Mar. 9, 1962 - U.S. officials said today that American pilots were engaged in combat missions with South Vietnamese pilots in training them to fight Communist guerrillas. No clarification was made by the State Department as to whether this conformed with U.S. policy as enunciated by President Kennedy — that Americans in Vietnam are assigned for training, not combat, but are under orders to fire back if shot at. Officials emphasized that the American pilots were always accompanied by South Vietnamese pilots on the combat missions. The purpose of such flights by the Americans is to train the Vietnamese so they can carry out combat missions in the future on their own, it was stated.
