About 50 years ago the Vietnam War was intensifying as the United States began a bombing campaign over North Vietnam called Operation Rolling Thunder.
It was intended to either force the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table or bomb them “back into the Stone Age”.
The North Vietnamese defended themselves as best they could and managed to shoot down many American fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, mostly by anti-aircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles and small arms fire.
To shore up morale in the face of devastating US raids, North Vietnam began issuing a series of postage stamps boasting of their successes in shooting down American aircraft.
In 1966, another stamp was issued claiming 1,000 shot down (this stamp is missing from the collection).
The artwork for this stamp was taken from this famous “Guerilla Girl” photo showing Captain Bill Robinson being taken into captivity by a diminutive female soldier.
Bill Robinson had the misfortune to become the longest held enlisted prisoner of war in American history from the shooting down of his helicopter on Sept 20, 1965 until his release on Feb 12, 1973.
He spent his seven and a half years captivity in various prisons including the notorious Hanoi Hilton.
He was horribly mistreated – as he says in his biography, The Longest Rescue: The Life and Legacy of Vietnam POW William A Robinson by Glenn Robins, “We were all treated equally, we all got the hell beaten out of us”.
The final set of stamps was brought out in 1973, marking the end of US involvement in the Vietnam War.
These were propaganda stamps and you would assume that North Vietnamese claims must have been greatly exaggerated. How many US aircraft were actually lost? Having trawled the internet, it is quite difficult to find a definitive number that everyone agrees on.
The number 2,257 is mentioned often but it depends on whether you include helicopters, losses due to accidents, losses over Cambodia and Laos and other variables.
A declassified US Airforce report (should be a reliable source) puts USAF i.e. not including Navy, Army, Marines, combat losses of fixed-wing aircraft at over 1,600.
According to the Oxford Companion to American Military History, 8,588 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters were lost. Whatever the true figure, it was a lot!
A sad, but ultimately futile, gesture. Will anyone remember his 50th anniversary? Maybe in Vietnam they will.
This article first appeared on thriftytraveller.wordpress.com