Whereas the Vietnam War was fought in the Republic of Vietnam from 1955 to 1975 and involved regular forces from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and Viet Cong guerrilla forces in armed conflict with the United States Armed Forces, the armed forces of allies of the United States, and the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam; Whereas the United States Armed Forces became involved in Vietnam because the United States Government wanted to provide direct support by the Armed Forces to the Government of the Republic of Vietnam to defend against the growing threat of Communism from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; Whereas members of the United States Armed Forces began serving in an advisory role to the Government of South Vietnam in 1955; Whereas as a result of the Gulf of Tonkin incidents on August 2 and 4, 1964, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution ( Public Law 88–408 ) on August 7, 1964, which provided to the President of the United States the authority to use armed force to assist the Republic of Vietnam in the defense of its freedom against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; Whereas, in 1965, United States Armed Forces ground combat units arrived in the Republic of Vietnam to join an already present 23,000 United States Armed Forces personnel; Whereas, by September 1965, there were between 150,000 and 190,000 United States Armed Forces troops in Vietnam, and by 1969, a peak number of United States Armed Forces troops in Vietnam of approximately 549,500 troops was reached, including United States Armed Forces members supporting the combat operations from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and aboard Navy vessels; Whereas, on January 27, 1973, the Agreement on Ending the War in Vietnam and Restoring Peace (commonly known as the Paris Peace Accords ) was signed, which required the release of all United States prisoners-of-war held in North Vietnam and the withdrawal of all United States Armed Forces from South Vietnam