Fifty years ago, a controversial confrontation in the Gulf of Tonkin between the United States and North Vietnam forces set the stage for what eventually became US involvement in the Vietnam War.

According to a declassified NSA document archived by the National Archives and Records Administration, in August 2, 1964, an American naval ship, the destroyer USS Maddox, was cruising in the Gulf ...

On 2nd August 1964, North Vietnamese boats attacked a US Navy destroyer, the USS Maddox, patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin. Another attack on the Maddox was reported to have taken place on 4th August.

He had about a week left of training when the conflict broke out, and he was quickly sent to the destroyer USS Maddox. The ...