Vietnam War 40 years on, enemies now friends but still pain

Saturday, May 2, 2015 6:19 AM Updated Sunday, May. 3, 2015 2:30 AM

The day was full of panic, chaos and defeat

A North Vietnamese tank rolls through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon on April 30, 1975, signifying the fall of South Vietnam. The war ended with the fall of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, to communist troops from the north.

Associated Press file photo

In this April 5, 1965 photo, Capt. Donald R. Brown crouches on the ground in Saigon, waiting for the order for attack across an open field against Vietcong positions in a treeline from where enemy combatants with automatic weapons had briefly pinned down the HQ company of the 2nd Battalion, 46 Regiment.

Associated Press file photo

In this April 1975 photo, orphans aboard the first “Operation Babylift” flight at the end of the Vietnam War look through the windows of World Airways DC-8 jet as it flies them to the United States.

Associated Press file photo

In this Tuesday, April 29, 1975 photo, U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Blue Ridge push a helicopter into the sea off the coast of Vietnam in order to make room for more evacuation flights from Saigon. The helicopter had carried Vietnamese people fleeing Saigon as North Vietnamese forces closed in on the capital.

Associated Press file photo

In this Monday, April 28, 1975 photo, South Vietnamese troops and western TV newsmen run for cover as a North Vietnamese mortar round explodes on Newport Bridge on the outskirts of Saigon.

Associated Press file photo

In this Tuesday, April 29, 1975 photo, American citizens arrive aboard the command and control ship USS Blue Ridge after being evacuated out of Saigon, South Vietnam, by U.S. Marine and Air Force helicopters operating from Navy ships.

Associated Press file photo

In this April 4, 1975 photo, smoke rises from the wreckage of a U.S. Air Force C-5A transport plane after it crashed in a paddy field shortly after takeoff from the Saigon Airport, killing a large number of orphan children who were on board in a rescue flight from South Vietnam.

DAN VAN PHUOC/Associated Press file photo

In this April 29, 1975 photo, people try to scale the 14-foot wall of the U.S. embassy in Saigon, trying to reach evacuation helicopters, as the last of the Americans depart from Vietnam.

NEAL ULEVICH/Associated Press file photo

In this Sunday, April 27, 1975 photo, a cross from a church in Saigon stands against the dawn sky after a rocket attack and ensuing fire.

MATT FRANJOLA/Associated Press file photo

In this Thursday, May 1, 1975 photo, U.S. sailors transfer a South Vietnamese boy from the USS Blue Ridge to a merchant vessel off the South Vietnam coast during evacuations from South Vietnam.

NICK UT/Associated Press file photo

This April 30, 1975 photo provided by former U.S. Marines Master Gunnery Sgt. Juan Valdez of Oceanside, Calif., shows himself, rear center, sitting on the last helicopter leaving the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, 13 Marines returned to dedicate a plaque to their two fallen brothers at the site of the old embassy, which is now the U.S. Consulate.

Courtesy of Juan Valdez via Associated Press

This undated photo provided by former U.S. Marines Master Gunnery Sgt. Juan Valdez shows Vietnamese climbing the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, 13 Marines returned to dedicate a plaque to their two fallen brothers at the site of the old embassy, which is now the U.S. Consulate.

Courtesy of Juan Valdez via Associated Press

This photo taken on April 30, 1975 and provided by former U.S. Marines Master Gunnery Sgt. Juan Valdez shows Marines barricading themselves on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam. On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, 13 Marines returned to dedicate a plaque to their two fallen brothers at the site of the old embassy, which is now the U.S. Consulate.

Courtesy of Juan Valdez via Associated Press

In this May 4, 1975 photo, a youth waves a weapon and a Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) flag as he joins PRG troops on a jeep on Tu Do street in Saigon.

MATT FRANJOLA/Associated Press file photo

In this April 29, 1975 photo, a helicopter lifts off from the U.S. embassy in Saigon, Vietnam during last minute evacuation of authorized personnel and civilians.

Associated Press file photo

In this April 29, 1975 photo, South Vietnamese civilians scale the 14-foot wall of the U.S. embassy in Saigon, trying to reach evacuation helicopters as the last Americans depart from Vietnam.

Associated Press file photo

In this April 1, 1975 photo, a cargo net lifts refugees from a barge onto the SS Pioneer Contender for evacuation from the fallen city of Da Nang, Vietnam. It took eight hours to load some 6,000 refugees aboard the ship.

PETER O’LOUGHLIN/Associated Press file photo

Bayonets are fixed to the barrels of Vietnamese soldiers’ rifles during a parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, which is also remembered as the Fall of Saigon, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Thursday.

DITA ALANGKARA/Associated Press

An honor guard stands in attention as dancers perform during parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, which is also remembered as the Fall of Saigon, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, April 30.

DITA ALANGKARA/Associated Press

Vietnamese military personnel wave flags during a parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War – also remembered as the Fall of Saigon – in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Thursday.

DITA ALANGKARA/Associated Press

Military personnel take part in a parade celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Thursday.

DITA ALANGKARA/Associated Press

In this April 28, 1975, President Gerald Ford, center, meets with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, right, and Vice President Nelson Rockefeller in the Oval Office of the White House to discuss the American evacuation of Saigon.

DAVID HUME KENNERLY/White House, Gerald R. Ford Library via Associated Press

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam – This city once known as Saigon was blanketed in red banners that read “Long Live the Glorious Communist Party of Vietnam,” 40 years after northern forces seized control of the country and America walked away from a divisive and bloody war that remains a painful sore.

Thousands of Vietnamese, including war veterans in uniforms heavy with medals, lined up Thursday to watch goose-stepping soldiers and traditional performers parade through the streets of what is now Ho Chi Minh City.

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, then the capital of South Vietnam. They crashed through the gates of the presidential palace and hoisted the communist flag. It was an incredible victory for the revolutionary forces that had waged guerrilla warfare for more than a decade against the better-equipped U.S. and, before that, against the French colonialists.

“The tank crashing the gates ... was a symbol of victory for the Vietnamese nation and the Vietnamese People’s Army, marking the end of the 30 years of national resistance against the French and then the Americans,” said Nguyen Van Tap, 64, who drove Tank 390 through the iron bars and reunited with members of his company Wednesday.

And even after four decades, he said, the winners who fought for the north should be given priority and privileges over those who were branded traitors for siding with the south.

“For the Vietnamese,” he said, “April 30 is a day of festivities and national reunification.”

For the U.S. and its South Vietnamese allies, the day was one of panic, chaos and defeat known simply as the fall of Saigon.

After the government’s parade and celebratory speeches were over Thursday, a group of former U.S. Marines who helped Americans evacuate Saigon as it fell gathered at the site of the old U.S. Embassy, now the U.S. Consulate, for a somber ceremony. They dedicated a plaque to two fallen comrades who were the last U.S. servicemen killed in the war: Cpl. Charles McMahon and Lance Cpl. Darwin Judge died April 29, 1975, when their post near the airport was hit by a rocket. Each of the former Marines placed roses in front of the monument before saluting it as taps played.

Some 58,000 Americans were killed in the war along with up to 250,000 South Vietnamese allies and an estimated 3 million communist fighters and civilians.

“We lost ... and I felt that way for a long time,” said Kevin Maloney, one of the last Marines out who attended the event. “I was ashamed that we left people behind like that. I did what I could, so I’m satisfied with my own performance, but as a nation, I think we could have done better. And I hope we can learn from that, but I don’t think we’ve seen that.”

Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the south in the days and years after the war, with many taking rickety boats in search of freedom. The majority ended up resettling in the U.S. Many have since come home to visit family and to invest in the country, but some have remained feverishly anti-communist and have refused to return as long as the one-party government is in power.

The country still tightly controls the press and cracks down on political dissidents. It jails those who dare to speak out for democracy, including in blogs on the Internet. But much has changed since the early days after the war when Vietnam was plunged into severe poverty and isolation during failed collective farming policies.

Today, Ho Chi Minh City is alive with capitalism, and many of the scars from the war no are longer visible on the surface. It is the economic muscle of the country, and recent and ongoing construction projects have transformed its skyline into glassy high-rises bathed in neon lights. But much of the old traditions remain. The sidewalks are still filled with generations of families hustling out of small shops to earn money while elderly women peddle the country’s famous pho noodle soup from street stalls.

The U.S. normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995.

AP writer Tran Van Minh contributed from Ho Chi Minh City. Mason covered Vietnam as an AP correspondent based in Hanoi from 2003-12.