Background Information of the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was an international Cold War conflict for control of South Vietnam involving North Vietnam and its allies against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies between 1954 and 1968. While there had been earlier, noncombat involvement of the United States before 1962, the Vietnam War, in terms of U.S. combat, began in 1962 with direct support to the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Viet Nam (ARVN), with the last U.S. bombing of North Vietnam in late 1972. At various times, the U.S. and ARVN forces were joined by South Korean, Filipino, New Zealand, Thai and Australian troops.
After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region. However, a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, resulted in a failed attempt. The French were defeated on the 8th of May 1954. The French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up elections in order to form a government in the South.
Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese tried to take over the government in South Vietnam, and in November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive drive to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia. Fearing a communist takeover of the entire region, the United States grew more and more wary of the progress of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong. Communism had become the evil menace in the United States and with expansion of Soviet rule, the Americans were bent on stopping communism from spreading any further.
In the 1950s, the United States sent troops to Vietnam which created an ensuing war which lasted for 25 years. Approximately, 3 million soldiers were sent for a questionable cause. In total, the casualties totaled to two and a half million in total.
Challenges faced by the Vietnamese Government
The conflict in Vietnam ended up engulfing neighbouring Cambodia and Laos. United States and South Vietnamese forces sought to block the flow of soldiers and equipment through these countries in 1970. In 1975 communist forces prevailed in all three countries causing millions to try and flee the new regimes.
Cambodia sunk into the nightmare of Khmer Rouge rule. Refugee camps were set up along the Thai border as thousands of Cambodians fled the country. The camps were overcrowded and sometimes violent and people lived in them for years waiting for resettlement.
Two million people sought to escape South Vietnam after the communist victory taking overcrowded boats. Many never made it due to the small, over-crowded boats and the lack of ability to withstand pirate attacks.
After the war Vietnam was a country in ruins; infrastructure on both sides of the North/South divide had been destroyed. In 1957, the elections meant to unify the country failed to take place. In 1972, the South was left to continue the war without the support of foreign ground troops.
Project done to help the Vietnamese recover
The Australian Vietnam Veterans Reconstruction Group (AVVRG) was established in 1994 by a veteran of the war, Paul Murphy. Murphy was moved by the poverty and the terrible state of the country’s infrastructure almost two decades after the end of the war. Vietnam remained mired in poverty, unable to recover from a war whose aftermath had involved further fighting in Cambodia and a brief conflict with China in 1979.
Murphy identifed areas of need, launching an Australia-wide fundraising programme to support projects in South Vietnam. The AVVRG’s projects have included the installation of septic toilets at Long Tan as well as the establishment of medical and dental facilities. The organisation has also helped construct schools and orphanages; it has carried out agricultural and aquaculture projects. Members of the group also sponsor individual Vietnamese children, health care teams conduct regular visits to Vietnam and a busy program of activities shows the AVVRG’s commitment to helping a country in which Australians once fought.
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