This Sunday, April 30, 2023, marked 48 years since the fall of Saigon in 1975 and the end of the Vietnam War. I have written before about growing up during the war. It is known as the first television war as the news brought the fighting from Vietnam into American homes every evening. In contrast, at home, we experienced protests against the war and the draft; it was a turbulent time in American history.
By the time Saigon fell, Americans had grown weary of Vietnam. The last American combat troops left in 1973, leaving the South Vietnamese Armed Forces to fight the communists on their own. While we gathered our television sets, we watched US helicopters pick up Americans and whatever Vietnamese we could get out. The US embassy was besieged by thousands of Vietnamese trying to get into the embassy compound in the hopes of getting out while US Marines tried desperately to hold back the flood of terrified people. Tragically we left so many behind who had to endure years of imprisonment and torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese victors.
South Vietnamese helicopters and planes loaded with family members and piloted by Vietnamese Army and Air Force pilots made desperate escape attempts trying to land on American ships off the coast of Vietnam. There were so many aircraft that American crews pushed planes and helicopters over the side, and many Vietnamese ditched their aircraft in the water. The last of the Marines and diplomatic corps took off from the embassy as the government of South Vietnam finally surrendered, even as North Vietnamese tanks were crashing through the gates of the Presidential Palace. Finally, dramatically, it was over, the fall of Saigon being the last painful gasp of a dying nation.
The collapse of South Vietnam had significant political and social consequences. The Vietnam War was lengthy and costly; more than 58,000 American lives were lost, and tens of thousands were wounded and traumatized by their experiences. The cost to the Vietnamese was staggering in lives lost and damage to the country. The fall of Saigon was seen by many as a humiliating defeat for the United States, and it left many asking the question of whether the cost and sacrifice were worth it. It left Americans even more disillusioned with their government, and many felt demoralized with frustration and anger.
President Nixon had promised to end the war, giving us peace with honor, but his efforts at Vietnamization had failed. Eventually, when South Vietnam needed us the most, the US cut off funding, leaving no way for the SVNAF to defend itself. With Nixon out of office, President Ford was left to deal with the aftermath of the fall of Saigon, and he faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, with some accusing him of not doing enough to save South Vietnam and others arguing that the war should never have been fought in the first place.
The fall of Saigon and the collapse of South Vietnam had a profound and long-lasting influence on American foreign policy; the United States became more cautious in its approach to foreign intervention, focusing on diplomacy and economic aid rather than military intervention. The experience of the Vietnam War would shape American military and foreign policy for years to come.
While the collapse of South Vietnam and the fall of Saigon was a watershed moment in American history, the country learned some crucial lessons about the limitations of military intervention, as well as having the support of the people and especially the need to support those men and women who were being asked and, in many cases because of the draft, told they had to fight.
It was hard to watch the fall of Kabul; so many of us remembered those last desperate days of Vietnam, the panicked faces pleading to get out, remembering those left behind last time and seeing it all over again. It hit home for veterans who fought in Vietnam and those who watched it at home for the first time. I never thought I would witness something like it twice in my life. I pray there will not be a third time.
It has taken us a long time to move on from the war, but I think that for another generation or two we will still have those moments when those of who had family and friends who fought in the war or grew up during the war will still see Vietnam both as it was in the 60s and 70s for a brief moment, and then as it is today.
As with everything, Vietnam is a different place now than it was fifty years ago. With modern skyscrapers and resort areas, I have friends and family who travel there frequently for business and tourism, have lived there for work and love Vietnam and its warm and wonderful people its amazing history, culture and lets not forget the wonderful food!.