Forty years ago today, North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, ending a war that lasted thirty years.
Vietnam today marks the 40th anniversary of the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975. The Vietnam War killed up to four million Vietnamese, the Vietnamese government says, and more than 58,000 U.S troops, the U.S. Defense Ministry has said. Vietnam refers to the event as the date of its reunification.
At the top of this post, the most iconic image from this event: A member of the CIA helps evacuees up a ladder onto an Air America helicopter on the roof of 22 Gia Long Street April 29, 1975, shortly before Saigon fell to advancing North Vietnamese troops. Photo: Hubert van Es.
Here are additional images from then and now, by Reuters photographers.
A U.S. Marine landing at Da Nang, Vietnam, 1965.
REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. National Archives – RTX1AW3N
U.S. soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division assemble on top of Hill 742, located five miles northeast of Dak To, prior to moving out, November 1967. A purple smoke bomb is ignited in the background to guide in a helicopter. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. Army
A U.S. UH-1D helicopter from the 336th Aviation Company sprays a defoliation agent on a dense jungle area in the Mekong delta, Vietnam, date unknown. Vietnam marks the 40th anniversary of the capture of Saigon by North Vietnamese forces on April 30, the event that ended a war that lasted over 30 years, killing up to four million Vietnamese, the Vietnamese government said, and more than 58,000 U.S troops, the U.S. Defense Ministry has said. Vietnam refers to the event as the date of its reunification. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. Department of Defense – RTX1AW3X
Viet Cong prisoners are escorted to a collection point by a South Vietnamese unit in September 1968.
REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. Army
Marchers from Veterans for Peace protest the Vietnam War outside the Pentagon in Washington, October 21, 1967. REUTERS/Courtesy LBJ Library –
U.S. Army engineers building a road in the Vietnamese Delta during the Vietnam war, date unknown. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. Army
U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division take a break during bunker construction on Hill 530 in Vietnam, November 25, 1967. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. Army
A U.S. soldier in Vietnam plays guitar during Operation Yellowstone, January 18, 1968. REUTERS/Courtesy U.S. National Archives
Students wave Vietnamese national flags during a military parade as part of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam, April 30, 2015. Vietnam refers to the event as the date of its reunification. REUTERS/Kham
Vietnamese soldier of the Navy march during a military parade as part of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, April 30, 2015. REUTERS/Kham
Female members of the Northern Guerilla Force march during a military parade as part of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City, April 30, 2015. REUTERS/Kham
Vietnamese farmers march during a rehearsal for a military parade as part of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in southern Ho Chi Minh City, April 26, 2015. REUTERS/Kham
