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Weekly Online LessonOnline Lesson ArchiveGrade Level: 8-12
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The Fall of Saigon
On
April 29, 1975, America withdrew completely from Saigon, leaving the old
noncommunist capital to fall to North Vietnamese tanks. Twenty-five years
later in Ho Chi Minh City, the new name of Saigon, Vietnamese celebrated
the anniversary of their victory over the United States and its South
Vietnamese allies.
The celebration included a two-hour parade featuring mountain tribesmen on stilts , Viet Cong special forces weighed down with medals, teams of doctors and nurses, a swim team and unicyclists. Representatives of the army, navy, air force and militia formed a vast semicircle on the palace lawn. Youth groups and workers outside the circle flashed the red flags of Vietnam with a gold star in the center. Singers belted out patriotic songs, including "Uncle Ho Lives in the Great Victory Day," which was chosen as the celebration's theme. "We are marching to Saigon to liberate our country," they sang.
Americans commemorated the fall of Saigon with memorial services for the 58,153 Americans who died in Southeast Asia during the conflict. In this online lesson you will learn about the last days of American occupation before the fall of Saigon.
The Last Days
Begin
your study of the final days of American involvement in Vietnam by reading
the Newsweek article "The
last days of Saigon" at MSNBC.com. This article reports on
some of the events of the evacuation at the U.S. embassy, and it captures
a sense of the confusion and drama unfolding. Near the end of the article
you will find a timeline of the significant events of the Vietnam war,
going in reverse order from the capture of Saigon to the French-Indochina
war.
When you finish reading this article, click the link to the special report about the last marines out of Saigon. Read about Ret. Col. James Kean and the last hours of operation Frequent Wind, the code name for the evacuation. Look for links to a video clip of Kean being interviewed. How does this account differ from the previous article?
A third major media resource to read is the 1995 cover article from Time Magazine, Saigon: The Final 10 Days. This archived article retells the story from a journalistic perspective. You will learn added details about the resignation of President Nguyen Van Thieu, the surrender of Saigon after the American evacuation, and the almost comical transfer of power to the North Vietnamese government.
Operation Frequent Wind
As
you learned, the name of the operation to evacuate the embassy was Frequent
Wind. Read a summary of Operation
Frequent Wind at the FAS Military Analysis Network. Here you
will learn the facts of the operation, including the number of sorties
(flights) and the number of people evacuated.
The aircraft carrier USS Midway was one of the ships participating in the operation. Visit the USS Midway site and click Operation Frequent Wind to learn more about its role. Follow the links in that section to see pictures from the operation, and find out why many helicopters were tossed overboard.
The Fall of Saigon
You
can learn about the fall of Saigon firsthand from the U.S. Embassy Marines
at The Fall
of Saigon site. Start by scrolling down the frame on the right
and clicking Our
Story. Why was the song White Christmas played on the armed forces
radio in April, 1975? Continue scrolling down the page and click each
of the story links listed below the Marines photo. Each story was contributed
by an Embassy Marine and gives a personal account of events.
For the Vietnamese perspective on the fall of Saigon, browse to Fall of Saigon Stories. This site is a compilation of stories from Vietnamese students attending Mission College in California. Click each name and read the firsthand accounts of what happened in Saigon after the communists seized control.
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