1960s Timeline

July 3, 1962 - Here are President Kennedy’s remarks at the White House today to members of a special anti-insurgency seminar run by the Foreign Service Institute. #jfk #vietnam #communism #coldwar

June 30, 1962 - The South Vietnamese Government charged today that new weapons from Communist China had been given to Communist Viet Cong guerrillas. It demanded action against these “flagrant violations” of the Geneva Agreement. South Vietnam charged that Chinese Communist 57-mm. bazookas, recoilless rifles, and ammunition were being used by the Red guerrillas. It was stated that Chinese Communist bazookas, rockets, submachine guns, and ammunition were captured when a Govern

June 29, 1962 - In one of the largest combined operations yet against Communist guerrillas, South Vietnamese paratroopers were dropped this morning by U.S. Air Force planes into a key rebel stronghold in Tay Ninh and Binh Duong Provinces, northeast of Saigon. The latest reports on the major sweep, which is still going on, said the paratroopers had captured nine Viet Cong Communist political officers and seized two rice storage depots and equipment. The sweep is being carried

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 Cong guerrillas for six months, said today that his captors had “exhibited” him in numerous villages. The 26-year-old Army code clerk was captured by two guerrillas while cycling on a lonely road near Saigon last Christmas Eve. Until his Communist captors placed him on a bus June 24, he said, he had been kept tightly bound by ropes above th

June 27, 1962 - A three-day land, sea, and air offensive against Communist guerrillas in the coastal area 50 miles south of Saigon ended tonight with unimpressive results. Although the operation utilized the equivalent of 10 battalions of South Vietnamese troops, 30 U.S. Army and Marine Corps helicopters, 2 new American warfare craft — M-113 amphibious troop carriers and plastic boats — as well as 40 to 50 U.S. military advisors, the Viet Cong Communist guerrillas easily elud

June 24, 1962 - A U.S. soldier was released today by Communist guerrillas who had held him captive six months. He told military interrogators in Saigon that he had successfully resisted attempts to brainwash him. Newsmen were not allowed to see the soldier, S4-C George F. Fryett Jr. A U.S. military spokesman said that Specialist Fryett had denied any knowledge of letters supposedly written by him and mentioned two weeks ago by a guerrilla broadcast. The broadcast indicated th

June 23, 1962 - Three American missionaries who were kidnapped by Communist guerrillas May 30 are being used to treat the wounded and to train the guerrillas in medical aid. This has been reported to U.S. military officials in South Vietnam by Communist prisoners and deserters, who said that the missionaries were in good health and were not being mistreated. Search operations have been called off for fear that harm might befall the missionaries if a pursuit were pressed. The

June 21, 1962 - Three American missionaries kidnapped by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam have been seen alive but are still captives, the Christian and Missionary Alliance said today. The captives are the Rev. Archie E. Mitchell of Washington, Dr. Eleanor Ardel Vietti of Texas, and Daniel Gerber of Ohio. The three were at work at a leprosarium 14 miles southwest of Ban Me Thuot in Communist-dominated territory when Viet Cong guerrillas invaded the leper colony and carried them

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 today as the son of the Army War College’s commandant. The Army identified him today as First Lieutenant William F. Train 3d (pictured), a 24-year-old graduate of West Point. His father is Maj. Gen. William F. Train, who heads the war college at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. The other American killed in the ambush of an armored convoy north of Saig

June 16, 1962 - Two U.S. Army officers were slain this morning when Communist guerrillas ambushed an armored convoy 35 miles north of Saigon. The ambush was planned and executed with a precision that was considered remarkable. All seven vehicles in the convoy were destroyed. At least 15 Vietnamese troops were killed along with several civilian occupants of a motorbus. The bus was blown up by a land mine immediately ahead of the military convoy. The two Americans, a first lieu

Retro news capsule with vintage commercials. Click here to listen. Headlines: President Kennedy addresses the Peace Corps; Senator Mansfield speaks out on Vietnam; Dr. King meets the press; three convicts escape the Rock; Lee Remick gets money for nothing; the Mets take another beating. #history #JFK #MLK #mets #vietnam

June 15, 1962 - Who are the Viet Cong? American military advisors and South Vietnamese officers put them in three categories. The first consists of regulars who fight full-time, led by hardened Communist cadres from North Vietnam. These men, paid and sometimes equipped with standard uniforms, are usually 19 to 35 years old. An American colonel said of them: “The most elusive enemy I’ve ever met.” Local forces who are organized in companies of about 60 men form the second cate

June 14, 1962 - South Vietnamese Army units opened an offensive this morning against Zone D, a jungle sanctuary for the Communist Viet Cong. U.S. Army and Marine helicopters shuttled two battalions of the Fifth Division into the heart of the rain forest, long regarded as an impenetrable guerrilla stronghold 50 miles north of Saigon. Meeting only light opposition, the Government force seized what was described as a “major Communist headquarters and supply base,” killed three C

June 13, 1962 - Communist guerrilla leaders are seeking to win a propaganda advantage from the impending release of an American serviceman, Specialist George F. Fryett Jr. (pictured), who was captured last Christmas. Last Saturday, the Viet Cong radio broadcast what it said was the text of the soldier’s plea for the “liberation” of South Vietnam, denouncing the “United States-Diemist regime” and pleading for leniency. Today, the station broadcast a purported letter by the sol

June 11, 1962 - A U.S. soldier who disappeared Christmas morning after pedaling out of Saigon on his bicycle is a prisoner of the Communist guerrillas. Radio Liberation, voice of the Viet Cong, said Specialist 4-C George F. Fryett, had signed letters denouncing the “United States-Diemist regime.” Ngo Dinh Diem is the President of South Vietnam. Specialist Fryett apparently has been subjected to intensive brainwashing during his captivity of more than five months, American sou

June 6, 1962 - JFK addresses the graduating cadets at West Point and pardons 20 from room confinement. #jfk #military #veterans #vietnam #army #navy #airforce #marines

June 7, 1962 - Four American missionaries went under heavy military escort to the Banmethuot leprosarium today in South Vietnam to inspect the havoc left by Communist guerrillas who raided the jungle hospital last week and kidnapped three staff members (pictured). The missionaries were pleased to find that scores of lepers who fled in terror after the Communist raid had returned safely. These lepers, most of whom were members of the Rhade tribe, survived many hours in the tre

June 6, 1962 - Communist guerrillas (pictured) captured two freight trains filled with food and supplies today in a bold daylight raid 90 miles east of Saigon. The guerrillas forced an armored train that was following the convoy to flee. Then they blew up a bridge to halt another armored train bringing reinforcements from the north. Casualties were not disclosed. It was feared the Communists made off with considerable food and arms. Attacks on the railroad linking Saigon with

June 5, 1962 - The Viet Cong raided a district headquarters of the South Vietnamese Government in the Mekong delta early today, killing 18 persons. The Communist guerrillas burned Government buildings, kidnapped several officials, killed 15 Civil Guard and 3 civilians, and captured 15 members of auxiliary forces. U.S. helicopters brought Government reinforcements at noon, and the town of Thanh Tri was retaken without fighting. But by that time, the Viet Cong guerrillas had ma

June 4, 1962 - The U.S. Information Agency is sponsoring a contest in Saigon for a new name for the Viet Cong guerrillas, who are fighting to overthrow President Ngo Dinh Diem’s Government. “Viet Cong” is a contraction of “Vietnamese Communist,” but the agency does not think it is the type of name to inspire hatred among the country’s illiterate masses. It asked its Vietnamese employees to suggest “a colloquial peasant term implying disgust or ridicule.” A prize equivalent to