First American Casualties in Vietnam
Submitted by Steve on 8 July 2008 - 9:02am.
The first American servicemen to die in South Vietnam were killed 49 years ago, on 8 July 1959. Major Dale R. Ruis and Master Sergeant Chester M. Ovnand were killed when guerrillas struck a Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) compound in Bien Hoa, 20 miles northeast of Saigon. The MAAG consisted of U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps personnel who had provided advice and assistance to the government of South Vietnam since 1955. They were the first of 58,193 servicemen and women to die in the Vietnam War.