1962 in the Vietnam War
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The Viet Cong (VC) insurgency expanded in
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
in 1962. U.S. military personnel flew combat missions and accompanied South Vietnamese soldiers in ground operations to find and defeat the insurgents. Secrecy was the official U.S. policy concerning the extent of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam. The commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), General
Paul D. Harkins Paul Donal Harkins (May 15, 1904 – August 21, 1984) was a career officer in the United States Army and attained the rank of general. He is most notable for having served during World War II as deputy chief of staff for operations in George S ...
, projected optimism that progress was being made in the war, but that optimism was refuted by the concerns expressed by a large number of more junior officers and civilians. Several prominent magazines, newspapers and politicians in the U.S. questioned the military strategy the U.S. was pursuing in support of the South Vietnamese government of President
Ngô Đình Diệm Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic of ...
. Diệm created the
Strategic Hamlet Program The Strategic Hamlet Program (SHP; vi, Ấp Chiến lược, link=no ) was a plan by the government of South Vietnam in conjunction with the US government and ARPA during the Vietnam War to combat the communist insurgency by pacifying the count ...
as his top priority to defeat the VC. The program intended to cluster South Vietnam's rural dwellers into defended villages where they would be provided with government social services. North Vietnam increased its support to the VC, infiltrating men and supplies into South Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail. North Vietnam proposed negotiations to neutralize South Vietnam as had been done in neighboring
Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, but the failure of the Laotian neutrality agreement doomed that initiative. U.S. analyses and statements about progress and problems with the war often conflicted or contradicted each other which is reflected in this article.


January

; 2 January Two South Vietnamese technicians working in the government's anti-malaria program, Pham Van Hai and Nguyen Van Thach, were killed by VC with machetes, south of
Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...
. ; 3 January The first
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
(USAF) military transport aircraft arrived in South Vietnam under
Operation Mule Train Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
. The aircraft would be used to transport South Vietnamese soldiers. ; 4 January Deputy Secretary of Defense
Roswell Gilpatric Roswell Leavitt Gilpatric (November 4, 1906 – March 15, 1996) was a New York City corporate attorney and government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1961–64, when he played a pivotal role in the high-stake strategie ...
recommended to General Lyman Lemnitzer, the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the ...
, that for military operations involving Americans in South Vietnam
The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
develop a "suitable cover story, or stories, a public explanation, a statement of no comment...for approval of the
Secretary of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
." ; 10 January The first
Operation Ranch Hand Operation Ranch Hand was a U.S. military operation during the Vietnam War, lasting from 1962 until 1971. Largely inspired by the British use of 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D ( Agent Orange) during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s, it was part of the ov ...
mission began.
Agent Orange Agent Orange is a chemical herbicide and defoliant, one of the "tactical use" Rainbow Herbicides. It was used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. It ...
defoliants were sprayed from USAF aircraft along several miles of Highway 15 leading from the port of
Vũng Tàu Vũng Tàu (''Hanoi accent:'' , ''Saigon accent:'' ) is the largest city of Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province in southern Vietnam. The city area is , consists of 13 urban wards and one commune of Long Sơn Islet. Vũng Tàu was the capital of the pr ...
to
Bien Hoa Air Base Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnamese: ''Sân bay Biên Hòa'') is a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about from Ho Chi Minh City, across the Dong Nai river in the northern ward of Tân Phon ...
northeast of Saigon. Although the United States wished to keep the use of defoliants secret, the South Vietnamese government announced publicly that defoliants supplied by the U.S. were being used to kill vegetation near highway routes. ; 12 January Operation Chopper was the first combat operation for
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
soldiers in Vietnam. U.S. pilots transported about 1,000
Army of the Republic of Vietnam The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...
(ARVN) soldiers by helicopter to land and attack VC guerrillas about west of Saigon. The operation was deemed a success. Chopper heralded a new era of air mobility for the U.S. Army, which had been growing as a concept since the Army formed twelve helicopter
battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s in 1952 during the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...
said only that the U.S. was helping the ARVN with "training and transportation." He declined to offer more details about Operation Chopper to avoid "assisting the enemy." ; 15 January
Secretary of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Robert McNamara met with his top military advisers. CINCPAC intelligence told him that the VC now numbered 20,000 to 25,000 and were increasing by 1,000 per month after casualties. South Vietnam's armed forces had suffered more than 1,000 casualties in the previous month, most by the paramilitary Self Defense Corps. McNamara ordered sending 40,000 M-1 carbines to South Vietnam to arm the Self Defense Corps and the
Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Histori ...
, although those two organizations were the sources of many of the VC's captured weapons. McNamara pressed for a "clear and hold" operation in a single South Vietnamese province. Clear and hold envisioned the ARVN securing the province followed by civic and political action to exclude the VC permanently.
Military Assistance Advisory Group Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is a designation for United States military advisors sent to other countries to assist in the training of conventional armed forces and facilitate military aid. Although numerous MAAGs operated around ...
(MAAG) chief General
Lionel C. McGarr Lionel Charles McGarr (March 5, 1904 – November 3, 1988) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army. He was the last commander of Military Assistance Advisory Group – Vietnam. Early life and start of military career McGarr was born i ...
proposed instead using two ARVN divisions in a conventional military sweep focused on killing VC but without the follow-up to hold the area. ; 20 January Admiral Harry D. Felt, CINCPAC commander, authorized American advisers to accompany South Vietnamese military forces on combat operations. ;January - May 1963 In the
Battle of Luang Namtha The Battle of Luang Namtha, fought between January 1962 and May 1963, was a series of clashes in the Laotian Civil War. It came about as a result of the turmoil following Laotian independence as a result of the First Indochina War with France. The ...
the
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...
(PAVN) and
Pathet Lao The Pathet Lao ( lo, ປະເທດລາວ, translit=Pa thēt Lāo, translation=Lao Nation), officially the Lao People's Liberation Army, was a communist political movement and organization in Laos, formed in the mid-20th century. The gro ...
seized control of northwestern Laos from the
Royal Lao Army The Royal Lao Army (french: Armée royale du Laos – ARL), also designated by its anglicized title RLA, was the Land Component of the Royal Lao Armed Forces (FAR), the official military of the Kingdom of Laos during the North Vietnamese invasio ...
.


February

; 2 February
Roger Hilsman Roger Hilsman Jr. (November 23, 1919 – February 23, 2014) was an American soldier, government official, political scientist, and author. He saw action in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II, first with Merrill's Marauders, getting wo ...
, a
U.S. State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
official with World War II experience in guerrilla war, submitted a paper entitled "A Strategic Concept for South Vietnam" to President Kennedy and General Taylor. Drawing heavily on British adviser
Robert Grainger Ker Thompson Sir Robert Grainger Ker Thompson (1916–1992) was a British military officer and counter-insurgency expert who "was widely regarded on both sides of the Atlantic as the world's leading expert on countering the Mao Tse-tung technique of r ...
's plan for strategic hamlets, Hilsman said "the struggle for South Vietnam...is essentially a battle for control of the villages." He stated that "the problem presented by the Viet Cong is a political and not a military problem, and that to be effective counterinsurgency "must provide the people and the villages with protection and physical security." Hilsman's solution to this problem was similar to that of Thompson's. Hilsman advocated that the ARVN adopt tactics of mobility, surprise, and small unit operations. Conventional warfare such as the use of artillery or aerial bombardment to soften up the enemy will "only give advance warning of an operation, permit the Viet Cong to escape and inevitably result in the death of uncommitted or wavering civilians whose support is essential for the Viet Cong's ultimate defeat." ; 3 February President Diệm created by presidential decree the strategic hamlet program headed by his brother,
Ngô Đình Nhu Ngô Đình Nhu (; 7 October 19102 November 1963; baptismal name Jacob) was a Vietnamese archivist and politician. He was the younger brother and chief political advisor of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm. Although he held ...
. The program called for rural people to provide manpower and labor to build and defend the strategic hamlets. It was an ambitious program which projected that 7,000 strategic hamlets would be built by the end of 1962 and 12,000 by the end of 1963, thus consolidating nearly all the rural population of South Vietnam.Peoples, Curtis, "The Use of the British Village Resettlement Model in Malaya and Vietnam" Texas Tech University, 4th Triennial Vietnam Symposium, 11–13 April 2002 http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2002_Symposium/2002Papers_files/peoples.php, accessed 3 Sep 2014 ; 8 February MACV was created to support and assist South Vietnam in defeating the VC insurgency. MAAG continued to exist, but only to train Vietnam's armed forces. General Paul D. Harkins, recommended by President Kennedy's military adviser, General Maxwell Taylor, was named MACV commander. Harkins and his staff had little or no counterinsurgency experience. Moreover, the counterinsurgency effort lacked a "single directing authority" and a "continuing, authoritative interagency oversight." The MACV commander did not have control of the entire counterinsurgency effort and MACV "labored under complex command relationships and had to thread its way through intractable interservice conflicts over fine points of organization, staffing, and doctrine. MACV commander Harkins reported to CINCPAC Chief, Admiral Felt who kept MACV "on a tight rein." ;11 February An
Operation Farm Gate ''Farm Gate'' was the code name for an American air force mission operating in Vietnam before the overt US entry into the Vietnam War. History In the early 1960s, the U.S. armed forces were developing units specifically designed to counte ...
SC-47 crashed on a leaflet-dropping mission killing eight Americans (six Air Force and two Army) and one Vietnamese. ; 14 February Journalist
James Reston James Barrett Reston (November 3, 1909 – December 6, 1995), nicknamed "Scotty", was an American journalist whose career spanned the mid-1930s to the early 1990s. He was associated for many years with ''The New York Times.'' Early lif ...
published an article in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' stating that "The United States is now involved in an undeclared war in South Vietnam. This is well known to the Russians, the Chinese Communists, and everybody else concerned except the American people...Has the President made clear to the Congress and the nation the extent of the U.S. commitment to the South Vietnam government and the dangers involved?" ; 18 February North Vietnam contacted diplomats from the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, co-chairs of the Geneva Accords of 1954, requesting that they "urgently study effective measures to end U.S. aggression in South Vietnam." Later, North Vietnam requested that the UK and USSR "proceed to consultations with the interested countries to seek effective means of preserving the Geneva settlement of 1954 and safeguarding peace." ; 20 February Senator
Wayne Morse Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American attorney and United States Senator from Oregon. Morse is well known for opposing his party's leadership and for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. ...
said in a Senate Hearing closed to the public, "when those ships start coming back to the west coast with the flag-draped coffins of American boys, look out, because the American people, in my judgement are going to be very much divided....I have grave doubts as to the constitutionality of the President's course of action in South Vietnam." VC threw four hand grenades into a crowded village theater near Can Tho, killing 24 women and children. In all, 108 persons were killed or injured. ; 21 February The
Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
cabled instructions about dealing with the media to the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The instructions said that it was not in U.S. interest "to have stories indicating that Americans are leading and directing combat missions against the Viet Cong." A
National Intelligence Estimate National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs) are United States federal government documents that are the authoritative assessment of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on intelligence related to a particular national security issue. NIEs are pr ...
(NIE) by the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA) estimated VC numbers in South Vietnam. There were at least 25,000 full time fighters supported by 100,000 part time locals serving as village defense forces. The NIE estimated that 800 North Vietnamese PAVN officers and soldiers were in South Vietnam assisting the VC. ; 26 February ''
Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' magazine asked the question: "Will the sending of U.S. troops lead to escalation, more guerrillas, more Americans, and an eventual confrontation of the U.S. and Red China? Above all can the U.S. strategy win the war?" ; 27 February Two Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) pilots flying U.S. supplied A-1 Skyraiders bombed the
Independence Palace The Independence Palace ( vi, Dinh Độc Lập), also publicly known as the Reunification Convention Hall ( vi, Hội trường Thống Nhất), is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), Vietnam. It was designed by architec ...
in Saigon to protest President's Diệm's priority on remaining in office rather than defeating the VC. Diệm and his family were uninjured. One of the pilots was imprisoned; the other fled to Cambodia. Both returned to duty after Diệm's death.


March

; 1 March The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) estimated that the VC numbered 20,000 full-time guerrillas, up from 4,000 two years earlier. DOD estimated that the VC controlled 10 percent of South Vietnam's hamlets and had influence in another 60 percent. In the cities, however, VC influence was minimal and the Montagnard people of the Central Highlands supported neither the government nor the communists. The bulk of the VC fighters were located in the Mekong Delta and near Saigon. DOD identified three types of VC fighters. First the main forces were well armed and used only on large operations; second were the provincial and district units, a mixture of guerrillas and organized units; and third, not part of the 20,000 estimate, were the part-time guerrillas, often armed only with primitive weapons but important for intelligence, logistics, and terrorist operations. Five hundred to 1,000 men monthly were estimated to be infiltrating South Vietnam from North Vietnam. ; 6 March The
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
called for an international conference to seek peace in South Vietnam. Cambodia and the Soviet Union supported the proposal. Negotiations in Geneva to create a neutralist coalition government in Laos seemed the inspiration for proposals by North Vietnam, its allies, and neutral Cambodia to seek the convening of a conference. ; 12 March ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' magazine said, "The US has 'capitulated' to Diệm and has bound itself to the defense of a client regime without exacting on its part sacrifices necessary for success. American lives are to be risked in a holding action based on the inexplicable hope that with sharpened-up counter-guerilla operations and marginal reforms the regime will last." ;16 March
Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 was a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation propliner chartered by the United States military that disappeared on March 16, 1962, over the Western Pacific Ocean. The aircraft was transporting 93 U.S. soldiers and thre ...
disappeared approximately west of
Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...
. The Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation with a crew of 11 was transporting 93 U.S. soldiers and three South Vietnamese from Travis Air Force Base, California to Tan Son Nhut Air Base. ; 19 March Operation Sunrise was the first operation in the strategic hamlet program, carried out by ARVN with U.S. advice and transport assistance in the
Bến Cát Ben Cat is a town located in the north of Binh Duong province in the urban area of Ho Chi Minh City, 50 km north of Ho Chi Minh City. Ben Cat is a grade 3 urban area under Binh Duong province, with a total natural area of 234.35 km², a populat ...
region of the Bình Dương Province, north of Saigon. The plan was to kill or expel VC guerrillas and relocate the rural people to four strategic hamlets. However, unlike Thompson's plan which contemplated beginning the strategic hamlet program in relatively secure areas, Bình Dương was heavily under the influence of the VC, nearly all of whom had prior warning of the operation and escaped. The remaining inhabitants were rounded up and forcibly resettled in the strategic hamlets. To control the area, ARVN had to keep a large number of soldiers stationed in Bến Cát and the VC harassed both the army and the hamlets, bringing them under its control in 1964. ; 26 March Begun in November 1961 in the village of Buon Enao with 400 inhabitants, the
Civilian Irregular Defense Group The Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG, pronounced "sid-gee") was a military program developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, which was intended to develop South Vietnamese irregular military units from indig ...
(CIDG) project in Darlac province among the Montgnard peoples had expanded to cover 14,000 people with 972 village defenders and a 300-man strike force to combat VC guerrillas. The CIDG was supported by
U.S. Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service headgear, are a special operations force of the United States Army. The Green Berets are geared towards nine doctrinal m ...
and
ARVN Special Forces The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces ( vi, Lực Lượng Đặc Biệt Quân Lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa or ') were the elite military units of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Following the establishment of the Repub ...
and the CIA with Special Forces soldiers being assigned to villages to train the defenders. The project was managed by David A. Nuttle, an agriculture adviser from Kansas, ARVN Captain Nguyen Duc Phu and Montagnard leader Y-Ju, the village chief of Buon Enao.Harris, J. P. "The Buon Enao Experiment and American Counterinsurgency", ''Sandhurst Occasional Papers'', No. 13, 2013, pp. 15-25 ; 29 March The Joints Chiefs of Staff finalized instructions to MACV concerning "maximum discretion" and "minimum publicity" for U.S. air operations in South Vietnam. If an enemy aircraft was shot down, MACV was instructed to remain silent unless it became necessary to contradict communist propaganda in which case MACV was to say that while on a routine training flight, an unidentified airplane initiated hostile action and was shot down. If a U.S. airplane was lost, MACV was instructed to say that the aircraft was on a routine orientation flight and the cause of the accident is being investigated. MACV was further instructed to ensure that all knowledgeable personnel were "instructed and rehearsed" with these rules.


April

;8 April The VC executed two wounded American prisoners of war near the village of An Châu. Each, hands tied, was shot in the face because he could not keep up with the retreating captors. ;15 April The first
United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
helicopter unit to serve in South Vietnam,
HMM-362 Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 362 (VMM-362) is a United States Marine Corps squadron that operates MV-22 Osprey. The squadron, known as the "Ugly Angels", was reactivated on 17 August 2018 at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California. Miss ...
with Sikorsky UH-34s codenamed "SHUFLY" arrived at
Sóc Trăng Airfield Sóc Trăng Airfield was a French colonial, Imperial Japanese Army, United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Army (US ARMY) and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) base located in Sóc Trăng i ...
.


May

; 6 to 27 May A PAVN assault routed
Royal Lao Government The Royal Lao Government was the ruling authority in the Kingdom of Laos from 1947 until the communist seizure of power in December 1975 and the proclamation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The Franco-Lao Treaty of 1953 gave Laos full i ...
(RLG) forces forcing 2000 troops to flee across the Mekong River into Thailand. ; 8 May Operation Sea Swallow began in Phú Yên Province in central South Vietnam. The objectives were similar to those of Operation Sunrise. The goal was to build more than 80 strategic hamlets in the province before the end of 1962. As of 18 May, more than 600 Civic Action personnel had been trained in the province. Although relatively positive about the strategic hamlet program, Roger Hilsman reported to the State Department that the program suffered from "inadequate direction, coordination, and internal assistance...In the short run, the success of the effort will depend largely on the degree of physical security provided the peasantry, but in the long run the key to success will be the ability of the government to walk the thin line of meaningful and sustained assistance to the villagers without obvious efforts to direct, regiment, or control them." ;19 May - 1 July The
Battalion Landing Team A Marine expeditionary unit (MEU, pronounced as one syllable "" IPA: ) is the smallest air-ground task force (MAGTF) in the United States Fleet Marine Force.3rd Battalion, 9th Marines The 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines (3/9) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War I it served until the early 1990s when it was redesignated as 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (3/4) during a realignment and ren ...
began flying in to Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base from
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
as part of a buildup of U.S. forces in Thailand in response to the worsening situation of the RLG in the
Laotian Civil War The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...
. The Marines were then moved north to the town of
Nong Khai Nong Khai ( th, เทศบาลเมืองหนองคาย, ) is a city in northeast Thailand. It is the capital of Nong Khai province. Nong Khai city is located in Mueang Nong Khai district. Nong Khai lies on the Mekong River, near ...
where they conducted field training exercises with the Royal Thai Army and civic action with Thai civilians. On 1 July with the situation in Laos stabilizing the Marines were flown from Udorn to the Philippines. ; 21 May Lieutenant Colonel
John Paul Vann John Paul Vann (born John Paul Tripp; July 2, 1924 – June 9, 1972) was a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, later retired, who became well known for his role in the Vietnam War. Although separated from the military before the Vietnam ...
arrived in
Mỹ Tho Mỹ Tho () is a city in the Tiền Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. It has a population of approximately 169,000 in 2006 and 220,000 in 2012. It is the regional center of economics, education and technology. The majorit ...
in the
Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...
south of Saigon as head of the U.S. advisory mission to the ARVN 7th Division. The southern half of the delta was under VC control and the northern half was contested. ; 26 May General
William B. Rosson General William Bradford Rosson (August 25, 1918 – December 12, 2004) commanded the U.S. Army, Pacific from October 1970 to January 1973. He was commissioned in 1940 through ROTC and saw combat in World War II, earning the Distinguished Service ...
who had recently visited Buon Enao and the CIDG program in the Central Highlands told General Maxwell Taylor, President Kennedy's military adviser, that the Special Forces soldiers assigned to CIDG were being used "improperly" and that they should be engaged in offensive operations. Rosson's opposition to Buon Enao was especially significant because he was the U.S. Army's Director of Special Operations which oversaw the Special Forces. ;30 May
Eleanor Ardel Vietti Eleanor Ardel Vietti (November 5, 1927 – disappeared May 30, 1962) was an American physician and missionary. She worked at the Buôn Ma Thuột leper colony where she was taken as a prisoner of war on May 30, 1962. She is currently the only Amer ...
,
Archie E. Mitchell The Reverend Archie Emerson Mitchell (born May 1, 1918) was a minister with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). He was born in Franklin, Nebraska.
and Daniel A. Gerber,
missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...
working at the
Buôn Ma Thuột Buôn Ma Thuột () (formerly Lac Giao) or sometimes Buôn Mê Thuột or Ban Mê Thuột, is the capital city of Đắk Lắk Province in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Its population was 420,000 in 2016, and grew to 502,170 by 2018. The c ...
leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
were abducted by the VC. None have been seen since then and Vietti is the only American woman unaccounted for from the war.


June

; 2 June The Canadian and Indian representatives on the
International Control Commission The International Control Commission (ICC), or in French la Commission Internationale de Contrôle (CIC), was an international force established in 1954. More formally called the International Commission for Supervision and Control, the organisati ...
accused North Vietnam of subversion and covert action against South Vietnam, the Polish representative rejected the accusations. ; 6 June President Kennedy spoke to the graduating class at West Point attempting to instill in them his emphasis on counterinsurgency: "This is another type of war, new in its intensity, ancient in its origin - war by guerrillas, subversives, insurgents, assassins, war by ambush instead of by combat; by infiltration, instead of aggression, seeking victory by eroding and exhausting the enemy instead of engaging him...It requires...a whole new kind of strategy, a wholly different kind of force, and therefore a new and wholly different kind of military training." ; 8 June Senator Wayne Morse went public with his criticism of the war. "I have heard no evidence which convinces me that it would be militarily wise to get bogged down anywhere in Asia in a conventional war." ; 10 June Senator Mike Mansfield became the first prominent
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
to question U.S. policy in South Vietnam. Mansfield, an early supporter of President Diệm and the most knowledgeable Senator on Vietnam, called for Diệm to put more emphasis on political and economic development - as had been emphasized to Diệm "for many years." He advocated a greater use of diplomacy by the United States and less emphasis on military aid. ;12 June The RLG, Pathet Lao and
Forces Armées Neutralistes Forces Armées Neutralistes (Neutralist Armed Forces) was an armed political movement of the Laotian Civil War. History Forces Armées Neutralistes has founded upon the basis of the mutinous ''Bataillon Parachustistes 2'' (Battalion of Parachutists ...
agreed a power-sharing arrangement, temporarily suspending the civil war. The VC ambushed a civilian passenger bus near Le Tri,
An Giang Province An Giang () is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country. Geography An Giang occupies a position in the upper reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Hậu Giang and Tiền Giang branches of ...
, killing five men and women.


July

North Vietnamese leader
Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime ...
visited China. He told the Chinese that the United States might attack North Vietnam. China was alarmed by his statement and offered to equip 230 battalions (more than 100,000 soldiers) of the PAVN. ;16 July Journalist
Bernard Fall Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent war correspondent, historian, political scientist, and expert on Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after ...
met with Prime Minister
Phạm Văn Đồng Phạm Văn Đồng (; 1 March 1906 – 29 April 2000) was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam following reunification of North and South Vietnam ...
and Ho Chi Minh in
Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
. Đồng said "we do not want to give pretexts that could lead to an American military intervention in the South." Fall expressed the view that the North Vietnamese would accept a neutralist government in South Vietnam to end U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam, provided that the government did not include President Diệm. That same month, North Vietnamese official Lê Duẩn instructed the VC leadership to avoid escalating the war by attacking cities as that might cause the United States to intervene in the war. ; 19 July The National Liberation Front proposed to end the war in South Vietnam with a ceasefire, the withdrawal of American soldiers and the creation of a coalition government of all factions pending elections. South Vietnam would become a neutral country, as were Cambodia and Laos, guaranteed by international treaty. ; 23 July The CIA had requested an increase in Special Forces soldiers to 400 to expand the CIDG program among the Montagnards in the Central Highlands. Instead, Secretary of Defense McNamara and MACV commander General Harkins transferred responsibility for CIDG from CIA to the DOD which wanted the Special Forces "used in conjunction with active and offensive operations, as opposed to support of static training activities." The transfer of responsibility was called Operation Switchback. A factor possibly influencing the takeover by DOD of the CIDG program was the concern of President Diệm. He was afraid that the Montagnards in Darlac, having gained weapons, training and organization under CIDG, might demand autonomy within South Vietnam. Diệm demanded that the Montagnards be disarmed and be under the control of provincial authorities appointed by him. General Harkins told a meeting of Secretary of Defense McNamara and U.S. military leaders in Hawaii that "there is no doubt we are on the winning side." He predicted that it would take about one year for MACV to develop the South Vietnamese military forces to the point where they could fully engage the VC. McNamara was more cautious stating that he thought it would take three years to get the VC insurgency under control. The
International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is an international agreement signed in Geneva on July 23, 1962 between 14 states, including Laos, as a result of the International Conference on the Settlement of the Laotian Question, which la ...
was signed in Geneva by 14 countries, including China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The agreement declared a cease fire between the Royal Lao government and the communist Pathet Lao guerrillas and aimed to maintain Laos as a neutral country with a coalition government. What resulted instead was a resumption of the Laotian Civil War and a de facto partition of the country with the government controlling the western half of the country and the Pathet Lao the eastern half. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was in territory controlled by the Pathet Lao. ;31 July The
Australian Army Training Team Vietnam The Australian Army Training Team Vietnam (AATTV) was a specialist unit of military advisors of the Australian Army that operated during the Vietnam War. Raised in 1962, the unit was formed solely for service as part of Australia's contribution t ...
arrived in South Vietnam beginning Australia's military commitment there.


August

; 3 August An Australian analysis of North Vietnam's proposal for the neutralization of South Vietnam concluded that President Diệm was "unlikely...to agree to internal negotiations for the withdrawal of United States military aid and the neutralization of South Vietnam." Thus, Hanoi was exploiting international opinion by appearing to be open to negotiations. The failure of the Geneva Agreement on Laos and the outbreak of hostilities between the Royal Lao Government, supported by the U.S., and the Pathet Lao, supported by North Vietnam, in the summer of 1962 destroyed whatever faith North Vietnam had in negotiations with the United States and South Vietnam and strengthened the militants, notably Lê Duẩn, in their conviction that Vietnam would only be united by military action. ; 20 August
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
's Prince
Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, Norodom Sihanouk filmography, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in vari ...
asks Kennedy to convene an international conference to guarantee Cambodian neutrality, otherwise he threatens to request Chinese protection.


September

; 11 September In a briefing for President Kennedy's military adviser, General Taylor in Saigon, Colonel Vann attempted to present his views that the war was going badly, but General Harkins overrode or refuted him. Vann believed that the ARVN was too passive and that indiscriminate bombing, by both South Vietnamese and American pilots, of villages and hamlets was counterproductive, aiding the VC in gaining recruits. He also believed that too many American arms provided to the ARVN and security forces were ending up in the hands of the VC, thus contributing to their growth in numbers. ; 20 September After his visit to South Vietnam, General Taylor returned to Washington. His report was optimistic, citing progress in implementing the strategic hamlet program and training ARVN, improved performances by the paramilitary Civil Guard and Self-Defense Forces, and a larger area of territory under the control of South Vietnam. He also cited problems with intelligence, South Vietnam's lack of a counterinsurgency plan, and continued infiltration of men and supplies from North Vietnam.


October

The Buon Enao CIDG project in Darlac province now counted about 200 Montagnard villages with a population of 60,000 people joined to resist the VC. They were protected by 10,600 defenders and 1,500 strike force personnel. Both the defenders and strike force personnel were themselves villagers. The U.S. Special Forces had four soldiers in each of six Area Development Centers responsible for both civic and paramilitary action. Firefights between the VC and the villages were nearly daily occurrences. About 50 villagers were killed by the VC during 1962; VC casualties were estimated at 200 killed and 460 captured. Buon Enao was considered by some senior U.S. military officers as the most impressive American accomplishment achieved until then in South Vietnam. However, the transfer of responsibility for the CIDG from the CIA to the DOD under Operation Switchover would soon destroy the effectiveness of the program as U.S. Special Forces were increasingly assigned purely military missions. ; 1 October General Taylor was named by President Kennedy to be
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: app ...
. ;8 October Two UH-34Ds of HMM-361 were shot down by VC while on a search-and-rescue mission southwest of Da Nang killing four pilots, five Marine crewmen, the squadron's flight surgeon and two Navy corpsmen in the largest one-day U.S. loss of life to that point in the war. ; 9 October After being deluged with more than 200 visitors from the DOD in the previous month, all requiring food, housing, entertainment, and visits to the countryside to see the war, General Taylor issued a directive to "reduce the number of visitors...to those having actual business of pressing interest." The directive only temporarily reduced the number of visitors. The Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter Company equipped with 15 armed UH-1A helicopters arrived in South Vietnam. They would make their combat debut escorting troop carrying helicopters ten days later. ;11 October The first sea shipment of weapons from North Vietnam to the VC was unloaded in Cà Mau Province. ; 20 October Journalist
David Halberstam David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and later ...
wrote in ''The New York Times'' that "the closer one gets to the actual contact level of the war, the further one gets from official optimism." A VC threw a grenade into a holiday crowd in downtown Saigon, killing six persons, including two children and injuring 38 people.


November

;4 November A VC threw a grenade into an alley in Can Tho, killing one American serviceman and two Vietnamese children. A third Vietnamese child was seriously injured. ; 14 November A Situation Report prepared at The Pentagon expressed satisfaction at progress being made in South Vietnam. The ARVN was becoming more effective; VC activity was diminishing. The ARVN now numbered 219,000, the Civil Guard 77,000 and the Self Defense Corps 99,500. In South Vietnam, the U.S. had 11,000 advisers, 300 aircraft, 120 helicopters, heavy weapons, pilots flying combat missions, defoliants and napalm. ; 30 November Senator Mansfield arrived in Saigon as head of a congressional fact-finding delegation. Ambassador Nolting and General Harkins gave the delegation optimistic briefings on the military situation in South Vietnam. "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel", said Nolting. Mansfield had been an early supporter of Diệm, but found him on this occasion "gradually being cut off from reality." He met with an "aggressive"
Madame Nhu Trần Lệ Xuân (22 August 1924 – 24 April 2011), more popularly known in English as Madame Nhu, was the ''de facto'' First Lady of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. She was the wife of Ngô Đình Nhu, who was the brother and chief advisor ...
and her husband Ngô Đình Nhu who touted the Strategic Hamlet Program. Mansfield's meeting with journalists, however, revealed a different and much more pessimistic view of Vietnam. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission
William Trueheart William Clyde Trueheart (December 18, 1918 – December 24, 1992) was a diplomat who served as the U.S. ambassador to Nigeria from 1969–1971, and as the acting U.S. Ambassador and chargé d'affaires in South Vietnam from May–Jul ...
hinted to Mansfield that the journalists' view was correct.


December

; 10 December The
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
of North Vietnam assessed the progress of the insurgency in South Vietnam, in a meeting from 6 to 10 December. Although the VC had achieved many successes, they were still not able to counter American and ARVN mobility. The VC were tasked with studying how they could overcome that mobility. Political and military struggle was still rudimentary in South Vietnam and liberated areas were small. A priority for the VC was to destroy the Strategic Hamlet Program with an expanded insurgency. Military Transportation
Group 559 Group 559 was a transportation and logistical unit of the People's Army of Vietnam. Established on 19 May 1959 to move troops, weapons, and materiel from North Vietnam to Vietcong paramilitary units in South Vietnam, the unit created and mainta ...
was instructed to build a road through Laos to facilitate the transportation of greater quantities of arms and supplies from North Vietnam to the VC.Ang Cheng Guan, "The Vietnam War, 1962–1964: The Vietnamese Communist Perspective", ''Journal of Contemporary History'', Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct. 2000), pp. 66–67 ; 26 December Senator Mansfield gave Kennedy a copy of his lengthy report on South Vietnam and briefed the President. Mansfield concluded that little progress had been made by Diệm, politically or militarily, since the Geneva Accords of 1954. Diệm had also made little progress in gaining popular support in the countryside, which by night was ruled largely by the VC. It "wasn't a pretty picture" that Mansfield presented to Kennedy, who disagreed with some of Mansfield's opinions. ; 27 December The reports of several American military officers who had visited South Vietnam were mostly pessimistic. They said that President Diệm's control of the ARVN extended to refusing to arm certain units because he feared they would attempt a
coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
against him. Regarding the performance of ARVN, one officer said it was "proficient at attacking an open rice field with nothing in it and...quickly bypassing any heavily wooded area that might possible contain a few VC." The reports were given to Marine Corps general Victor Krulak, who was preparing to visit South Vietnam as part of a high-level U.S. military mission to assess progress in the war. ; 31 December North Vietnam infiltrated 12,850 persons into South Vietnam, mostly southern communists who had migrated to North Vietnam in 1954–1955. Fifty-three American soldiers were killed in South Vietnam during the year. The South Vietnamese armed forces suffered 4,457 killed in action, 10 percent more than the total killed in the previous year.


References

{{Vietnam War graphical timeline Vietnam War by year War
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