A wee bit late, but yesterday (April 30, 2025) was the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.

[Safiel]

At 10:45 am on April 30, 1975, a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the South Vietnamese Presidential Palace. The tank commander exited his vehicle, pulled down the South Vietnamese Flag and raised the Vietcong Flag, officially ending the Vietnam War. Formal reunification as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam would not occur until July 2, 1976.

I was a young child at the time, but can still vaguely remember bits and pieces from those days.

Vietnam has come a long way since then. My first visit was in March 1995, a few months prior to formal reestablishment of diplomatic relations on July 11, 1995. The visit was an official business trip and I visited both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. I got to see the old United States Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City before it was handed back to the United States and torn down to be replaced by a Consulate. My last visit was in 2022 and the change in the country has been impressive. In 1995, the country still had the backwardness of an Orthodox Communist country. Today, the cities are much more vibrant and up to date.

Apart from business dealings, we help fund a program to remove unexploded ordnance and landmines from the Vietnamese countryside as well as constructing rural public schools.

Vietnam still has a ways to go, but progress is being made.

 

[soylentgreen]

Actually it is more correct to say the vietnamese are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the american war. Because it was the americans who invaded vietnam to kill and dominate its people. and failed.