United States Establishes the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam

September 1, 1950 - September 30, 1950

Overview

The United States establishes the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group, Indochina (MAAG). The United States limits MAAG’s mission to the provision of material assistance to the French forces and indirect military aid to the forces of the Associated State of Vietnam. U.S. Army Brigadier General Francis G. Brink arrives in Saigon to assume command as the first Chief of MAAG on October 9. The group consists of about 65 men on that date.1

¹Ronald H. Spector, Advice and Support, the Early Years, 1941–1960, The U.S. Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1985), 115–17; Richard W. Stewart, Deepening Involvement, 1945–1965 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2012), 10; Tucker, ed., Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, 434–35; Herring, America’s Longest War, 27–28; Doris M. Condit, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Volume II: The Test of War, 1950–1953 (Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1988), 207–8