30-03-2009, 06:33 AM
David Healy Wrote:I was in Saigon the day JFK was assassinated. At the Plaza Hotel on Tra Hung Dao, Saigon. Had been since the revolution that overthrew Ngo Dinh Diem less than 3 weeks earlier. Located less than 2 blocks from where the first Buddhist self immolation occurred, which I witnessed.
Roughly 17,000 (military support, military advisors, Special Forces, USAID, CIA, Embassy, US civilians, American school, American missionaries and some families the above) Americans were in country that day.
US Military Advisors (MAAG-Vietnam) of which I was assigned, accounted for no more than 1,000 military field advisors assigned to various Republic of South Vietnam military units...
below numbers are fairly accurate.
Year Troop Level
1959 760
1960 900
1961 3,025
1962 11,300
1963 16,300
1964 23,300
1965 184,300
1966 385,300
1967 485,600
1968 536,100
1969 475,200
1970 334,600
1971 156,800
1972 24,200
1973 50
a few other interesting stats....
http://www.landscaper.net/timelin.htm#VI...STATISTICS
this you may find interesting regarding Johnson's handling of the war:
http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html
So much for Kennedy the uber-hawk!
