The Title Card claimed that "In 1965, few people believed that the still limited conflict in Viet Nam would turn into full scale war". Vietnam was a full scale war in the 1950's. It was certainly a full scale war in 1965. To suggest otherwise is delusional.
shareThe Vietnam Conflict was not a full-scale war in the 1950s. The First Indochina War had left North Vietnam devastated. The Viet Minh it left behind after the 1954 partition were killed or pushed completely underground by early 1957. It wasn't after North Vietnam invaded Laos in July 1959 and could begin rebuilding the Ho Chi Minh Trail that the North was able to effectively supply, infiltrate and reconstitute in the south, and the Viet Cong was not formally created until December 1960, at which point there were only 900 American military advisers in the country (increasing to 16500 post-coup in November 1963). North Vietnamese troops first began crossing into the south from the north in early 1964, coinciding with the first phase of clandestine American espionage, reconnaissance and paramilitary operations in accord with OPPLAN 34A. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was approved in August of 1964, and the American ground war in Vietnam began with the first deployment of Marines in March of 1965 and the commencement of the bombing campaign against North Vietnam.
However, Herzog is being very sneaky in that title card. While American and North Vietnamese involvement in the conflict was relatively limited in 1965, Dieter Dengler did not crash in 1965- he crashed on February 1, *1966.* By then America had over 200,000 troops on the ground, up from less than 20,000 in March 1965. All through the movie he really tries to impress on the viewer that Dieter is just a simple genial pilot in a war he doesn't want to be in or even know much of anything about it, and to that end it's clearly better for the audience to think he crashed earlier in the war than he actually did.
In his defense though Eugene argues there is no war when Dieter arrives in camp. Dieter is the one to convinces them that they are indeed at war.
Eugene even admits later like OMG we are at war.
However, Herzog is being very sneaky in that title card. While American and North Vietnamese involvement in the conflict was relatively limited in 1965, Dieter Dengler did not crash in 1965- he crashed on February 1, *1966.* By then America had over 200,000 troops on the ground, up from less than 20,000 in March 1965. All through the movie he really tries to impress on the viewer that Dieter is just a simple genial pilot in a war he doesn't want to be in or even know much of anything about it, and to that end it's clearly better for the audience to think he crashed earlier in the war than he actually did.