Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Writing Exercise: The Fall of Saigon


On April 30, 1975, Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh city, fell to North Vietnam. This marked the end of the Vietnam War. The People's Army of Vietnam, also known as "Viet Cong," appeared in Saigon and advanced. At the time, Nixon had slowly been retracting US forces from South Vietnam, leaving them to fend for their own country. This left S. Vietnam unable to hold themselves up and caused them to fall to the communists. The President and Commander-in-Chief, General Thieu had already fled to Taiwan, leaving General Duong Van Minh to find a peaceful solution to the war, a difficult task since North Vietnam did not want to negotiate. On April 29, North Vietnam began the final attacks by launching rockets at Saigon. Almost all American and South Vietnamese civilians were evacuated, as well as military personnel. This became known as "Operation Frequent Wind," the largest helicopter evacuation in history. North Vietnam raised their flags over the Presidential Palace, the South government shortly surrendered, and Saigon was captured.



"Operation Frequent Wind"

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/vietnam-war/the-fall-of-saigon/

6 comments:

  1. I never knew how the Vietnam war ended, and I never knew that this was the largest military evacuation by helicopter. what were the casualties and how many helicopters were shot down?

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    1. The casualties were relatively light, only a couple Marines were killed during the evacuation, but they ended up being able to save over 7,000 civvies in total. I'd have to do more research about how many helicopters were shot down!

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  2. It disappointing to see the US give up on a war and accept defeat after they had been so insistent on joining it that they chose to deceive their own citizens.

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  3. I too never knew how the Vietnam war ended. Do you know whether or not there was a tactical reason for Saigon being the place that the war ended, or was it more of happen-stance?

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  4. Both my granddads fought in the Vietnam war and I have heard stories about this. I didn't know it ended like this.

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  5. As others have stated, I didn't how the war came to a close, but I also did not if the Domino Effect had actually succeeded for a time in South Vietnam when the leader fled.

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