18. Fact: The United States bombed Indochina relentlessly for nearly a decade
Over 7 million tons of aerial bombs were dropped in Southeast Asia by American aircraft during the Vietnam War, more than three times the total tonnage dropped in all of the Second World War in the European and Pacific Theaters combined. The tonnage dropped on Laos alone was equivalent to one ton for every resident in the nation. About 4 million tons were dropped on targets in South Vietnam, including suspected troop and Viet Cong concentrations, villages and towns, and targets called in by troops heavily engaged on the ground. Besides aerial bombing, Vietnam was also heavily targeted by big guns from US Naval warships, including cruisers and destroyers and in 1968 the battleship USS New Jersey.
