More GI’s Bound for Vietnam

June 16, 1965 - Defense Secretary Robert McNamara announced today that six more combat battalions, plus supporting troops, were being sent to South Vietnam to offset the continuing build-up of Communist forces there.

The additional troops will total 21,000, McNamara said. Of these, 8,000 will be combat troops and 13,000 will be support troops assigned to advise or assist the South Vietnamese and to increase the effectiveness of American combat units.

The reinforcements will bring American military strength in South Vietnam, now near 54,000 men, to a total of 75,000 men. Of this total, 21,000 will be combat troops, ready to assist the South Vietnamese Army in ground action against the Viet Cong.

McNamara also announced that the Army had been authorized to organize a new type of division — known as “air-mobile” — that would be able to fly into battle in its own planes and helicopters.

The new organization, to be organized at Fort Benning, Ga., will possess four times as many aircraft as a conventional infantry division.

The division is to be formed within two months, making it available for action in Vietnam before the end of the current monsoon season, late in October.

As McNamara held his televised news conference, about 200 demonstrators roamed the Pentagon corridors handing out pamphlets and making speeches protesting against “Pentagon escalation” of the war in Vietnam. 

McNamara, asked whether he contemplated a build-up above the 75,000-man total, replied that the Administration “will do whatever is necessary to achieve our objective and will not do more.”The expectation among Administration officials is that additional reinforcements will be necessary to deal with the Viet Cong offensive during the rainy season.

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