Page 15 - Delaware Medical Journal - November/December 2018

There was controversy in Washington, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt each year changing his mind on the French in Vietnam. In the beginning, he promised return of all their possessions after the war. Later, he claimed not to support France’s imperialistic ambitions, and even later explored the idea of creating a trusteeship for the country.
The beginning of the end for the French was the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu. The French had lost the insurgent war.
It was at the Geneva Conference in 1954 that the disposition of French Indochina included the division of Vietnam into North and South countries at the 17th Parallel. The communist North was the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, to be governed by the Viet Minh, and the South the State of Vietnam, to be headed by former emperor Bao Dai. Both states were to hold elections by July 1956. Other changes in the region included granting independence
to the Kingdom of Laos and the Kingdom of Cambodia. These agreements are generally known as the Geneva Accords.
Ngo Dinh Diem became Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. The U.S. replaced the French as the political backup for him. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam was established. The U.S. administration was dismayed by the Accords. Communist seriously damaged. The United States’ goals were to support
an independent State of South Vietnam that would have its own army, and to assist in developing that army.
The National Security Council approved a plan of military assistance to the State of Vietnam, but the presence at that time of the French military in South Vietnam delayed any implementation. There had been a Military Assistant Group deployed in 1950 with the concurrence of the French; the decision to assist non-communist states economically and militarily still remained the goal.
A series of events followed. An estimated over one
million North Vietnamese sought refuge in the South, below the demarcation line. This migration was hampered by efforts on the part of the Viet Minh to disrupt it. The U.S. now represented the political support for the Diem administration. North Vietnam began a military buildup. U.S. military advisors continued to support the creation of an Army of the Republic of South Vietnam. The National Liberation Front (the Viet Cong) was created. Its efforts, along with the Vietnam People’s Army and their actions against the South, set the stage for the Vietnam War. In April 1956, the last French forces departed Vietnam. [See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_ Geneva_Conference]

withdrawal of American combat troops on March 9, 1973, was a period of turmoil, confusion, intrigue, political maneuvering, changing loyalties, competition among the major powers,
coup d’états, changes of authority both military and political, numerous high-level international meetings, and more. In addition, there was a presidential assassination, the loss of
a noted civil rights leader and the revelation of American atrocities at My Lai. Massive anti-war demonstrations, the death of four students at Kent State University, Watergate,
and more also occurred. Heavy and intense combat continued throughout the period — the Tet offensive, the battle of Hue, bombing of North Vietnam and Laos, and more. The period marines of the Third Marine Regiment defending the Da Nang in May 1965.
The physicians in this era witnessed all this, and those with “boots on the ground” participated in parts of it. Let’s hear from them.
Bill Duncan
Photos provided by Joseph F. Kestner, MD, Vietnam 1970
Del Med J | November/December 2018 | Vol. 90 | No. 8
283