and between 1965 and 1969, there are 320,000 chinese troops that serve in north vietnam. at one time there's as many as 170,000. this is critical in many ways. to the north, they want these chinese troops because the more chinese troops there are in north vietnam, that's two things. one, it acts as a trigger. if the americans come north, there will be a war with the chinese. and this is helpful to the north vietnamese. plus, if there are chinese troops in north vietnam, the north vietnamese can infiltrate more of their regular units into the south or cambodia or laos. when you think about american options next week, think about american options for dealing with this war, keep in mind the chinese presence here and the factor that that brings to the table. now, in 1964, the north decided that they would consolidate their control over the central highlands and they would extend into other parts of lowland areas of vietnam. and they're thinking that now they're getting prepared for what they think is going to be a final offensive against the south. and after the gulf of tonkin

it's something that's a wholly owned subsidiary of north vietnam. and again, they're very successful in doing this. they're so successful that for a lot of the conventional wisdom about the vietnam war, especially among critics of the american involvement, is that this insurgency in south vietnam, this is all resistance to the oppressive dm government. no, it's not. now, the communists also, while they're doing this in the first stages in the early '60s, they're expanding their shadow government in the south, trying to bring as much of it under their control as they possibly can. by 1962, the vc in the south, they probably had 300,000 members and probably 1 million supporters. certainly the movement's growing. now, again, terror continued as a primary weapon while they're doing this. and you can see from the quote here how important this is to the way that they prosecute the war. and also, what is important, while they're doing these things against the south, the political and the military, they're also negotiating with the south. and later with the

vietnam. then, u.s. naval war professor on the north vietnamese war strategy. after that, oral histories from the vietnam center and archive feature veterans of the first full scale engagement between u.s. forces and the people's army of vietnam. >>> this weekend marks the anniversary of the bloodiest battle to be fought during the civil war. up to that point, the battle of shoi low and we'll tour the battlefield with chief park rang ranger, saturday at 6:00 p.m. and sunday night at 7:00, the angel of the battlefield, clara barton, operated the missing soldier's office until 1868. join us as we rediscover the third floor office as it's prepare for renovations. this weekend on american history tv on cspan 3. >>> each week, american history tv sits in on a lecture with one of america's collared professors. you can watch here every saturday at 8:00 p.m., midnight and sundays at 1:00. this week, a look at north vietnamese strategy with donald stoker, professor of the naval war college in california. the course is part of a class called strategy in war. it's about 50

it divides vietnam into north and south. turns over the north to the communists. and marks the end of french colonial rule. the agreement also provides the machinery for bringing true peace to vietnam if the communists act in good faith. this is a bright victory for the communist world and there are smiles. but not on the faces of the more than 1 million vietnamese who desert their homes and flee southward rather than live under a communist regime. in 1954, vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel, as korea was divided at the 38th. she faces the future with an imaginary line running from border to border, symbolizing a separation which is far from imaginary. in south vietnam, peace brings a fresh beginning. the people set about building new homes, new hopes. free elections are held in the south alone when it becomes clear that the communist regime in the north has no intention of permitting genuinely free elections in its half of the country. grand reforms redistribute farmlands in the south. so that farmers own their fields, and reap for themselves the fruit of the

to seal off south vietnam from the north. but more than that its loss would give the north vietnamese that one big elusive propaganda victory they've been searching for at such a cost in lives. they would prize a victory of con thien as a victory, a miniature replica of their victory over the french in 1954. it is vulnerable. it is the least defensible because it is so close to north vietnamese territory. the enemy artillery, 100 big guns, plus mortars and rockets can pound con thien around the clock with devastating effects. and our ground troops cannot go into north vietnam to knock out those guns. for the marines at con thien, this is what it's like. >> you'll hear them whistle over your head. >> they went off. >> medevac, asap. >> all right. >> put your arm around him. >> want me to give you a hand? >> keep your head down. >> take it easy, red. >> you want to call and tell them to get a medevac on the way? >> 680100. 680100. >> 680100. >> 81 should be able to see that as well. let's get them on there. over. >> okay. look.

to seal off south vietnam from the north. but more than that its loss would give the north vietnamese that one big elusive prop began it take victory they've been searching for. they would prize a victory as a miniature replica of their vehicle koefr over the french in 1954. it is vulnerable. it is the least defensible because it is so close to north vietnamese territory. the enemy artillery can pound con thien around the clock with devastating effect. and our ground troops cannot go into north vietnam to knock out those guns. for the marines at con thien, this is what it's like. >> medevac asap. >> put your arm around him. >> want me to give you a hand? >> i'll call and get a medevac. >> 680100. 680100. >> 680100. >> here are the the two tanks, you see them? the small planet about 300 meters right where that big tree is out there. southeast. >> what happened to your squad 134. >> she was hit. most of him was hit by slan nell. >> you came here full strength. >> i had 13 men when i came. >> and it's four days later and how man

of course, you have a regional war that develops here as well between north vietnam and the united states. and this, of course, spills over and allows cambodia and so on and south vietnam, the fighting in north vietnam as well particularly on the air side of it. a lot of this is conventional. again, it's not all. that's not the whole thing. it's only part of the picture. and you also have to keep in mind that the cold war context of what is going on here, because we don't -- when we think about vietnam, we don't automatically think about this being a coalitional war. we sometimes even overlook the south vietnamese role in it. some of the literature, for example. you almost think there's no south vietnamese army there when you're reading the book that there's pretty substantial south vietnamese forces. you've got on the communist side in particular, the coalitional aspect is very important for their success. you know, ho chi minh says that himself. so you've got support from communist china and from the soviet union as well. so keep that in mind here when we look at this war because you ha

mcnamara's testimony before congress and the failure of the air war against north vietnam and august of 1967, the joint chiefs gathered in the chairman's office. generalarily wheeler and discussed among themselves whether they should resign in protest. there problems with the story and wheeler was not in the country. he was in germany on official business and shortly after general wheeler returned to the united states, he suffered a heart attack. then he was in walter reed. the only two chiefs who were asked about this dismissed it in crude terms and wheeler himself later told the president that there had never been such a meeting. that is about as far as i can go with that controversial story. as secretary brown alluded to, we associate this period with mcnamara and vietnam. mcnamara's involvement in a series of other crisis foreign and domestic is remarkable. we have heard about the dominican republic and mideast war and the pueblo and demonstrations in the streets of the united states. any one of the crisis could have defined a presidency. for example, if we look at president jimm

it brings north vietnam around. one episode involved here that i ask dr. drey about in which it intrigues me and sort of dismisses it that famous episode in 1967 where the joint chiefs actually discussed resignation in mosques. if he has anything to add, i would be interested in this. it intrigued me for a long time. they address the consequences of what he calls this ill begotten war. it devastated the u.s. economy under cutting the strength of the dollar. disrupting domestic programs and creating undreamed of in those days deficits. triggering an inflation that would have the nation for the next two decades. negatively affected many of the other areas touched on in the book and arms controls with soviets and nato's defense capabilities and a war then to demonstrate the credibility of u.s. commitments and left the nation's instruction in tatters. his final assessment is unsparing. his originality of the thinker is tireless energy. no one has approached the mastery of the enormity and complexity of the pentagon. ultimately he is bearing his name. again, i

traveling to czechoslovakia where he and other members of the new left met with the delegation from north vietnam and discussed ways in which to up the level of violence and protests in the united states in order to make the continuation of the war impossible and politically unattainable. there's none of that context. instead we have hayden being radicalized at chicago, and none of the earlier events which took place before then. strangely enough, the documentary does show mayor richard d. daley in a constantly negative light, usually black and white photographs selected, ominous background music, almost a kind of tribute to darth vader is heard daily as a bloated party boss, obviously a figure of evil because he mainly only appears in black and white, whereas everyone else is in living color. another example is the 1986 pbs documentary on the 1960s which focused on the university of wisconsin. "the war at home." the documentary neglected to point out something, this objective history of the 1960s which is used in many classrooms, courses on the '60s, had its origins as a fund-raiser, a political

people in the united states on the left and the right, and never reaches the point where it brings north vietnam around. there's one episode involved here that i asked dr. drea about, and which still intrigues me, and he sort of dismiss it, that famous episode in 1967 where the joint chiefs actually discuss resignation in maus. so if he has anything to add on this, i'd be interested in it. it has intrigued me for a long time. drea is equally critical, persuasively so, in assessing the consequences of what he called this ill be gotten war. it devastated the u.s. economy, undercutting the strength of the dollar, disrupting domestic programs, creating undreamed-of, at least in those days, deficits, and triggering an inflation that would bedevil the nation for the next two decades. it negatively affected many of the other areas touched on in the book, arms control, negotiations with the soviets, nato's defense capabilities, a war then to demonstrate the credibility of u.s. commitments left the nation's defense structure in tatters. his final assessment of mcnamara is fair, i think, but unsparing. he

president min announced wednesday apunconditional surrender to the forces of north vietnam.s i was on the phone, two north vietnamese soldiers walked in to our offices on the fourth floor of the eaton building in the heart of saigon. peter, matt and i offered them cokes from an old rusted white refrigerator and some stale pound cake, all that we had left in the bureau. we took out some maps and they showed us the attack roots they had followed in to 150i gone. they took out their wallets and pulled out some family photos and talked about how long they had not seen their loved ones. and it struck me then that they were no different really than the south vietnamese, nor for that matter the americans. all of whom had been killing each other. they all carried snapshots of missed wivean

it seems unlikely that he would order troops into north vietnam to do the job. they would react sharply to such an escalation. meantime for the marines at con thien, the months ahead look grimmer than ever, the fall monsoon rains have just begun. they will go on until february. hampering american air power, depriving the men on the ground of at least some of the air support they desperately need. the artillery dual at con thien will go on and on. this battle is different from any other action in the war in that there is no letup. day after unchanging day. and as long as the north vietnamese can resupply their troops and guns, as long as they can send down reinforcements, there is little the marines can do about it. mike wallace, cbs news, new york. >>> cbs news film cameramen, at con thien. keith kay, gerard pea, john smith, carl sorensen, kurt volkert, and cbs news sound men. this has been a cbs news special report. "the ordeal of con thien." this broadcast has been brought to you by western electric. the manufacturing and supply unit of the bell system. as par

the whole thing with ending the vietnam war was, nudge, nudge, wink, wink, if north vietnam attacks, i will on my own authority, without consulting congress, send in the planes, bomb the north vietnamese army tanks. i'm here for you. well, nixon was not there for them in 1975. and that deal. so i think president nixon inherited a bad situation. and in many ways, made a number of things worse. but that's something we need to debate further. yeah. >> i was just wondering, a lot of people say that vietnam was a pointlesses war. but if had not occurred, could it -- we have ended up in a bigger war with china over taiwan or japan? >> right. that was one of the arguments that -- which johnson sort of half heartedly made, or not very persuasively, that if we do not stop them in vietnam, they'll be in san francisco. well, we have a partial answer to that. in the actual historical record. the retreat from vietnam, kind of the collapse of america's confidence following the war, saw the soviet union become more aggressive. saw adventures for the soviet union and cuba and angola, africa. so we a

it seems unlikely that he would order troops into north vietnam to do the job. they would react sharply to such an escalation. meantime for the marines at con thien, the months ahead look grimmer than ever, the fall monsoon rains have just begun. they will go on until february. hammering american air power, depriving the men on the ground with at least some of the air support they desperately need.e depriving the men on the ground with at least some of the air support they desperately need.p depriving the men on the ground with at least some of the air support they desperately need. the dual will go on and on. this battle is different from any other action in the war in that there is no let up. day after unchanging day. and as long as the north vietnamese can refly their troops and guns, as long as they can send down reinforcements,op troops and guns, as long as they can send down reinforcements,ly troops and guns, as long as they can send down reinforcements,ly troops and guns, as long as they can send down reinforcements,lys and guns, as long as they can send

attacked an american base and pico and johnson caught the cabinet paint to sanction the bombing of north vietnamohnson was not looking for advice, the validation and is actually johnson looking for ratification of what erd decided. he goes around and asking all these people come his advisers to tell them what they think about this decision to launch these attacks and humphrey announces he ranks with the mistake. >> johnson was furious with him. in the bombing of the north began. >> congress gave us this authority and on this 1964 combat to do what ever may be necessary. that's pretty far-reaching. the sky is the limit. >> while they may have been no limits on johnson's expansion of the vietnam war, there would now be limits on his vice president. >> i knew him intensely for those years of the 60s and now is the most tortured. of his life as he was trying to be vice president, serving the president and is taking us to war in vietnam, even as he is misgivings as an independent tinker. >> after their public disagreement, humphrey was frozen out a ball discussion of vietnam. johnson cut off his priv

he flew more than 100 combat missions in north and south vietnam, laos and cambodia and received the distinguished flying cross. he then transitioned to become a test pilot where he tested a variety of ground attack aircraft until his selection as an astronaut candidate in 1980. becoming an astronaut, he traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. his flights included deployment of the hubble space telescope and the first joint u.s./russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of the crew. he came back down to earth and returned to the marine corps in 1997 and served as commanding general of the third marine aircraft wing from 2000 to 2002, retiring from the marine corps in 2003. he was inducted into the u.s. astronaut hall of fame in

. >> and north carolina, a homecoming ceremony for vietnam veterans decades overdue. filling the charlotte motor speedway giving the vets the proper thanks they never got. the army golden knights and parachute team and travelling vietnam wall highlights of the event. >> makes you feel good to know that somebody is finally saying thank you. that's the main thing. >> never too late, but what it means is that it's the world and the nation, that we're not going anywhere, we'll be here. >> and illinois, an easter egg hunt with a twist. these eggs are airborne. a helicopter dropping 1,000 plastic eggs from humps of feet in the air. hold on to your hats, kids. the kids collecting as many eggs as their little hands can carry. that's a fox watch across america. new research on a common medical treatment for women a huge study pointing to a link to breast cancer. we'll tell you about it. and the rescue effort to save a two-year-old child stuck deep inside an abandoned well. look at at that little face! >> ♪ oooh, what's her secret? [ male announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay

troops and the peoples army of vietnam, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed soldiers. it was after thiz battled in 1965 that the north vietnamese forces began to engage in guerrilla warfare. the americans prevailed but at a heavy cost. next an interview with tony nadal. the only commander with vietnam combat experience. this is about 50 minutes. >> tony, i'd like to start with you just kind of identifying for us what your responsibilities were, your m.o.s. november 14th, 1965. >> i was the captain commander of company a, 1st battalion up 7th cavalry. >> so knowing that that's what you're going to be doing, leading a company into the valley on november 14th, let's back up a little bit. >> okay. >> let's go back to when you first joined the 1st air cav. what month and year? >> i joined in august of '65. i had been in graduate school in oklahoma studying -- no, wait a minute. let me back up. that was wrong. i had just finished the armored career course. i'm an infantry officer but i was sent to the armored career course. i had finished that course, had gone to ft. benning for pathfinder school and was on home on 30 days

. >> it's eerily similar to vietnam. the northw all they needed to do was wait and american public opinion is going to force us out. it's exactly the same situation we're facing where our own government didn't want to be part of the fight and the u.s. soldiers ended up doing terrible, terrible things. not because they're bad people, they're good people, but this is what happens in every single war. that's why the standard for going to war needs to be really, really high. and unfortunately, barack obama decided to plunge us further into the war at a point, if you look at woodward's book, he himself did not really believe we had a significant chance of success. >> we had 30,000 troops announced in the surge. that will end by the end of 2012 and the current sort of projections that will get our troops out by 2014. but a lot will hinge on the election. because mitt romney has been -- >> let me throw out a difficult. >> i want to you do that after we take a break. i want to talk about theç romn doctrine and what it will look like if i

march 31st in north carolina we will have the first in the country welcome home vietnam vets day. an all-day event. and i want to thank you for the va's cooperation at making sure that the va presence is there to make sure that we are able to catch those who have fallen through the cracks, work with those who have problems, and have a va mobile presence there as we will from d.o.d. and a lot of private sector entities that are working on employment placement. i think this is a very special event that's long overdue and hopefully it will be the first of a total of 50 that are held around this country. and i thank you for the va's participation. i'm going to ask for chart number 1 to go up. earlier i mentioned a number of performance metrics that seem to be heading in the wrong direction when it comes to claims processing. but i want to start by talking about the quality of va's decisions on disability claims. your goal is to have 98% accuracy. but for the past three years accuracy nationwide has been about 84%. and as of december '011 the accuracy rate at regional offices around th

and the infiltration and in the end invasion by the north vietnamese, it was the weakness and corruption of the south vietnamese government. as the vietnam war went on, mcnamara had less and less time for other matters. so the decisions were often passed down to the deputy secretary of defense. and they didn't have quite the same quality. my conclusion from all of this is that four years is long enough. there's an old saying that, for a secretary of defense, there's an old saying that in washington, friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. and when they accumulate enough, your effectiveness goes down. moreover, as time goes by, you come to think that you've seen it all, and you mistake your familiarity with wisdom. it's hard to rethink things. it's hard to clean up your own mess. and i think bob mcnamara was a very successful, almost unprecedentedly successful secretary of defense in his four years, and the last three were a tragedy. i have very little to say about clark clifford. he was only secretary for a year. and he devoted himself almost entirely to vietnam. and left the running of the department to paul mittsa, who was then de

vietnam, maybe something else. since the cold war ended, we typically focused on north korea and iraq. north korea remains a problem. iraq is still a problem in other ways. but i would submit that things have changed enough in iraq and in the broader middle east that the administration is correct to change our basic construct from two simultaneous land wars to one plus the ability to ramp up quickly and do a holding action in a second place if need be. but i'm not sure they've gone quite far enough in how they changed the structure of the army or marine corp. as a result. i want to talk about the navy to begin. you can consider this equal opportunity or sort of equal unkindness on my part towards each service i'm going to go and be broad based. the navy an amazing service like all four of our military services doing amazing things around the world. however, escaped sort of unscathed in this budget process, frankly. the aircraft carrier fleet is supposed to stay at 11. the only changes to navy shipbuilding programs are pretty much just some delays in things like submarine building. noth

of vietnam, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battle ofs ia drang valley. it was after these battles, waged in november 1965 that north vietnamese forces began engaging in guerrilla warfare. the americans, outnumbered by the north vietnamese army prevailed, but at a heavy cost. enrique pujals was a second lieutenant and a platoon leader with the 2nd battalion, 7th cavalry in the fall of 1965. his platoon got into the fight at landing zone x-ray where his men were first hit with friendly fire. up next, excerpts from his oral history interview. immediately following this 30-minute program we'll hear from tracy black enders, the daughter of a newspaper reporter who was embedded with the 7th cavalry. now, enrique pujals. >> i was platoon leader just about two, maybe three days at the most before we set out on operation. we set out on that operation on or about the 8th or the 9th of november. my company. >> okay. and in your operation between somewhere between the 8th and the 14th, did you guys make enemy contact? >> not us. >> not your unit? >> no. >> so then you come back, so on the 14th, you are still out in the boonies

vietnam war, johnson said i'm not running again. and just before the election of 1968 with humphrey running against nixon, he was negotiating with the north and south and at the last minute, south said we aren't going to do it. johnson found out nixon had a hand in the deal. >> that's right. the north and south were tapped and knew nixon was working behind the scenes to undercut the negotiations. he challenges him and nixon backs off. chris: 1966? >> 1968. five years later in 1973, nixon is paranoid about the senate investigation into wear gate and goes to johnson who has a month to live and back your friends in the senate or i'm go to go release the fact that you were bugging me. and he said if you release that, i'll tell them what you said. it was black mail to the end. chris: great stuff. we haven't touched on jimmy carter. and he is not the kind of guy that goes into a club or doesn't want to be accepted by a club that would accept him. >> it's -- he has always been kind of a problem. he is the guy you have to call because he knows all of these foreign leaders from his years on the world stage, but as mike points out, carter goes on t

. >> vietnam veterans are receiving a welcome home celebration. >> thousands of people came together in northna to pay tribute. it included a replica of the vietnam memorial war listing those killed during the war. it as long time coming for a group of people hoping to spread democracy. >> never too late the and what it means, that's the world in the nation and wake up to see. we are not going anywhere. >> we are still here. another 150,000 were injured and nearly 1700 are listed as missing. >> hope resist high in miramar where an i can cob may hold public office for the first time. voters turned out in large numbers to elect mobile peace price laureate to a legislative seat. they say if the -- it is a vote to transition from military rule. this is the first time in two decades that people have been able to vote for his party. >>> now a car factory is open in thailand after being forced to close. they are marking the opening as a company mileston. they program that the factory will not be moved from thailand. they say it is the biggest asia market. they will if produce 200,000 car as year. >>

know friday when the government of south vietnam to its troops will withdraw from the disputed territory within three days south sudan broke away from the north last year following a long running civil war that claimed the lives of more than one and a half million people. and has begun mourning the victims of a plane crash in a residential area near islamabad international airport rescuers say there is no hope of finding survivors among one hundred twenty seven aboard that hard air jet the boeing seven hundred seventy three seven a route from karachi to islamabad was making his final approach to the airport in stormy weather before it crashed and its second passenger plane crash near islamabad in less than two years. iraqi prime minister nouri al maliki has cold turkey a hostile state of terror in tandem accuse it of trying to establish hegemony in the region that's a response to turkish prime minister erdogan saying he is fanning tensions between iraq shia community terry and raul emerged in iraq in the end of last year when the shia led government sacked and number of top city officials. and it's time now for the latest edition of our russi

full scale engagement, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battles. it was after these battles waged in november 1965 that north vietnamese forces began engaging in gorilla warfare ri gorilluer. enrique pujals was a second lieutenant in the fall of 1965. his platoon got into the fight at landing zone x-ray where his men were first hit with friendly fire. up next, experts there his oral history interview. immediately following this 30 minute program, we'll hear from tracey black enders, the daughter of a news paper reporter who was embedded with the 7th cal vvarcalvary. now enreky enrique pujals. >> i became a platoon leader maybe two, three days at the most before we set out on operation. and we set out on that operation on or about the 8th or 9th of november. >> and in your operation, did you make enemy contact? >> no, not us. >> not your unit. so on the 149, you'th, you're conducting operations. is it the general vicinity of x-ray? >> i don't know exactly where we were. we were in the general vicinity. i had a map. i don't remember very well. just going out there and just -- actually, just going fast because

and people's army of vietnam the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battles. it was after the battles waged in 1965 that north vietnamese forces grant engaging in guerrilla warfare. the americans outnumbered by the north vietnamese army prevailed but it was at a heavy cost. up next, an interview with the medal of honor recipient captain ed "too tall" freeman, helicopter pilot who flew his helicopter in to help deliver ammunition, supplies and to rescue wounded soldiers. >> a video or history interview with major ed freeman. we are commemorating the 40th anniversary. thank you for doing this. i want to ask you about your memories of your days and if you could before we get to some of the specific things that happened, can you tell me about your training for those type of conditions and i know talking about the pilots had you to throw things out the door and improvise. can you tell me what you brought into this battle? >> experience. >> i was already an experience ed pilot. i ran a year of mapping. i had been in south and central america for four years doing the same basic job. same basic job. >> right. >> so i

the military equipment until a north vietnamese said, the congress forced the south vietnamese to fight a poor man's war. it was not richard nixon who marched us into vietnam. he tried to get us out with other than. honor. he succeeded in doing so, quite frankly, against the opposition of a lot of people who were responsible for having all those guys over there. >> the controversy continues. it's useful to be reminded that this is a terribly controversial time. there were many advocates on the other side. controversial time, there were many advocates on the other side, and people gathered here were all at one time or another advocates on the other side, so it's natural that you've gotten a certain interpretation. i suppose there's a larger question for speech writers, that is, how do you assemble a coalition of speech writers who have different views and how as a writer do you always agree with the principle you are writing for. when you don't agree, how do you handle that in your own mind. at what point do you leave. at what point do you stay silent. bill has written about it. >> i've written speeches longer than anyone here, not as good as anyone here, b

vietnam war. the area saw some of the fiercest battles. 74-year-old farmer le khec phien fought against the u.s. as a soldier in the north vietnamese army. he lost members of his friends and family in the war. he has bitter memories of that time. he takes care of a village temple dedicated to those who died in the r. he has mixed feelings about vietnam joining hands with the u.s. he finds it hard to forgive the former enemy, but says cooperation for the benefit of both countries. >> translator: frankly speaking, i still bear a grudge against the u.s. but when looking five or ten years ahead, it might be a good idea to cooperate with the u.s. >> reporter: the two navies are taking those mixed feelings into consideration. the training does not involve military maneuvers. instead, they are practicing disaster response and civilian rescue. the crews are also visiting each other's vessels. >> translator: learning about the u.s. fleet's devices is very significant. >> reporter: vietnam and the u.s. are eager to include cooperation in a bid to protect china's growing maritime power but those efforts will require more work to en

. >> alisyn: 216,000 north carolina residents served in vietnam about 1600 never made it home.. >> clayton: thanks, alisyn. let's check with rick reichmuth, outside on this april fool's day. that's not a fake back drop is it? >> it's real, real this time, guys, hard to imagine. it's going to be kind after gloomy day across the northeast and not a nice weekend, so much of the country are dealing with temps like summer, but the corners of the countries not the case. we have severe weather to talk about you see that on the map. this afternoon we're going to see the chance for hail and wind and maybe an isolated tornado and it won't be anything too bad as far as the tornados go and see the storms moving through the area, louisville, over towards cincinnati and charleston, where we'll be seeing the activity today. take a look at your forecast for the day and towards the northeast, all of that will make its way to the northeast throughout the day and it's going to be snow across some of the higher elevations and intear i don't remember sections of the northeast and the coastal areas,

vietnam was never ours. >> [inaudible] in 1954 the french war finally driven out of southeast asia, and at that point, we took over. we became in the view of the north vietnamese the occupying force, so it seemed like a good place and then 75 of course is when we had that ignominious retreat from saigon. >> your book talks a lot about people. and you've got a lot of pictures in your book. and combat to the early days of vietnam, we have a picture of dwight eisenhower and john f. kennedy explain the transition between those two presidential administrations and the status of vietnam. >> well, at that point, kennedy had won with a very narrow electoral -- welcome a large electoral victory but a very narrow popular victory. really about one-third of which could turn out to be in this election. so he's aware that he needed legitimacy and he appointed a number of republicans to his cabinet. when he went for the transitional meetings when there were two of them, with eisenhower, both sides were determined to make it pleasant, agreeable, reassure the country that there was no friction because when ike had taken over from harry truman there was a lot of bad

vietnam, korea, world war ii, world war i. so where is america today? the international stage is populated by superpowers, china, russia, india, and owing dk u.k., france, israel, pakistan, north korea. so how is the u.s.' position today? are we number one, or are we one of nine? are we the u.n. enforcer? are we the world's c.i.a.? do we stop others from becoming number one? the nuclear warhea matter? question, in the light of this mystique, how would you describe president barack obama's foreign policy for the u.s.? eleanor? >> i would call it pragmatic idealism. he picks his spots. he is certainly not a dove when it comes to military engagement. he took on libya, and strikes in yemen, and the drone strikes have set a whole new pattern of military engagement. but because military power and economic power are so intertwined, i think there is a sense that we are -- we are the lone superpower, but there are other emerging powers out there who are really beating us out when it comes to -- the economy, which is why i would say that obama's right to worry about being competitive about everything, from solar panels to getting people educated with brainpower. >> you could call him an

the vietnam war ended there was no official ceremony welcoming the vets home and many vets were shunned. four decades later, some folks in north including the u.s.o., wanted to make things right. so on saturday more than 60,000 people gathered at the charlotte motor speedway to say thank you. anna werner has one marine's story. >> how are you? >> reporter: it's taken 43ies for dee hillyer to get to this day, a day for smiles and hugs. it's been a tough journey. hillyer arrived in vietnam in 196. here he is at his camp in dong ha as a 25-year-old marine sergeant, the third generation of his family to serve his country in a war. how did vietnam change you from that young man that you see on the video? >> wow. um... part of me changed forever over there. >> reporter: hillyer's tour in vietnam lasted 13 months. the war was deeply unpopular back home and its brutality left its mark on him. when he returned to the u.s., he faced a homecoming, he says, he could not have imagined. a scene similar to these as anti-war protesters greeted his bus load of troops. in their case spitting and throwing rocks. what did you lose in the moment b

people's army of vietnam, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battles. it was after these battles waged in november 1965 that north vee he is in a meese forces began engaging in guerilla warfare. the americans outnumbered prevailed, but it was at a heavy cost. up next, an interview with tracey black enders, daughter of charlie black, a reporter for the columbus ledger inquire remember, who was embedded with the 7th calva vavary during the battles. >> tracey, it tell me a little bit about your father and who he was.y, it tell me a little bit about your father and who he was.it tell me a little bit about your father and who he was.t tell me a little bit about your father and who he was. tell me a little bit about your father and who he was. >> was was a reporter for the hometown paper. he started covering them when they were the 11th air assault division. basically followed them through, somehow got himself on the troop buses and took the troop ships over to vietnam with them. so he actually traveled on the ships with them. a lot of the guys into to the know them then, got to trust him. which was important for a rep