vietnam, of which more than 5,000 were destroyed. To be a helicopter pilot or crew member was among the most dangerous jobs in the war.

What was the bloodiest day in Vietnam?

The deadliest day of the Vietnam War for the U.S. was 31 January at the start of the Tet Offensive when 246 Americans were killed in action.

Who fired first in the Vietnam War?

This initial action was never reported by the Johnson administration, which insisted that the Vietnamese boats fired first.

Who was the best tunnel rat in Vietnam War?

One of the American "Tunnel Rats" in Vietnam, Garza was chosen, because of his slight stature, to venture into the narrow, pitch-black passageways of the tunnels. Garza's unit was stationed near Parrot Peak in Cambodia during the Vietnam War in 1969.

What was the job of a tunnel rat in Vietnam?

The tunnel rats were American, Australian, New Zealander, and South Vietnamese soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War.

Most Deadliest Jobs of the Vietnam War

What was the life expectancy of a tunnel rat in Vietnam?

The life expectancy for a tunnel rat is about 7 seconds, but I was never injured while in the tunnel. “A young Vietnamese boy showed me a lifesaving technique.

How many tunnel rats died in Vietnam?

According to the Department of Defense, a total of 700 soldiers served as Tunnel Rats during the Vietnam War. Of the number, 36 were killed and 200 injured.

Who did the Viet Cong fear the most?

Yes...the Koreans. In the early 50s, in defence of their own country, the Koreans were undertrained, ill equipped, etc. You did not want to count on them at all. But in Vietnam, if it moved in the jungle, they killed it.

What was the most feared unit in the Vietnam War?

Tiger Force (Recon) 1-327th was a highly decorated small unit in Vietnam, and paid for its reputation with heavy casualties. In October 1968, Tiger Force's parent battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by President Lyndon B.

Who refused to fight in the Vietnam War?

On June 20, 1967, the great Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston for refusing induction in the U.S. armed forces. Ali saw the war in Vietnam as an exercise in genocide.

Did the U.S. lose any generals in Vietnam?

Ware, his three command staff, and the four helicopter crew were all killed in the crash. Ware became the second United States Army general officer to die in the Vietnam War, after Brigadier General Alfred Judson Force Moody died of a heart attack in South Vietnam on 19 March 1967.

Who was the last soldier out of Vietnam?

Max Beilke was the last American soldier to leave Vietnam. He and 124 others were killed Sept. 11, 2001 when a Boeing 757 flew into The Pentagon. On March 29, 1973, Mr.

Which soldier has the most kills in Vietnam?

Charles Benjamin "Chuck" Mawhinney (born 1949) is a former United States Marine who holds the Corps' record for the most confirmed sniper kills, having recorded 103 confirmed kills and 216 probable kills in 16 months during the Vietnam War.

How were soldiers tortured in Vietnam?

North Vietnamese torture was exceptionally cruel--prison guards bound POWs' arms and legs with tight ropes and then dislocated them, and left men in iron foot stocks for days or weeks. Extreme beatings were common, many times resulting in POW deaths.

Where was the heaviest fighting in Vietnam?

The heaviest action took place near Dak To, in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. The presence of the PAVN 1st Division prompted a 22-day battle there and had some of the most intense close-quarters fighting of the entire conflict.

What was the worst deaths in Vietnam?

According to the Vietnamese government's official history, one of the deadliest years was 1972, where they lost over 100,000 dead.

Why was fragging so common in Vietnam?

With troops reluctant to risk their lives in what was perceived as a lost war, fragging was seen by some enlisted men "as the most effective way to discourage their superiors from showing enthusiasm for combat."

What did the Viet Cong call themselves?

Collectively the United States often called them the Viet Cong. It was commonly shortened to VC, which in military alphabet code was spoken as Victor Charlie. It was further shortened to just Charlie. American soldiers called them Charlie, they called themselves liberators.

Did children fight for Vietcong?

Against this background, children as young as 13 and 14 were involved in the armed struggle, learning guerrilla warfare tactics and killing both American and South Vietnamese soldiers. Some were trained to be informants.

What did the Vietcong do to civilians?

By 1969, nearly 250 civilians were being murdered or kidnapped each week. VC/PAVN terror squads committed over 36,000 murders and almost 58,000 kidnappings from 1967 to 1972 according to a U.S. Department of Defense estimate in 1973.

Did any Americans fight for the Vietcong?

Only a handful American servicemen are believed to have defected to the communists during the Vietnam War. One of the more bizarre cases is that of McKinley Nolan. A Texan with the U.S. Army's 1^st Infantry Division, Nolan reportedly slipped away from his basecamp in Tay Ninh Province on Nov.

How many soldiers were bitten by snakes in Vietnam?

The United States Archives and other sources suggest that between 25 and 50 American soldiers a year were bitten by snakes during the war in Vietnam. Some 10,786 American soldiers died of non-combat causes, including 9,107 by accidents and 938 due to illness.

How deep were Viet Cong tunnels?

There were a variety of tunnel types: squad-size tunnels generally were less than 6-feet deep and 100-feet long; company-size tunnels were wider but not extensively compartmented; and battalion-size tunnels could burrow 50 feet underground and sometimes contain up to four different levels.

Did soldiers keep rats as pets?

Because ammunition needed to be conserved for battles, killing the rats with bayonets was acceptable and eventually became a pastime for the soldiers. Rats also served as companions, with some soldiers keeping them as pets to escape the brutality of the war around them.