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Military Participation - The Vietnam War |
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http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/biograph.html
Black U.S. Marine artillerymen greet each other in passing with the clenched fist symbolizing black power at the large base at Con Thien, south of the DMZ, in Vietnam, in Dec. 1968 during the Vietnam War.
The increasing activism of the civil rights movement, coupled with the widening of the Vietnam War, led to turbulent change. Truman's executive order to integrate the military had brought blacks partway into the armed service mainstream; the upheavals of the mid- and late 1960s provided the impetus for some measure of real equality.
African Americans often did supply a disproportionate number of combat troops, a high percentage of whom had voluntarily enlisted. Although they made up less than 10 percent of American men in arms and about 13 percent of the U.S. population between 1961 and 1966, they accounted for almost 20 percent of all combat-related deaths in Vietnam during that period. In 1965 alone, African Americans represented almost one-fourth of the Army soldiers killed in action.
In 1968, African Americans, who made up roughly 12 percent of Army and Marine total strengths, frequently contributed half the men in front-line combat units, especially in rifle squads and fire teams. Under heavy criticism, Army and Marine commanders worked to lessen black casualties after 1966, and by the end of the conflict, African American combat deaths amounted to approximately 12 percent more in line with national population figures. Final statistics: Overall, blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population.
While many black leaders, most notably Martin Luther King Jr., denounced the war, the antiwar movement was led mainly by whites. The war saw the widespread drafting of blacks into the military, whereas wealthier whites often evaded the draft through college deferments. But on a positive note, increased numbers of black officers served in Vietnam.
By the end of the draft in 1973, blacks made up about 17 percent of the enlisted force. By the early 1980s, the proportion had nearly doubled. |
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