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Japan Invades Vietnam
It became one of a series of foreign nations that ruled the Asian country. -
Japan surrenders to the Allies
The Japanese representatives signed the official Instrument of Surrender, prepared by the War Department and approved by President Harry S. Truman. -
India gains independence from Britain
The Indian Independence Bill, which carves the independent nations of India and Pakistan out of the former Mogul Empire, comes into force. -
French forces fell to the Vietminh
A massive Vietminh force surrounded Dien Bien Phu and began bombarding the town. The defeat convinced the French to make peace and withdraw from Indochina. -
Johnson announced North Vietnamese fired
North Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin, a significant escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Johnson sends the first U.S. troop into Vietnam
two battalions of U.S. Marines came to the beaches at Danang. 3,500 soldiers were the first combat troops the United States had dispatched to South Vietnam to support the Saigon government in its effort to defeat an increasingly lethal Communist insurgency.