Lee wrote:SqzMyLemon wrote:I have a question for Lee. I'm going to build the Italeri 1:72 UH-34D Sea Horse. Does the kit decal option for an aircraft in 1962 still qualify for the Vietnam War? Is the start of the Vietnam War for the group build considered to be when U.S. ground troops were committed in 1965, or does the campaign allow for American assistance to ARVN forces starting in 1962? Thanks.
I would have to go with when regular combat units were deployed (boots on the ground), which was at the beginning of 1965.....

Lee,
I would say the war began much earlier then 1965, I had posted the question, if the GB Covered the Indochina war, which is all in the same.
Here is blurb from the Vietnam Wall web page.
The First and the Last
The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956. His name was added to the Wall on Memorial Day 1999.
First battlefield fatality was Specialist 4 James T. Davis who was killed on December 22, 1961.
The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.
Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.
The last pilot casualty in the country of Vietnam occured during the Embassy evacuation in Saigon, William C. Nystal and Michael J. Shea both died on the helicopter on April 30, 1975 approaching the USS Hancock in the China Sea (both are located at 1W, 124). The last pilot killed in the Vietnam war was Air Force helicopter pilot Second Lieutenant Richard Vandegeer who was killed on Koh Tang Island, Cambodia. This occured during the Mayaguez incident when his helicopter crashed on May 15, 1975. It is concidered the last combat action of the Vietnam War.