Fifty Years Ago This Week-- Part 2: First U.S. Combat troops in Vietnam

"Operation Rolling Thunder started March 2, 1965, with bombing raids over North Vietnam. On March 7th, the Tribune reported that two battalions of Marines were on their way to Vietnam to 'help guard the strategic air base at Da Nang.'

"The next day, the Tribune's banner headline read 'MARINES LAND IN VIET NAM,' and Secretary of State Dean Rusk said their duty would be 'local, close-in security' and that they would not engage in 'pacification,' which the Tribune pointed out, was the term the government was using to describe the actual fighting.

"A week later they suffered their first casualties when a Marine was killed in a friendly fire incident.  Before the year was out, more than 200,000 U.S. troops would be in Vietnam."

And, the Casualty Lists Ever-Expanded After That.  --DaCoot