48 years ago this day the remaining U.S. combat troops finally left Vietnam. (9)

amen.

48 years ago and we honestly should have left earlier than that.

The link from VOA is interesting. Voice of America is literally a US-gov't propaganda outlet, filled with stories containing spin and sometimes outright lies. It used to be illegal for VOA news to be broadcast inside the US. The gov't didn't want Americans listening to that misinformation and many objected to the entire concept of the US gov't taking our tax money and spending that money to lie to us.

Those common-sense restrictions were removed and now VOA has free reign.

That's the truth! Refusing to hold elections and expecting to back an unpopular dictator was doomed to fail even if the US pulled it off in South Korea.

The Americans armed the French in 1952 using a mandate after WW2 that the UK handed over to America.

There were some significant regional developments around that time including America and Australia, New Zealand became signatories to the ANZUS Treaty in 1951,
Then America and Australia put together the South East Asian Treaty Organization in 1954 (S.E.A.T.O), which was an umbrella organization of nations that continued a war (our war) after French were eventually defeated in the battle at Dien Bien Phu, 13 March / 7 May 1954 the French army left Vietnam but French companies stayed on the French received compensation for every rubber tree lost, the French I think still owned the power supply. America shifted Christians from North Vietnam then declared the DMZ, and prompted a corrupt Christian government who divested Buddhist people in the South of there land, they gave there land to Christians from North Vietnam.

The first GI was killed in Bien Hoa in 1959.

Down under New Zealand sent civilian medical teams to South Vietnam, and also deployed troops to protect the civilian medical team.
In 1962 Australia sent its first military advisers to South Vietnam to assist in the training of government troops.
On 10 November 1964 Menzies announced the introduction of a new scheme for peacetime conscription by which 20-year-old males were chosen by a ballot of birth dates to serve for two years in the Australian Army. This included overseas service, and at the time seemed to herald a substantial commitment of troops to assist the United States in Vietnam.