In Little Saigon, New Street Signs Will Pay Tribute To Fallen Capital [40 Years Ago!]

LATimes ^ | February 14, 2015 | ANH DO

[Steelfish]

In Little Saigon, New Street Signs Will Pay Tribute To Fallen Capital

By ANH DO

In Little Saigon, some street signs are being replaced with new ones that will read simply 'Saigon.' Ahead of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, Little Saigon will get patriotic new street signs. The smell of jackfruit hangs in the air and shoppers crowd the bright flower stalls that seem to blossom along the streets of Little Saigon in the final days before the Lunar New Year.

But there's a new buzz in the immigrant community this season.

At the direction of the city's first Vietnamese American mayor, some of the lime-green street signs in the heart of Little Saigon are being replaced with new ones that will read simply "Saigon," a tribute to the fallen capital that many here fled four decades ago.

The ethnic district that grew in Westminster, and later spread to surrounding cities, is the capital for overseas Vietnamese, and residents said the signs will underscore their efforts to re-create what they lost when the war in Vietnam ended. After communist forces claimed power, Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Will Jane Fonda and John Kerry attend the ceremony?

[Rembrandt]

A very nice development. How about a street named “Tu Do?”

[Shadow44]

Kerry would, but he’s too busy repeating himself in the Middle East.

Screwing up one country isn’t enough!

[Shadow44]

Kerry would, but he’s too busy repeating himself in the Middle East.

Screwing up one country isn’t enough!

[LucyT]

Lyndon Johnson was unavailable for comment.

[Arthur McGowan]

At any time between 1963 and 1975, the Vietnam War could have been won within two months.

[Steelfish]

Only if the demonstrations here in the US stopped.

[Shadow44]

South Vietnam totally could exist today if the war was conducted by the military, and not the White House.

Not sure about Laos though, they seemed rather doomed. Cambodia too depending on when the war ends.

[Rufii]

If the military had been allowed to run the war, especially early on, Vietnam would be united under Saigon’s rule and Laos and Cambodia would be free and independent.

[Seruzawa]

Thank the Devil’s Apostle, Walter Cronkite, and his purposeful false depiction of the 1968 Tet Offensive as a victory for the Commies rather than the unmitigated disaster it was. His lies gave heart to Ho Chi Minh and General Giap who were planning to sue for peace when they saw Cronkite. They knew then that they would win because the evil MSM was on their side.

Commies are a flash in the historic pan. Within another lifetime the name Ho Chi Minh City will be but a memory.

[ansel12]

Fatigue with the war came out of failure to win it, and the failure to even appear that the government wanted to win it something.

The war seemed to be purely a meat grinder for American GIs, as we watched decision makers continually seem to be deliberately avoiding winning or taking the war to the enemy. They were always finding a way to stop anything that appeared to work, or to use common sense war strategies. Over time the war became a mystery, we couldn't figure out what our government had in mind, or what their goals were, or what the purpose was.

I bet most here would be surprised to learn about the approval polling for the war, by age groups.

[ThanhPhero]

At a couple of points, following Tết '68 and again in '72 we could have won and left a unified and non-Communist Việt Nam. Both times General Giáp has said that Hà Nội was getting ready for invasion and occupation. In ̃'72 Hà Nội was ready to surrender if the US demanded it. Both times Uncle backed off and did not follow through.

[Shadow44]

Yeah, I suppose it depends on whether or not China would be willing to step in. I’m not sure since it has been a while since I studied it.

Having Operation Linebacker occur in say, 1964 would have made a world of difference.

Of course, DC still hasn’t gotten the message about meddling in military affairs.

[Cry if I Wanna]

Fatigue with the war came out of failure to win it, and the failure to even appear that the government wanted to win it something.

During many years of the Vietnam War about 100 GI's a week were killed. During Tet over 500 were killed every week. Years of casulties took its toll on the home front. 20+ years earlier America mobilized, fought and won a world war in 3 & 1/2 years. What seemed to many to be an endless war became too much. I get that.

[shibumi]

Tu Do Street (of which I have many memories) has been renamed “Dong Khoi.”

I am told that under whatever name, they still welcome Occidentals and Americans in particular.

(I wonder if there’s a pass phrase? Something like “Ho sent me?”

[Nextrush]

And neither the Republicans or Democrats chose to do it and when a Fundamentalist Christian preacher led hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets of Washington calling for a military victory in Vietnam the RIchard NixOn FCC shut down his radio station on Fairness Doctrine grounds......

[Flash Bazbeaux]

“Little Saigon will get patriotic new street signs.”

Like what, Washington Street, Jefferson Street?

I have no problem with the Vietnamese refugees remembering their lost homeland, and have mainly a positive impression of Vietnamese immigrants, including my next-door neighbors and neighbors across the street. But street signs in the US which refer to the Republic of Vietnam are not exactly “patriotic”. They are Americans now.

[onedoug]

...ping....

[M-cubed]

Yeah, I suppose it depends on whether or not China would be willing to step in. <<

I don't know about China...but in ‘68 I did spend some time tracking and trying to get a picture of Russian resupply helicopters coming across the border from Cambodia....(never did catch one...but some interesting stories none the less)