Endnotes for Chapter I
1 General William C. Westmoreland, the U.S. commander in Vietnam from
1964 to 1968, kept a copy of Fall's book on the table near his bed. He
later said that the defeat of Groupement Mobile 100 was "always on my
mind," particularly so during the early U.S. deployments.
2 In 1954 General Westmoreland attended a Pentagon staff briefing on
Vietnam that strongly influenced the senior staff officers. The Surgeon
General of the Army painted a gloomy picture of an environment so severe
that Westerners would be unable to survive. In July 1965 at a similar
briefing when the Army Chief of Staff was present a general officer stated
that tanks were not needed in Vietnam.
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