Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
On 21 January 1970, ITN's News at Ten recorded an American woman as she listened to a message from her prisoner‑of‑war husband in North Vietnam. Speaking in captivity, her husband Matthew sent Christmas and New Year wishes to her and their two children, reassuring them that he was in good health.
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam held hundreds of American prisoners – around 700 in total over the course of the conflict, with more than 100 dying in captivity. The war itself inflicted vast human losses: more than 58,000 US service personnel were killed and over 300,000 wounded, while Vietnamese military and civilian deaths are estimated at over 3 million, alongside millions more wounded and displaced across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
By 1970, after years of escalating casualties, the expansion of the war beyond Vietnam, and sustained domestic protest, opinion polls showed a clear majority of Americans had come to view US involvement as a mistake, reflecting a deepening crisis of confidence in the war effort.
#vietnamwar #vietnam #prisonersofwar #militaryhistory #history
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On 21 January 1970, ITN's News at Ten recorded an American woman as she listened to a message from her prisoner‑of‑war husband in North Vietnam. Speaking in captivity, her husband Matthew sent Christmas and New Year wishes to her and their two children, reassuring them that he was in good health.
During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam held hundreds of American prisoners – around 700 in total over the course of the conflict, with more than 100 dying in captivity. The war itself inflicted vast human losses: more than 58,000 US service personnel were killed and over 300,000 wounded, while Vietnamese military and civilian deaths are estimated at over 3 million, alongside millions more wounded and displaced across Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
By 1970, after years of escalating casualties, the expansion of the war beyond Vietnam, and sustained domestic protest, opinion polls showed a clear majority of Americans had come to view US involvement as a mistake, reflecting a deepening crisis of confidence in the war effort.
#vietnamwar #vietnam #prisonersofwar #militaryhistory #history
To search the ITN Archive collection on Getty Images, follow the link below:
gettyimages.co.uk/footage/itn
🎥 Subscribe to our YouTube channel (tap the bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest Frontline by ITN videos!) - youtube.com/@FrontlinebyITN
🎥 Follow us on Twitter - twitter.com/ITNArchive
🎥 Like us on Facebook - facebook.com/ITNArchiveITNP
🎥 Check out our TikTok - tiktok.com/@itnarchive1955
