Jane, we know why you were there and who your heroes were too... and what you were fighting for!
Hmmmmm, a word from Mike Walker, Col. USMC (retired)
Marines,
Finishing up my course on Chinese Military History. Thought you might like to read a snippet of what the Chinese historians are now writing about the Vietnam War:
“The official DRV claim was 4,154 U.S. planes downed during the war. The official number recorded by the United States is 1,096. It is impossible to reconcile this difference. However, factors which led to such disparity deserve to be noted. First, the defending sides, including North Vietnamese and Chinese AAA units, and Soviet SAM units, on occasion might all claim to have shot down the same enemy plane. Second, Hanoi might have lumped all downed and damaged planes together in its claims. Finally, Hanoi and the DRV leaders inflated claims to improve morale. Nevertheless, the Chinese record is impressive. During three years and nine months in North Vietnam, all Chinese anti-aircraft artillery divisions, together with those units assigned to protect engineering troops, fought 2,153 engagements. They shot down 1,707 U.S. planes and damaged 1,608, while capturing 42 American pilots.
Between 1965 and 1969 a total of 320,000 Chinese troops served in North Vietnam, and the greatest number at any one time there was 170,000. More than 1,100 Chinese died and 4,300 were wounded in Vietnam. A small number of Chinese sacrifices, as Le Duan once noted, could save two or three million Vietnamese. Hanoi's leaders might not have been completely satisfied with Beijing's support, but they acknowledged that Vietnam could not have succeeded without the vast rear of China and its support.”
Semper Fi,
Mike
