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"Several US soldiers remember they and the South Korean special forces who accompanied them had sneaked heavy weapons into the area under sandbags on the floor

"Several US soldiers remember they and the South Korean special forces who accompanied them had sneaked heavy weapons into the area under sandbags on the floor of their trucks. Some South Koreans even strapped claymore mines to their chests and held the detonators in their hands, goading the North Koreans to attack." The part about the claymore is so insane and just bad ass.

refurb 7y ago
It's not common knowledge, but several other countries sent troops to fight in the Vietnam War - it wasn't just the US, but included Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and South Korea. From what I've read, the reputation of the SK troops was something else - they elicited real fear in the VC and NVA troops. The claymores don't really surprise me.
- dba7dba 7y ago
  South Korea rotated over 320,000 ground combat troops through Vietnam over 11+ year period, maintaining 2 Army Divisions and 1 Marine Brigade, to help US and South Vietnam. edit: 320,000 is not a typo. Well over a quarter of a million S. Korean troops served 1 year tour of duty in Vietnam. It means after end of WW2, S. Korea sent more combat troops abroad to help US in a semi-active/active armed conflict than any other allies such as UK, Australia, France etc. Kinda mind boggling. I recommend vietvet.co.kr for anyone interested in reading about stories/battles/personal-recollection related to South Korean troops. The site has Korean and English versions. The English version is not a direct mirror of the Korean version but largely same stories. You have to keep in mind the South Korean troops in Vietnam in 1960s - 1970 were very likely old enough to remember the Korean war, the war started by the communists of North Korea. Or they at least had immediate family members who experienced it and passed on the stories. So there was a personal hatred of anything related to communists.

refurb 7y ago

It's not common knowledge, but several other countries sent troops to fight in the Vietnam War - it wasn't just the US, but included Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and South Korea. From what I've read, the reputation of the SK troops was something else - they elicited real fear in the VC and NVA troops. The claymores don't really surprise me.

dba7dba 7y ago
South Korea rotated over 320,000 ground combat troops through Vietnam over 11+ year period, maintaining 2 Army Divisions and 1 Marine Brigade, to help US and South Vietnam. edit: 320,000 is not a typo. Well over a quarter of a million S. Korean troops served 1 year tour of duty in Vietnam. It means after end of WW2, S. Korea sent more combat troops abroad to help US in a semi-active/active armed conflict than any other allies such as UK, Australia, France etc. Kinda mind boggling. I recommend vietvet.co.kr for anyone interested in reading about stories/battles/personal-recollection related to South Korean troops. The site has Korean and English versions. The English version is not a direct mirror of the Korean version but largely same stories. You have to keep in mind the South Korean troops in Vietnam in 1960s - 1970 were very likely old enough to remember the Korean war, the war started by the communists of North Korea. Or they at least had immediate family members who experienced it and passed on the stories. So there was a personal hatred of anything related to communists.