Honoring Military Service in Vietnam

National Vietnam War Veterans Day is quickly approaching. To honor those who served, the ANA’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum currently displays a number of U.S. military medals and recognitions, including the Purple Heart and Medal of Honor. Visitors can also learn about other American military decorations and medals in the Money Museum’s The Medal in America virtual exhibit.

A Day of Remembrance

President Barack Obama declared March 29, 2012, to be National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Five years later, President Donald Trump signed the Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017, which officially established March 29 as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. The day was selected because on March 29, 1973, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam was officially disbanded, and the last U.S. combat troops left the Republic of Vietnam. 

The Vietnam War

After the French Indochina War, the Geneva Accords of 1954 established the 17th parallel that divided the northern Democratic Republic of Vietnam (which fought to unify the country under a communist regime) from South Vietnam (which sought to align Vietnam more closely with the West). Both the North and South continued military operations despite the agreement. By 1959 firefights had broken out, and the Vietnam War began in earnest. 

The United States and other countries opposed to communism (including South Korea, Australia, Thailand, and the Philippines) sent troops to fight in the proxy war, while the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia provided North Vietnam with weapons, supplies, and advisors. By 1973 the United States withdrew its troops due to mass casualties and the war’s unpopularity at home. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnam captured South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City. The fall of Saigon concluded 19 years of warfare in Southeast Asia. The casualties of the war were immense. An estimated 2 million civilians, 1.1 million North Vietnam soldiers, and between 200,000 and 250,000 South Vietnamese fighters died. 

Commemorative Silver Dollar

The U.S. Mint issued a commemorative silver dollar for Vietnam veterans as part of its 1994 Veterans Program. The obverse features an outstretched hand touching a section of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. The memorial lists the names of over 58,300 U.S. soldiers who died or went missing in the war. The reverse depicts three medals that were awarded during the conflict: the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.