Vietnam War remained in the field for four days. Tellingly, South Vietnamese forces were again defeated in June 1965 at the Battle of Đồng Xoài. On 8 March 1965, 3,500 U.S. Marines were unilaterally dispatched to South Vietnam. This marked the beginning of the American ground war. U.S. public opinion overwhelmingly supported the deployment. The Marines' initial assignment was defensive. The first deployment of 3,500 in March 1965 was increased to nearly 200,000 by December. The U.S. military had long been schooled in offensive warfare. Regardless of political policies, U.S. commanders were institutionally and psychologically unsuited to a defensive mission. General William
Japanese people in Vietnam to Vietnam. During World War II, on September 22, 1940, Japan invaded Vietnam and began constructing military bases to strike against the Allies in Southeast Asia. Japanese troops remained in Vietnam until their surrender to the Allies in 1945. Some Japanese troops from the IJA stayed in Vietnam and were recruited into the ranks of the Viet Minh as NCO's and Officers were needed to train the Viet Minh in modern tactics. Some also simply assimilated and adopted Vietnamese names, as they had Vietnamese wives and girlfriends. In recent years, many natives of Japan have migrated to Vietnam, mostly to