What does one say to a Vietnam veteran when the anniversary arrives 30 April the day Vietnam fell?
May 21, 2010 - Posted in Vietnam Vacation
Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and its presidential palace were taken over on April 30, 1975, by the North Vietnamese army with heavy artillery. The assault ended the Vietnam War, and reunified Vietnam. American diplomats evacuated, and some Vietnamese made it to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, or onto U.S. Navy ships off the coast of South Vietnam. The United States Marines ran away and was defeated in the last battle. The Marines never recovered.
1) The Second Indochina War (commonly called the Vietnam War) did not end on 30 April, 1975. It ended on 4 December 1975 when the Pathet Lao took control of Vientiane, Laos. Yes, Saigon fell to the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAV, not the incorrect name NVA). Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge on 15 April, 1975 although there was fighting by US Marines and Khmer Rouge at Kompong Som between 12-15 May, 1975 over the Mayaguz Incident.
2) Technically, and legally, under international law and the "1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina", Vietnam was one country which was supposed to have been TEMPORARILY divided until nationwide elections in 1956. The US violated those agreements even before they were signed and continued to do so until 1975. Saigon was legally NOT the capital of the illegal Republic of South Vietnam.
3) Heavy artillery was not used on the Presidential Palace in Saigon, it was tanks.
4) People, especially the US Marines would say that they did not run away. Also, they did not have to recover from anything.
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You may say that the Vietnam Vets fought an illegal war for an illegal government BUT, most fought well and did their duty, and therefore should be respected.
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11 Responses to “What does one say to a Vietnam veteran when the anniversary arrives 30 April the day Vietnam fell?”
The US marines ran away.. oh boy i think you are wrong.
My father was a marine. they run towards the fire. the army was probably the ones that ran, they were mostly involved in that war anyway.
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By Chriz on May 21, 2010
You say "thank you for your service" and then STFUP.
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By W.C. Felcher on May 21, 2010
back up buddy!! the war was not meant to be won, it was a way for a lot of american business to make a lot of money w/ lucrative contracts, dow, union carbide, bell, g.e. among a few that prospered in an unwinable war. it is very ddisrespectful and un american to label one branch of the armed forces for not attaining the unattainable, you owe the Marines an apology!!!!
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By Robert on May 21, 2010
Do you need a longer paddle to stir that pot of shyte with?
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By LYNN in FL (suspended @#*%) on May 21, 2010
1) The Second Indochina War (commonly called the Vietnam War) did not end on 30 April, 1975. It ended on 4 December 1975 when the Pathet Lao took control of Vientiane, Laos. Yes, Saigon fell to the Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAV, not the incorrect name NVA). Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge on 15 April, 1975 although there was fighting by US Marines and Khmer Rouge at Kompong Som between 12-15 May, 1975 over the Mayaguz Incident.
2) Technically, and legally, under international law and the "1954 Geneva Agreements on Indochina", Vietnam was one country which was supposed to have been TEMPORARILY divided until nationwide elections in 1956. The US violated those agreements even before they were signed and continued to do so until 1975. Saigon was legally NOT the capital of the illegal Republic of South Vietnam.
3) Heavy artillery was not used on the Presidential Palace in Saigon, it was tanks.
4) People, especially the US Marines would say that they did not run away. Also, they did not have to recover from anything.
=========
You may say that the Vietnam Vets fought an illegal war for an illegal government BUT, most fought well and did their duty, and therefore should be respected.
References :
A former TV news cameraman and journalist with over 30 years in the industry in Australia and Southeast Asia, including as a War Correspondent during the Second Indochina War.
Currently a SE Asian historian.
By Walter B on May 21, 2010
The Marines – and soldiers and sailors – I knew were jubliant and so was most of the rest of America. I was working in Honolulu at the time and we went out to celebrate and all the hotel bars were full of military personnel (Hawaii was a big R&R station) celebrating, too. It was a great night! The only sad thing was that if it had happened 7 years earlier we wouldn’t have had to bury the Marines we knew and loved. There are probably some hard-core enlisted – the guys for whom being "in the war" was the highlight of their otherwise dull lives – who still want to go back and make things right…. but there can’t be many of them.
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By Mujer Alta on May 21, 2010
Is was not a matter of the Marines running away or as Chriz ignorantly put it as the Army was the branch who ran because his Daddy was a Marine. It was because the government of the US at the time decided to pull from the region because of an entire fiasco of who and who were not the enemy. Sadly we learn nothing from the past because the corporate machines in America and the misguided threat of communism/ slash fanaticism sacrificed many fine men and women from all Branches who believed that they were doing there duty just as the previous generation ( their parents ) who liberated Europe and saved as many Jews as they could form the Holocaust of the Nazi Regime. These men and women should always be thanked no matter what day of the freaking year it is. It was a hard time for each people in that time in history no matter whether the were for it or against it.
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By mj on May 21, 2010
STFU and blow away in the wind.
The war for the U.S. ended two years before when our troops came home and left the war up to the South Vietnamese. It was theirs to win or lose not ours.
The only Marines left were the embassy guard and they left when the embassy was ordered evacuated. There was nothing left for them to guard.
If we had been ALLOWED to win by the politicians we WOULD have won.
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Veteran 82d Airborne Div. 1970-73
By John H on May 21, 2010
As the other poster said, "thanks for your service to the country.
BTW: I’m a former Marine and I live in Ben Tre, Viet Nam. Why don’t you come over for a visit, I’d like to give you a nice, big beating.
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By rick m on May 21, 2010
I served in Vietnam. A simple " Thank You", means a lot.
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served in Nam and in Gulf War One
Chief Warrant Officer 3 U.S.Army (ret)
By charles.young580 on May 21, 2010
Nothing but "Shit Happens"!
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Been there done that.
By Robert on May 21, 2010