Posted on 04/30/2025 10:23:02 AM PDT by Rummyfan
We must remember not just South Vietnam's fall, but why it fell.
Fifty years ago, April 30, 1975, the world watched in horror and disbelief as the last American helicopter lifted off from the rooftop of our embassy in Saigon. South Vietnam had fallen in the manner of Ernest Hemingway, “first gradually, then suddenly”: a decades-long war, a relative peace, and then a mad dash by the North Vietnamese Army that consumed the country in less than a month.
The tragedy was simply breathtaking. And horribly, horribly unnecessary.
What followed was not peace, but darkness. The swift collapse of South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (turns out the Domino Theory was true) brought the subjugation of millions, and the opening act of a Communist bloodbath across Southeast Asia. At least a million were sent to the “re-education camps” in Vietnam alone. Half a million were murdered. Another two million fled this brutal night by sea, on rafts wholly unsuited for the tumultuous ocean, in wild hope that an American aircraft carrier might happen upon them. Close to half a million died in the water.
I remember standing before one of the refugees, one of the countless “boat people” who was resettled to Fort Smith, Arkansas. He was a slight, middle-aged man, with thinning hair and humble dignity. We were in the fellowship hall of my church. I was eight years old. And I remember looking up at the South Vietnamese flag on his lapel and just weeping, and saying over and over “I’m sorry, I’m just so sorry.”
We should all be so sorry.
(Excerpt) Read more at rodmartin.org ...
As the time got shorter, it was obvious that Danang has fallen and we were limited to Saigon and the powers-that-be cut back our aims and we ended up with only 20,000 evacuees.
The key part of the Left's campaign was realized when they got Nixon out - when he was removed, the NVA knew that a massive offensive like the Easter offensive would be successful because this time, Nixon wouldn't be there to bomb the crap out of them. It sure didn't help that a pro-enemy Congress cut back the aid to our ally, South Vietnam.
Can you imagine what would have happened if anyone carried the Nazi or Japanese flags during WWII and chanted "Hitler (or Hirohito) is going to win"?
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