US entry into the war marked a new phase in the Vietnamese struggle. It proved
costly to the Vietnamese as well as to the
Americans. From 1965 to 1972, over 34,
00,000 US army people fought in
Vietnam. Even though the US had
advanced technology and good medical
supplies, a. large number of army people
died. About 47,244 died in battle and 3,
03,704 were wounded. (Of those
wounded, 23,014 were listed by the
Veterans Administration to be 100 per
cent disabled.)
This phase of struggle with the US
was brutal. Thousands of US troops
arrived in Vietnam equipped with heavy
weapons and tanks. They also had the most
powerful bombers of the time – B52s. The
wide spread attacks and use of chemical
weapons destroyed many villages and
decimated jungles. Vietnamese civilians
died in large numbers in these attacks.
Some of the chemical weapons used by
the US were – Napalm (a deadly bomb
which caused intense damage to humans),
Agent Orange (which destroyed plants
and trees and made the land barren for a
long time), and phosphorous bombs.
Agent Orange: The Deadly PoisonAgent Orange is a defoliant, a plant killer, so called because it was stored in drums marked with an orange band. Between 1961 and 1971, some 11 million gallons of this chemical was sprayed from cargo planes by US forces. Their plan was to destroy forests and fields, so that it would be easier to kill people if there was no jungle cover for people to hide in. Over 14 per cent of the country’s farmland was affected by this poison. Its effect has been staggering, continuing to affect people till today. Dioxin, an element of Agent Orange, is known to cause cancer and brain damage in children, and, according to a study, is also the cause of the high incidence of deformities found in the sprayed areas. The tonnage of bombs, including chemical arms, used during the US intervention (mostly against civilian targets) in Vietnam exceeds that used throughout the Second World War. |