Interesting Vietnam War Facts You May Not Have Known

The truth about the Vietnam War is difficult to distinguish from fiction since the war was so rife with secrets and lies. Both sides perpetrated and attempted to cover up so many war crimes that they hardly allowed one truth to come to light. These are verifiable facts about the Vietnam war

Facts about the Vietnam War also include amazing deeds of bravery, tenacity, and selflessness. To fire a single shot that might alter the course of the battle, one American crawled for three days.

They doused the entire nation of Vietnam with deadly chemicals

'Agent Orange,' a defoliant designed to strip away forest cover utilized by opposing guerilla fighters, was a contentious chemical used during the Vietnam War. Following the war, it was discovered that the chemical cocktail caused tumors, birth deformities, and other illnesses in both returning US servicemen and many Vietnamese.

Even to this day, the chemical's effects can be felt. Children in Vietnam are still being born with horrible birth deformities as a result of the lingering effects of 'Agent Orange,' a pesticide used by the US military to eliminate forest cover utilized by Viet Cong forces.

Drug abuse was widespread

A startling 15% of American soldiers had heroin addictions, and some were so eager to get away that they ate C-4 explosives to get high.

The American military favored AK-47s over M-16s that were provided by the government

During this time, the first generation of M-16 Rifles were released. The guns frequently malfunctioned, jammed, and failed to shoot in the middle of a combat. As a result, the US Army preferred the enemy's weapon, the AK-47, over the M-16. US soldiers would frequently take firearms from Vietnamese soldiers they killed. 

The war was not limited to the United States and Vietnam

Australia and New Zealand fought in the war as well. The largest anti-Communist force, however, came from South Korea. As early as 1954, the Korean President desired to become engaged. More than 300,000 Korean forces will battle in Vietnam, killing over 41,000 Vietnamese civilians and inflicting more than 41,000 injuries.

The majority of the men who fought in Vietnam were not drafted.

They were volunteers- More than three-quarters of the men who fought in Vietnam did so voluntarily. Only 1.8 million of the 8.7 million troops who served in the military between 1965 and 1973 were drafted.

At the time, 2.7 million military personnel fought in Vietnam. Only 25% of those 2.7 million were drafted, while draftees accounted for 30% of combat casualties during the conflict.

During the Vietnam War, many unusual inventions were developed-

During the Vietnam War, resources were short, and troops had to use anything and everything they could to preserve lives. During this time, superglue was employed to stop the bleeding until the injured soldier could be properly treated. To fix damaged aircraft blades, duct tape was utilized. Slinkys were employed as mobile radio antennae during the Vietnam War. They'd throw the Slinky over trees to increase the range of their radios.

In order to obstruct truck travel between North and South Vietnam, they utilized weather weapons that could make it rain, bringing rainy weather to the dry season and flooding highways.

The employment of weather manipulation methods, such as cloud seeding, for military goals is known as weather warfare.

Until the release of the Pentagon Papers, the general public was uninformed of the true situation in Vietnam.

The Pentagon papers were a collection of documents containing classified information on the development and status of the Vietnam War.

These were given to The New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg, a Department of Defense employee who became convinced that the war was unwinnable. The public release of the Pentagon Papers sparked widespread outrage.