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The country of Vietnam is situated across the other side
of the world in Southeast Asia. This country may not
mean a lot to many people, but during the last century
two full-scale wars raged on. .
The first one called the French IndoChina war, was
fought between 1946-1954 by France (with financial help
from the US late in the war) against the Viet-Minh,
(Vietnamese Communist) supported by China. This was a
Colonial war with the French trying to hold on to their
old Colonies acquired in the mid to late 1800, Cambodia,
Laos and Vietnam (Cochinchine,
Annam and Tonkin).
The second one, the Vietnam War was fought between
1965-1974, by America and its Allies against the
North Vietnamese and the Communist powers of China and
Russia to stop the "Domino Effect". This
conflict was known by many as the Ten Thousand day War.
During
the late stages of WW2 and the Korean war, we saw a
rapid progression of warfare technology with the
invention of the V1 & V2 Rockets, Early Warning
Radar, fighter and bomber jets, helicopters and not
forgetting the Nuclear Bombs dropped on Japan
The
Vietnam War saw new technology in full swing with new
vehicles like helicopters and jets being massively
deployed as well as increase into weaponry effectiveness
and destructive capability.
Between
1969 and 1971, two and half million tons of bombs were
dropped on Vietnam compared to two million tons dropped
during the entirety of WW2. (1939 – 1945)
.
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Rolling Thunder is a Living History/re-enactment
group and its members' personal collections are used
at various shows in the form of a mobile museum. Our
aim is to depict the Vietnam conflict with accuracy
and to educate the public by engaging fully with them.
It is our intention to show the hardships &
everyday lives of the combatants of both sides, in
such a way as to honour the veterans of the war.
Rolling Thunder gained its official name in 2002,
but for many years prior, its founding members: Roger,
Stuart, Dean and Jean-Luc had been exhibiting their
Vietnam War vehicles and private collections together
at shows in the South of England.
At our official opening, at the 2002 War and Peace
Military Vehicle show in Beltring, Kent our newly
formed group fielded over 20 restored and fully
equipped vehicles with uniformed crew, and a museum
tent with 10 mannequins and equipment.
Rolling Thunder “The Vietnam Experience” are
proud of our ability to portray various units chosen
to give the public a wider understanding of the
conflict. Between our members we can convey a
very comprehensive picture of US Army Infantry camps,
Marine Corps patrols, Artillery emplacements, Special
Forces and Airborne units, and not forgetting our
Australian and New Zealand military unit displays and
our newly created French Indochina section. We
have a large assortment of original period vehicles
ranging from the small MUTT (Jeep) up to the larger
Armored Gun Trucks and Cargo Trucks as well as a 155mm
Howitzer Artillery Gun.
To understand a conflict you need to also have a
look at the enemy; "Rolling Thunder, the Vietnam
Experience" also has a large collection of rarely
seen equipment and weaponry of the North Vietnamese
Army and Viet Cong Forces. Our displays are
believed to have the largest concentration of Vietnam
vehicles in the UK.
We do not wish to glorify the Vietnam war, however
we try to educate the public regarding all aspects of
the conflict. By displaying our vehicles and
recreating military units of the Vietnam War we hope
to keep alive the memory of the 50,000 plus American
lives and the countless lives of its allies and of the
Vietnamese and the French lives lost during the two
Vietnam conflicts.
Please visit the rest of the site and see what we
do in more depth.
Rolling Thunder is a highly accurate Living
History/re-enactors group.
All members wear correct uniforms and equipment and
we operate correctly marked Military vehicles to
recreate the Vietnam atmosphere at various Military
shows
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