BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY: BLACK PEOPLE IN THE VIETNAM WAR : WE WERE THEIR :

The Vietnam War saw the highest proportion  of Black ever to serve in an American war.  During the height of the U.S. involvement 1965 - 1969 Blacks who formed eleven percent of the American population made up 12,6 percent of the soldiers in Vietnam.  Majority of them were in the infantry.  The percentage of Black combat fatalities in that period was a staggering 14.9 percent a proportion that subsequently declined. Volunteers and Draftees including many frustrated Blacks whose impatience with the war and the delays in racial progress in America led to race riots on a number of ships and military bases, beginning in 1968 and the Services response in creating interracial councils and racial sensitive training.

The participation of American of African descent in the U.S.  Military has a long and distinguished history and have participated in all American wars, they have some times faced almost as bitter a hostility from their White American fellow country man as from the enemy. Never the less, particularly since the 1970s the U.S. Military has made a serious effort at racial integration and while much remains to be done, the military has achieved a degree of success in this area that surpasses most Civilian Institution.