These Photos Show the Real Vietnam War
The Caring Hearts
Not everything about the war was bad. In this image, you can see a Lance Corporal U.S. soldier gallantly carrying an elderly Vietnamese lady to safety. The photo was taken in 1970 and shows that, despite some rumors, not all soldiers were involved in destruction.
This senior citizen couldn’t keep up with the American patrol and the soldier chose to help her by carrying her as they went. For the elderly and those who were sick or weak, the war was particularly difficult.
Vietnamese Terrain Was the Worst Enemy
Soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War had far more than enemy soldiers to deal with. The endless rain during monsoon season, the constant mud, insects, heat and humidity was almost worse than the war itself. It was virtually impossible to move through the thick jungle and even fields were dangerous and difficult to traverse.
In the Mekong Delta, shown here, there are around 800 species of reptiles and amphibians. Another 430 types of mammals inhabit the area and there are plenty of dangerous creatures. Soldiers had to deal with elephants, tigers, snakes, and deadly insects, too. It was a new, terrifying landscape that they struggled to adapt to.
The South Vietnamese Marines
The U.S. wasn’t fighting alone. They worked with South Vietnamese soldiers like the Marines shown in this image. In the middle of the sugarcane plantation, a Marine holds his wounded fellow soldier and waits for help. The South Vietnamese lost many of their own during the war.
It’s thought that around 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed during the war. This rose after 1973, when the U.S. and Australia both quit the war. The local troops were left to struggle on with minimal resources and this made it far more difficult for them.
Secret Activists in the Mangrove Swamps
The photo shown here is an extremely rare shot of female activists from the Vietnam War. They hid their identities with masks and held their gatherings in the mangroves of the Nam Can forest on the Mekong Delta. The group was extremely secret and very few photos exist of them.
The main reason behind wearing the masks was so that even other women in the group didn’t know who they were working with. If any of the activists were captured, they wouldn’t be able to betray anyone, no matter how much they were tortured. The photo was unique because it was nearly impossible to get images to the northern part of the country from the mangroves.
Mountain Tribes
This photo shows a group called Montagnard, or “people of the mountain” in French. These groups were Vietnamese ethnically and the U.S., as well as South Vietnam tried to recruit them to fight alongside the south. As a minority group, the Montagnard weren’t originally part of the war.
The groups were tapped for potential soldiers and then taught unconventional fighting methods by the American Special Forces. This helped the U.S. Army as it fought throughout the country. This particular group lived in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Moving Through the Rice Fields
This image was taken in December of 1964. Rather than showing a holiday spirit, it gives a glimpse into the difficulties of crossing rice fields with an Eagle Flight helicopter providing cover. The South Vietnamese troops had to wade through waist deep water to get to the trees.
Rice fields were a major part of the terrain in Vietnam and they were the site of many a bloody battle. They were also ideal places for deadly ambushes. Since the U.S. troops weren’t accustomed to this type of terrain, the Viet Cong took full advantage of everything the Mekong Delta had to offer and used it to defeat the soldiers.
Source: https://lodyhelp.com/vietnam-military-history-museum/