Today in History: March 8, first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam
Today is Saturday, March 8, the 67th day of 2025. There are 298 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 8, 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.
Also on this date:
In 1917, protests against food rationing broke out in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), triggering eight days of rioting that resulted in the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the end of the Russian monarchy.
In 1948, the Supreme Court, in McCollum v. Board of Education, struck down religious education classes during school hours in Champaign, Illinois, public schools, saying the program violated separation of church and state.
In 1971, in the first of three fights between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, Frazier defeated Ali by unanimous decision in what was billed as “The Fight of the Century” at Madison Square Garden in New York.
In 1983, in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention in Orlando, Florida, President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”
In 1988, 17 soldiers were killed when two Army helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, collided in mid-flight during a night training mission.
In 2008, President George W. Bush vetoed a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off a massive and ultimately unsuccessful search.
Today’s birthdays: Author John McPhee is 94. Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager is 81. Actor-musician Micky Dolenz (The Monkees) is 80. Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice is 72. Singer Gary Numan is 67. TV journalist Lester Holt is 66. Actor Aidan Quinn is 66. Actor Camryn Manheim is 64. Actor Freddie Prinze Jr. is 49. Actor James Van Der Beek is 48. Songwriter-producer Benny Blanco is 37. Tennis player Petra Kvitová is 35. Actor Montana Jordan is 22. Actor Kit Connor is 21.
By The Associated Press
