This Day in History : [ 23 / Feb ]

Desertion up in South Vietnamese army

According to the U.S.military headquarters in Saigon 90000 South Vietnamese deserted in 1965.This number was almost 14 percent of total South Vietnamese army strength and was twice the number of those that deserted in 1964.

By contrast the best estimates showed that fewer than 20000 Viet Cong defected during the previous year.