Fall of Saigon: Where were you on April 30th, 1975?

[gwb123]

Saigon fell on April 30th, 1975, forty years ago today. Where were you when you heard the news?

 

(Image from http://www.psywarrior.com/VietnamOBPSYOP)

[atb]

In the Army and stationed in Europe.

[normaninvasion]

In the womb

[USMCR79]

Junior year in High School in Massachusetts

[Rakkasan187]

9 yrs old, 4th Grade, Barron Elementry school, Salem New Hampshire..

 

Leigh

[JBFloyd]

Chief of Targets, 432nd Reconnaissance Technical Squadron, Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base.

[1SG_1st_Cav]

I was finishing my BS degree at Cameron University in Lawton, OK. I was selected to finish my degree

with a fully-funded under the old Enlisted Degree Completion Program. Only approximately125 enlisted

were selected each year. I had to give the Army 4 years in return for the 2-year scholarship.

This program was discontinued in 1976 or 1977.

[hardstripe]

4th Finance Company, Ft Carson Colorado on alert! The whole 4th Infantry Division was marshaling at the rail yards to go back to Vietnam.

[Old Marine]

I was a Lance Corporal on guard duty at Marine Detachment HQ-CINCLANT (Headquarters, Commander In Chief Atlantic Fleet) Norfolk, Virginia

[irish]

Heard sitting in the day room at Hq Co 1/83 FA Baumholder West Germany. In the room were a number of senior NCO's and Officers who were shaking their head in dis-belief.

[manayunkman]

Air Force ROTC Gettysburg College.

[doyler]

elementary school.

 

Use to watch the ABC evening news every night at 5pm with Harry Reasoner and Howard K Smith.Viet Nam live and in color.Kept looking to see if my cousin would appear in footae(wishful thinking of a kid).My best buddies brother in law was in the UDT and we played with the gear then.

Reasoner had been a local boy at one time.May still have a relative or two around.Some cousins I recall.

[Robswashashore]

Freshman at Marquette University. It was discussed in great detail in my History class that afternoon.

[bheskett]

8th grade at Saline Middle School. I remember watching it on TV. The original stairs are at the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids Michigan if you get a chance to check them out.

 

Bob

[gwb123]

Ironically, that is the day I signed a contract with the US Army ROTC that later led to my commission.

 

It was not planned that way. It was a decision I had been contemplating after taking the first two years of courses.

 

I can only wonder what my parents thought that night when I gave them the news at the dining room table, on top of the headlines that Saigon had fallen.

[Garandomatic]

Slightly OT, as I wasn't born yet in '75, but on THIS 4/30, I got a call from a sort of long-lost (due to geographic distance) cousin that was a WIA OH-6A pilot, telling me there'll be a few waves of his Vietnam stuff heading my way. I sat down to do some research on his unit (3/4 Cav) and the date hit me.

[Wharfmaster]

I was on the job and many were disgusted at the news. I remember it well. You had to be there.

 

 

 

Wharf

[Dave]

Same place as normaninvasion...my mom was five months pregnant at the time...

[gunbunnyB/3/75FA]

as i was only 7 , probably in elementary school

[m1ashooter]

I was a senior in HS just about to graduate. The news said the President would address that nation that evening. I had a sense of dread that we were going to go in and that I would get caught up in the war. When he announced that we weren't going to return to SVN I felt relieved but then thought what was this worth. Why did we loose all of these men. For what? I still don't have the answer.

[BEAST]

I was in Junior High. I remember sitting in my bedroom building a model tank and watching it on the news. I just remember being shocked and angry over the fall.

[rrobertscv]

I was 14 and I remember how mad it made me, I grew up watching it on the news. I guess what made me so mad was that at least once every 3-4 months I went with my grandfather a WWII veteran to the local V.A. hospital and I remember all the young guys with missing limbs and disfigured bodies. Seemed like they had not only sacrificed, but had been sacrificed.

[choochoo]

figment of my parent's imagination.... at least I'd like to think I was.

My only personal connection to the war is that my dad would drive his friend down to Camp Pendleton to see their relatives who were awaiting immigration processing.

[Garth Thompson]

Student Naval Aviator NAS Pensacola

[pmanton]

Ft. Lewis WA on my final assignment prior to retirement.

Paul

Salome, AZ