Vietnam War: Prior to the War

Interesting facts I didn't know before:
- American "operatives" working for the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) had been stationed all over Vietnam during WWII. Their job was to monitor the movement of Japanese troops, helping the Japanese resistance groups and rescuing pilots who had been shot down in the Vietnam.
- American operatives and the Vietnamese worked closely with one another
- Franklin D. Roosevelt had wanted to "liberate" the Indochinese nations from colonial rule after WWII. To him, France and other countries like Britain, had been exploiting the people and the resources of that region for far too long. It was time to put an end to the suffering and exploitation endured by the Indochinese under the French colonialists.
- Indochina refers to: Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. During the period prior to the Vietnam War, Indochina was a region colonially controlled by France. Currently, it is known as South-east Asia.
- Winston Churchill, PM of England, disapproved of FDR's plans to dismantle the French colonial empire in Indochina for fear that FDR will want to dismantle Britain's colonnial empire as well.

Truth:
Based on the stories told to me by my parents, the French presence in Vietnam was not all that negative. The French introduced new foods, and they helped to build more modern infrastructure, as well as religious institutions. For example, the French introduced the baguette, a French bread roll. It became so popular in Vietnam that even today, Vietnamese people still eat the French baguette with their own style of Vietnamese deli meats. The French also built modern hospitals, with foreign-trained doctors, using French medicine. For a lot of the infectious diseases that appeared at that time, having modernly equipped hospitals and French medicines helped a great deal. Lastly, the French presence introduced Roman Catholicism into Vietnam. It is important to note that the French colonialists did not force the Catholic faith onto the Vietnamese, and instead they were actually allowed to continue practicing their own religions, such as Buddhism. From there, they went on to build schools that were run by nuns and priests. My aunt, L.M., attended school in one of the Convents in North Vietnam early on in her education. Therefore, in my family, the previous generation had only positive things to say about the French colonialists.

What I would like to know more about:
- Where did each side of the families of both parents grow up? Did their experience with the French colonialists change as they migrated to other parts of Vietnam?
- How much did the French control the education system? How much was left to the Vietnamese to administer on their own?
- Historically, what is known about the French "invasion" and later, their occupation of Vietnam?

Sources:
Indochina @ Wikipedia
The Vietnam War for Dummies