Within months, the first combat-ready unit was deployed to U.S. Marines headquarters at Da Nang in March, 1965. U.S. involvement continued to steadily increase, and by the close of 1967 over a million American troops were in Vietnam, despite the growing sentiment of the American public to stop or withdraw from the war. The undeclared "war" eventually became the United States' longest foreign policy engagement. After years of intense battle, the United States withdrew the last combat troops from Vietnam in March 1973. More than 1.2 million Americans served in the war; nearly 60,000 died in service.
The objective that the United States supported — in short, preventing Vietnam from becoming a communist foothold — was never realized. In April 1975, Saigon surrendered to the communist revolutionaries; the following year, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was declared.
