The Grumman F8F was a one-engined, one-seat aircraft with straight low wings. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W piston engine, the first F8F-1 was marginally slower than the F4U Corsair, but it was more maneuverable and climbed faster. The Bearcat had a hydraulically operated landing gear. Armor protection had been provided for the pilot, engine and oil cooler. Structurally the fuselage of the F8F used flush riveting as well as spot welding, with a heavy gauge 302W aluminum alloy skin.

Specifications of the F8F Bearcat

Background to the Vietnam War

Vietnam had been a French colony since the late 19th century. With the outbreak of World War II, the Japanese Army had temporarily taken over the country. During this time, clandestine insurgent movements arose against this foreign occupation of the country and began fighting the Japanese Army. The biggest guerrilla force was the Viet Minh, which was led by the communist leader Ho Chi Minh. After the war, this guerrilla army continued their struggle, but this time against the French government, which had returned to Office.

After the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, at which the French lost the war to the Viet Minh, the Geneva Accords had divided Vietnam into two zones at the 17th parallel, a northern zone would be ruled by the leader of the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh, and a southern zone would be governed by the State of Vietnam, headed by former emperor Bao Dai. But as soon as South Vietnam became an independent country, a new communist guerrilla force emerged in the south: the Viet Cong. This new insurgent force would militaryly be backed and supplied by North Vietnam thorough a complex network of jungle trails known as the Ho Chi Minh trail. In 1955, South Vietnam’s prime minister, Ngo Dinh Diem became the President of the Republic, replacing Bao Dai. As Diem was a staunch anti-communist politician, he received support from the Eisenhower Administration.

Summary of the Vietnam War

The United States of America had been providing aid, military equipment and training to South Vietnam since 1954. This support increased when Ngo Dinh Diem took office in 1955. As the Viet Cong’s military build-up gained strength and the number of terrorist attacks rose, so did the US aid to South Vietnam; more US helicopters, armed personnel carriers and thousands of military advisers landed in South East Asia. In 1961, the new US Administration assured Diem of more aid in molding a fighting force that could resist the communists. Kennedy believed that the guerrilla tactics employed by special forces such as the Green Berets would be effective in a "brush fire" war in Vietnam.

Nevertheless, corruption was rampant in South Vietnam, and, by 1963, Diem’s government was so discredited that the United States did nothing to stop a military coup orchestrated by dissident generals. Then, a series of short-lived and unstable governments followed, proving no more effective against the insurgency. The catalyst for deeper US involvement came in August 1964, when north Vietnamese torpedo boats shot at a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. This is known as the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident." As a result, President Lyndon Baynes Johnson began a series of air strikes on naval bases in the north. By the end of 1964, there were 23,000 US military advisers in Vietnam.

US involvement escalated in 1965, when the first US combat units were sent to fight in Vietnam. The conflict would eventually spilled over the borders of Laos and Cambodia, when undercover bombing operations were authorized by the US government to destroy the North Vietnamese Army secret camps from which the Viet Cong launched attacks against South Vietnamese and American military bases and villages. Stretches of land on the borders with Cambodia and Laos had become jungle-covered guerrilla sanctuaries where the North Vietnamese Army hid their military build-up.

American involvement in this protracted war peaked in 1968, when the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive. Although this communist offensive in South Vietnam failed to achieve its objectives, suffering a great number of casualties and losing the ground they had gained, a biased US media at the time reported it otherwise, and the Vietnam War became even more unpopular. As a consequence of the hippies demonstrations, the Nixon Administration was forced to apply a new policy in South East Asia: the Vietnamization of the war, which consisted in the withdrawal of US troops in stages, training and supplying the South Vietnamese Army personnel so they could take over the war. Despite the Paris Peace Accords, signed by all parties in January 1973, fighting continued.

The name Green Beret can be traced to Scotland during the Second World War, when Army Rangers and Office of Strategic Services (OSS) operatives underwent training from the Royal Marines, who wore green berets themselves. The American personnel were awarded the green berets upon completion of the extremely hard and grueling commando course. Nevertheless, the Rangers and the OSS operatives were not authorized by the United States Army to wear the green berets they had earned. Edson Raff, one of the first Special Forces officers, is credited with the re-birth of the green beret, which was not originally authorized for wear by the US Army.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy authorized them for use exclusively by the US Special Forces. Preparing for an October 12 visit to the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, the President sent word to the Center’s commander, Brigadier General William P. Yarborough, for all Special Forces soldiers to wear green berets as part of the event. The President felt that since they had a special mission, Special Forces should have something to set them apart from the rest. In 1962, he called the green beret "a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom."

Special Forces troops have a special bond with Kennedy, going back to his funeral. At the commemoration of the 25th anniversary of JFK’s death, Gen. Michael D. Healy, the last commander of Special Forces in Vietnam, spoke at Arlington Cemetery. Later, a wreath in the form of the Green Beret would be placed on the grave, continuing a tradition that began the day of his funeral when a sergeant in charge of a detail of Special Forces men guarding the grave placed his beret on the coffin. The first armed conflict the Green Berets participated in was the Vietnam War.

Special Forces Training

The initial formal training program for entry into Special Forces is divided into four phases collectively known as the Special Forces Qualification Course or, informally, the "Q Course". The length of the Q Course changes depending on the applicant’s primary job field within Special Forces and their assigned foreign language capability but will usually last between 56 to 95 weeks. After successfully completing the Special Forces Qualification Course, Special Forces soldiers are then eligible for many advanced skills courses. These include, but are not limited to, the Military Free Fall Parachutist Course (MFF), the Combat Diver Qualification Course and the Special Forces Sniper Course (SFSC).

The training covered during the first phase includes: advanced Map Reading, land Navigation (Cross-Country), patrolling, survival Air Operations, Special Operations Techniques, miscellaneous general subjects, small unit tactics. It ends with a Special Operations Overview. The emphasis is on training which enables the student to: navigate, and operate and survive in isolated rugged terrain day or night by himself.

William Westmoreland was born on March 26, 1914, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, to an upper middle class family. In 1932 he enrolled at West Point Military Academy, graduating in 1936 at the top of his class as First Captain. During World War II, Westmoreland bravely fought in North Africa and in the European Theater of Operation, ending the war with the rank of Colonel. Although he had the reputation of a stern taskmaster, he was a man who cared about his men, taking interest in their welbeing. In 1947, he married Katherine Stevens Van Deusen. They had three children: two daughters named Katherine Westmoreland and Margaret Westmoreland and one son named James Ripley Westmoreland.

During the Korean War, Westmoreland served as commander of the 187th Regimental Combat Team, 82th Airborne Division. In 1953, Westmoreland was promoted to Brigadier General, spending five years in the Pentagon. He became the youngest Major-General in the Army, assuming command of the 101st Airborne Division in 1958. He created the concept of Recondo training in the division, later bringing the concept elsewhere in the Army.

In 1964, Westmoreland was named Deputy Commander of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. He was known for highly publicized, positive assessments of US military prospects in Vietnam. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army.

Although under Westmoreland’s command, the American forces won every battle, the turning point of the war was the 1968 Tet Offensive, in which communist forces, having staged a diversion at the Battle of Khe Sanh, attacked cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. US and South Vietnamese troops successfully fought off the attacks, and the communist forces took extremely heavy losses. Nevertheless, the way in which the American media reported and depicted the Tet Offensive shook American public confidence as Westmoreland’s previous assurances about the state of the war got undermined by leftist artists statement and behavior such as those of Joan Baez and drugged hippies demonstrations everywhere.

In June 1968, Westmoreland was replaced by General Creighton Abrams. Westmoreland served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972, then retired from the Army. Many military historians have pointed out that Westmoreland became Chief of Staff at the worst time in history with regard to the Army, guiding the Army as it transitioned to an all-volunteer force.

The main objective of Operation Crimp was to destroy the Viet Cong headquarters which lay in concealment underground in Cu Chi, in the Province of Binh Duong. There was a system of tunnels which led to the main headquarters. They covered more than 120 miles. During the battle, specialized sappers, called tunnel rats, were sent in on search and destroy missions to anihialate any hiding enemy soldiers and to plant explosives to destroy the tunnels.

Preceded by artillery fire and napalm and airstrikes, Operation Crimp was initiated at 09:30 hours on January 8. Airmobile operation began with the first American units being inserted by helicopter to the north, west and south. The US 3rd Infantry Brigade, commanded by Colonel William Brodbeck, was inserted by helicopter and by road. In the north, 1st Royal Australian Regiment was inserted into its landing zone (LZ March) 1.9 miles to the south-west. Amid strong resistance, the Australians fought their way through the maze of bunkers, punji stakes and booby traps but they were eventually able to force a Viet Cong regional force company to withdraw as they continued their advance. This area was heavily seeded with trip wires connected to shells and grenades dangling from branches.

The task of breaking into and exploring the communist tunnels started on January 9, with the objective now switching to the location, clearance and destruction of the tunnel complexes. Whereas standard US Army practice was to seal, blow up or otherwise attempt to render tunnel systems unusable with smoke, tear gas and explosives before quickly moving on, the Australians spent the next few days laboriously searching and mapping the complexes they found using military engineers. Led by Captain Sandy MacGregor, the Australian sappers from 3 Field Troop systematically tackled the tunnels, using telephone line and compasses to plot the subterranean passages. Small-scale contacts between the communists and the Australians continued and MacGregor was later awarded the Military Cross for his leadership.

The Australians kept on searching the tunnels, finding a large quantity of documents and equipment, and by January 10 they had seized 59 weapons, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 fragmentation grenades, one 57-mm recoilless rifle, explosives, clothing and medical supplies. At least 11 Viet Cong had also been killed in the fighting. Contact also continued, and overnight the Australians killed another five Viet Cong outside their perimeter, while numerous actions occurred during the day as the US 173rd Brigade maintained its sweep. The US 3rd Brigade subsequently uncovered a significant tunnel complex themselves; while they attempted to clear the tunnels, heavy hand-to-hand fighting broke out above ground and Lieutenant Colonel Robert Haldane was later awarded the Silver Star for his actions when he rushed a bunker while under fire armed only with a pistol, in order to give first aid to a number of wounded soldiers. His courage inspired his men to complete the assault, and ultimately helped ensure the successful evacuation of the casualties and the capture of their objective.

Operation Masher (White Wing) successfully ended on March 6, 1966. More than 1,340 communist soldiers had been killed by the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) at the cost of 250 United States’ troops killed and 990 wounded. The South Vietnamese forces killed an additional 808 enemy soldiers. The 3rd North Vietnamese Army Division was completely mauled.

The Easter Offensive objective was to gain territory and destroy South Vietnamese units in order to improve the North’s negotiating position as the Paris Peace Accords drew toward a conclusion. Although the US high command had been expecting such an attack in 1972, the strength of the communist assault caught the defenders by surprise since the attackers struck on three fronts simultaneously with the bulk of the North Vietnamese army. This first attempt by the North Vietnamese Army to invade the south since the Tet Offensive of 1968 became characterized by conventional infantry/armor assaults backed by heavy artillery, with both sides fielding the latest in technological advances in weapons systems.

The Easter Offensive was initiated at 12:00 hours on March 30, 1972, when an intense artillery barrage rained down on the northernmost South Vietnamese outposts in Quang Tri Province. In the I Corps Tactical Zone, North Vietnamese forces overran South Vietnamese defensive positions in a month-long battle and captured Quang Tri city before moving south in an attempt to seize Hue. The communists similarly destroyed frontier defense forces in II Corps and advanced to seize the provincial capital of Kon Tum, which would have opened the way to the sea, splitting South Vietnam in two. Northeast of Saigon in III Corps, the communists overran Loc Ninh and advanced to assault the capital of Binh Long Province at An Loc. The campaign was conducted in three distinct phases: April was a month of communist advances and capitalist withdrawals; May became a period of equilibrium; in June and July the South Vietnamese forces counterattacked, culminating in the recapture of Quang Tri City in September.