last days of the Vietnam war

[Bilge_Rat]

Hard to believe it has been 40 years, I am old enough to remember when it happened.

Politico has an excellent series of photos from inside the Ford administration, none of which I had ever seen, definitely worth checking out:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/gallery/2015/04/inside-the-final-days-of-vietnam/002202-031457.html?hp=t4_r

some samples:

1. receiving bad news:

http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_14_1160.jpg

2. briefing by the CIA:

http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_16_1160.jpg

3. after making the decision to evacuate:

http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_28_1160.jpg

. 4 Kissinger announces the evacuation is done ( notice Cheney and Greenspan in the back, Rumsfeld in the foreground )
http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_38_1160.jpg

4. turns out 11 marines had been left behind. Ford gets an update:

http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_48_1160.jpg

5. celebrating after the evacuation is complete:

http://images.politico.com/global/2015/04/29/vietnam_49_1160.jpg

[Sailor Steve]

I am old enough to remember when it happened.
Sobering thoughts. Not only was I there, but by the time those pictures were taken I had been out for five years. :dead:

[Buddahaid]

These look like stills from a movie now. I was still in high school then.

[Wolferz]

I don't recall there ever being a formal declaration of war on North Viet Nam.:hmmm:

I spent my entire cognitive youth hearing the news reports from the police action that was Viet Nam. I turned eighteen and signed up for the draft right at the very end of it. :timeout:

All those pictures of those murderers row bastards up there that I'd just as soon forget about.:-?

[Betonov]

This is the first time I've seen president Ford.
This thread I mean.

[Torplexed]

This is the first time I've seen president Ford.
This thread I mean.

Most people don't remember the rather colorless Ford without the obligatory bandage.

http://pyxis.homestead.com/Ford.jpg

[Oberon]

I don't think any thread would be complete without that iconic image:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Saigon-hubert-van-es.jpg

Poor sods, imagine being at the end of that queue and not making it, knowing what was coming.

Then, of course, that moment when you have more helicopters than you can fit on your flat-top:

http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/53519407-600x310.jpg

Wonder how many choppers are sitting on the bottom there. :hmmm:

[Onkel Neal]

So sad. What a waste for everyone.

[em2nought]

Well, at least we found out what a fun place Thailand can be. :03:

[Jimbuna]

I remember watching the news reports/updates every night on tv, even used the Vietnam War as the theme for my O-level history subject.

[Torplexed]

In the decades since, the Hanoi Hilton has been supplemented by the Hanoi KFC.

https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3315/3646784850_b3901a4dac_z.jpg?zz=1

Maybe the ghosts of Ho Chi Minh and LBJ are sitting in a booth in back eating wings, comparing notes and wondering how that massive, internecine conflict eventually paved the way for a mere Colonel to cash in.

And a suthern' Colonel at that.

[Oberon]

Hey Hey LBJ, How many hot wings you eaten today? :O:

[Torplexed]

Hey Hey LBJ, How many hot wings you eaten today? :O:

Hey, Hubert don't bogart that drumstick.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CDqTkU-OJT8/UR1Uok1K3SI/AAAAAAAAS2k/tuZ0UE8iko4/s1600/LBJ+and+HH+eating+BBQ.png

[Aktungbby]

Hey Hey LBJ, How many hot wings you eaten today? :O:

Way too many! one 'uv em' 'winged' me back!:O:http://www.corbisimages.com/images/Corbis-BE045550.jpg?size=67&uid=0a946d6b-8540-416f-a32b-e3bf466b6a8e http://www.art-for-a-change.com/LBJ/LBJ_levine_vietnam_scar.gif:up:

[Stealhead]

Why dose LBJ get so much blame? It was part of the game plan long before he was in the hot seat.

[Aktungbby]

Why dose LBJ get so much blame? It was part of the game plan long before he was in the hot seat.

Well your right but who better!http://images.checkthisyo.com/000/149/605/19-Unknown-soldier-in-Vietnam-1965.jpg

[vienna]

I just wanted to add a remembrance of what was the last battle of the Vietnam War, begun on May 12, 1975 with the seizure of the US container ship, the SS Mayaguez, and it crew of 39 men by Communist Cambodian military forces and ending with the release of the hostage crew members and the SS Mayaguez and a subsequent joint branch military action against the Khmer Rouge bases on an island and mainland Cambodia. The price of rescuing the Mayaguez crew was steep:

Casualties during the operation were 10 U.S. Marines, two Navy corpsmen, and an Air Force crewman killed in the crash of Knife 31; an Air Force crewman killed in the crash of Knife 21; one Marine killed in action on the West Beach; and three Marines missing in action and presumed dead. Fifty were wounded, including thirty-five Marines and six airmen. In addition a CH-53 crashed due to mechanical failure on the way to U-Tapao airfield, killing eighteen USAF Security Police and five flight crew.

The names of the Americans killed, as well as those of three U.S. Marines who were left behind on the island of Koh Tang after the battle and were subsequently executed by the Khmer Rouge, are the last names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaguez_incident


Thus was the real end of the Vietnam War, fought after the war was supposedly "over". I just didn't want to see the day pass without a salute to these soldiers. They deserve to be more than being just a historical footnote...

To those who gave their all in this action, I want to say you are not forgotten. To those who survived, sincere thanks for your service and bravery...


<O>

[Torplexed]

To those who gave their all in this action, I want to say you are not forgotten. To those who survived, sincere thanks for your service and bravery...


<O>

Back in the day before the Internet, 24-hour cable news, wall-to-wall coverage and cellphones. It's always the dramatic Newsweek cover I remember.

http://www.kohtang.com/media/print/newsweek/images/cover-newsweek-the-rescure-may-16-1975.jpg

[Otto Harkaman]

Interesting to see those pictures of Ford with Cheney, Rumsfeld and Greenspan. I've been meaning to read Kissinger's "New World Order" http://www.amazon.com/World-Order-Henry-Kissinger/dp/1594206147