I have a quick history question for you all....I'm not sure if this is the right spot or not, but I've got an idea for a dio, but don't know if it's any where close to feasible.

Was there ANY U.S. military presence in Vietnam or Cambodia during WWII?

I was thinking about making a diorama with some U.S., Vietnam era troops coming across a derelict Sherman.

Hello Matthew -

The only U.S. presence that I'm aware of was O.S.S. However, the French were there and used U.S. Lend-Lease equipment. I would do a google search and see what springs up.

G'day Matthew,

Yes, this is a good place to post your question.

Since the Japanese had control over French Indochina before the Pacific war began (and before the Sherman came into service), and retained the territory for the duration of the war, I don't think your idea is feasible.

However, during the Japanese occupation of French Indochina (September, 1940), dozens of Japanese tanks were landed.

In the early stages of the French Indochina War of 1945-54, ex-Japanese tanks were used by the returning French Army, and later a mixture of US, British and French vehicles were brought in. Many were modified locally, and as in most thing the French proved to be nothing if not adaptable. The main user of these was an ad-hoc formation (apparently the reforming Détachment Motorisée du Cambodge?) in Cambodia, which used Renault UE tractors with machine-guns mounted, plus a mixture of Japanese Type 89B mediums, Type 95 lights and Type 94 tankettes. There were at least 9 Japanese tanks in service on 15th February 1946.

Source: http://members.lycos.co.uk/Indochine/cefeo/afvs.html

You could show a Japanese tank (could be either from WW2 or the French Indochina War) being discovered by Vietnam war era US troops.


Best Luck,
Chas

Hi Matthew with regards to the first part as far as i'm aware the first ever US presence in Nam or Cambodia didn't occur until 1959 when the US sent in "advisors" to aid the South Vietnamese in various ways from weapons handling and combat tactics that is MACV was created as for the second part you could do like Chas suggested have a derelict French tank left over from the 1950's Indo-China conflict

As has been pointed out aside from some OSS there was no real ground presence by the US during WWII. There were some air raids, both from carriers and I believe that B-29s raided Haiphong.

John

There were OSS agents that worked alongside the Viet Minh forces. In their reports at the end of the war, they recommended independence for Vietnam instead of re-occupation by France. The head agent was mysteriously killed at a French check point. It was suggested that Ho Chi Minh was willing to form a government of national unity. The US through the OSS operatives were the major source of supply to the Viet Minh via China.
French forces in Vietnam were considered under control by the Vichy. There was short fighting between the French and Thai in about campaign during early 1941. The French won the major naval encounter (Koh Chang) while the land engagements were inconclusive.
The Japanese occupied Vietnam by disarming its erstwhile ally, Vichy France, in Vietnam.
After the Japanese surrender, a British unit was sent to occupy southern Vietnam and a Chinese army came south for a short period.


Mike T.

I am pretty sure In Tank Sargent by Ralf Zumbro he mentions seeing Old French armor burnt out in places. I think he may have said Shermans. He was there in 68 fighting in M48s

I also read somewhere the French flew M24 Chaffee light tanks into Dien Bien Phu taken down to small parts and then rebuilt them on the site.

The M-24s at Dien Bien Phu are still there (try googling for modern tours of the site), but that would have been in North Vietnam in the 60s and 70s and well out of the reach of GIs.

Plenty of other US stuff did see service in French hands, M4s, M8 A/Cs, halftracks, LVTs, M29 amphibians, artillery and so on.

Or you could go out on a limb and model the legendary (and mythical) Pink Panther

David

Ah yeah your totally right, I wasn't thinking about where it was, just that it was interesting how the tanks got there. I wish I remember where I read the little history on them.