Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country known for its beaches, rivers, Buddhist pagodas and bustling cities. Hanoi, the capital, pays homage to the nation’s iconic Communist-era leader, Ho Chi Minh, via a huge marble mausoleum. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) has French colonial landmarks, plus Vietnamese War history museums and the Củ Chi tunnels, used by Viet Cong soldiers.
- Vietnamese don't call it the "Vietnam War," they call it the "Resistance War Against America."
- A Vietnam War Sniper crawled for 3 days across 2000m of open field, killed a general with one shot, then crawled back.
- Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the executioner from the famous Vietnam War photo, opened a pizza joint in Virginia after the war.
- U.S. troops in Vietnam employed over 5,000 'war dogs'.
- During the Vietnam War, American troops would eat small amounts of C4 plastic explosive to get high.
- President Jimmy Carter pardoned all Vietnam draft dodgers on his second day in office.
- The U.S. dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on Laos from 1964 to 1973 during the Vietnam War. That's equal to a planeload every 8 minutes for 9 years.
- After the Vietnam war, farmers recycled thousands of external fuel tanks from U.S. aircraft to create river boats and canoes
- President Richard Nixon pardoned a lieutenant, who gathered 70-80 Vietnamese civilians into a ditch and murdered them during the My Lai massacre, from his sentence of house arrest.
- In 1973, Le Duc Tho became the first and only person ever to voluntarily refuse a Nobel Peace Prize. He negotiated a ceasefire in the Vietnam War but peace was not yet established.
- During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military plied its servicemen with speed, steroids, and painkillers to help them handle extended combat. From 1966 to 1969, they used 225 million tablets of stimulants.
- The Gulf War cost each American US$306 while Vietnam was US$2,204 per person. The Korean War cost US$2,266 and WW2, US$20,388 per person.
- The founder of FedEx served two tours of duty in the Vietnam War and was awarded a Bronze Star,
- Silver Star and two Purple Hearts.
- 39% of U.S. casualties in the Vietnam War occured through friendly fire.
- During the Vietnam War, Hugh Thompson Jr. order his men to turn their guns on American soldiers to protect Vietnamese civilians and helped put a stop to the My Lai Massacre.
- Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title and faced a 5 year prison term for refusing to serve in the Vietnam War. "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong," he said. "They never called me n****r."