1960s Timeline

July 23, 1962 - Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara has predicted eventual victory for the West in South Vietnam. “It will take years...

July 20, 1962 - South Vietnamese Government forces swooped down on the Communist-controlled Plain of Reeds 60 miles west of Saigon today....

July 19, 1962 - At least 1,000 Government troops were landed yesterday and Tuesday about 35 miles north of Saigon by U.S. and Vietnamese...

July 18, 1962 - Four U.S. airmen, missing since their transport plane crashed into a South Vietnamese jungle mountainside Sunday, were...

July 15, 1962 - A U.S. Army helicopter with five Americans and two Vietnamese aboard was shot down by Communist insurgents today. It...

July 14, 1962 - Several hundred Viet Cong guerrillas ambushed a large convoy of Government troops along a main road 40 miles north of...

July 8, 1962 - Dean Rusk addresses reports out of Vietnam indicating that the war against Communist guerrillas is not going well....

July 7, 1962 - United States military advisors in South Vietnam are learning some hard but useful lessons about U.S. weapons of war. The...

July 6, 1962 - Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara expressed optimism today that the tide of military developments in South Vietnam...

June 30, 1962 - The South Vietnamese Government charged today that new weapons from Communist China had been given to Communist Viet Cong...

June 29, 1962 - In one of the largest combined operations yet against Communist guerrillas, South Vietnamese paratroopers were dropped...

June 28, 1962 - Specialist George F. Fryett Jr., the U.S. soldier who was released four days ago after he had been a prisoner of the Viet...

June 27, 1962 - A three-day land, sea, and air offensive against Communist guerrillas in the coastal area 50 miles south of Saigon ended...

June 24, 1962 - A U.S. soldier was released today by Communist guerrillas who had held him captive six months. He told military...

June 23, 1962 - Three American missionaries who were kidnapped by Communist guerrillas May 30 are being used to treat the wounded and to...

June 21, 1962 - Three American missionaries kidnapped by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam have been seen alive but are still captives, the...

June 18, 1962 - The second of the two U.S. Army officers killed in a Communist Viet Cong ambush Saturday in South Vietnam was identified...

June 16, 1962 - Two U.S. Army officers were slain this morning when Communist guerrillas ambushed an armored convoy 35 miles north of...

June 15, 1962 - Who are the Viet Cong? American military advisors and South Vietnamese officers put them in three categories. The first...

June 14, 1962 - South Vietnamese Army units opened an offensive this morning against Zone D, a jungle sanctuary for the Communist Viet...