HIST 357 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Ngo Dinh Diem, Friendly Fire, Stellar Population
Document Summary
S korea, thailand and philippines sent troops but they were basically mercenaries: americans paid them massively, s. koreans sent 50,000 troops, war contracts, subsidies for each soldier that went, package of 1 billion dollars. In 1965, s. korea was a non-economic entity: no significant role in international econ then, 1 billion dollars = start-up money. Idea was to do all of this ^^ and hide it from the public: vietnamese are aware but americans are not, attempt to make enemy respond. Viet veterans had a lot of trouble in the job market; not generously received by the american population. I - 2 marine divisions stationed plus the americal (23 - most poorly led us forces) // northern part of s. Ii - elements of the 4th, 173rd cav. , special forces, two korean divisions // central vietnam, heavily uninhabited strip, heavily forested, n. vietnamese took refuge here.
