This Week in U.S. Military History

March 29-April 4

Compiled by Charles O’Leary

March 29, 1973 [Vietnam War]: The last American troops leave South Vietnam, and 590 U.S. POWs held by the North Vietnamese are released.

March 29, 2019 Vietnam Veterans Day becomes and official Federal Holiday.

March 30, 1972 [Vietnam War]: The North Vietnamese Army launches the Easter Offensive.

March 31, 1968 [Vietnam War]: President Lyndon Johnson suspends bombing of North Vietnam and announces he will not run for re-election.

March 31, 1995 [Somalia Campaign]: Somalia Campaign ended.

April 1, 1945 [World War II]: The Battle of Okinawa, the last major battle of World War II, begins.

April 1, 1943 [World War II]: 1st Marine Parachute Regiment activated, New Caledonia.

April 2, 1917 [World War I]: President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany.

April 2, 1945 [World War II]: Elements of 101st Airborne Division ordered to “Ruhr pocket” south of Dusseldorf, Germany, on the Rhine River.

April 3, 1969 [Vietnam War]: Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States intends to “Vietnamize” the war in Southeast Asia.

April 3, 1949 [Cold War]: NATO founded.

April 4, 1945 [World War II]: US forces liberate a concentration camp, Ohrdruh, a subcamp of Buchenwald.

[From “Forever a Soldier”, the Library of Congress Veterans History Project]

Submitted to the PJ-C by Post 198 of the American Legion, Pawhuska