The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War. On entering office in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon embraced Vietnamization and began to withdraw U.S. forces from the conflict. As U.S. ground forces declined in strength, U.S. air forces became essentially a strategic rear guard and reaction force, protecting U.S. and South Vietnamese forces as U.S. ground combat strength declined. In late March 1972, North Vietnam mounted a multi-front invasion of South Vietnam, remembered as the Easter Offensive. Nixon responded with a massive reinforcement of U.S. Air Force and Navy airpower to stymie the offensive. In May 1972 Nixon escalated the conflict, ordering the closing of North Vietnamese ports and Operation Linebacker, a sustained air campaign designed to cut off North Vietnamese logistics from the battle area. Taking advantage of precision weapons and reduced restrictions on air operations, the Linebacker campaign and South Vietnamese forces, with massive air support, were able to halt the offensive., In order to reach a final settlement of the conflict, in December 1972, Nixon ordered a massive, sustained air campaign against the North Vietnamese heartland under Operation Linebacker II. Linebacker II is credited with producing the final cease-fire agreement. The Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973 and by April the American POWS were released., The Mayaguez Incident was the last battle of the Vietnam War. On 12 May 1975, Khmer Rouge forces seized the American vessel SS Mayaguez off Cambodia's coast. Two graduates of the Academy's Class of 1971, 1 Lt. Donald Backland and 1 Lt. Richard Brims, were awarded the Air Force Cross in recognition of their role in attempts to rescue the crew. The recapture of the Mayaguez came two weeks after the fall of South Vietnam in March-April 1975., The toll of Vietnam was significant to USAFA: 141 Air Force Academy graduates, from the Classes of 1959 through 1972, gave their lives in the conflict in Southeast Asia. Thirty-three graduates were shot down and taken prisoner by North Vietnam during the war, among a total of 222 Air Force POWs. Many were subjected to torture during their captivity, and all faced extreme hardship and peril. That number included Captain Lance Sijan, USAF Academy Class of 1965, the first Academy Medal of Honor recipient.