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A look back at the fall of Saigon and the final days of the Vietnam War The Picture Show

Posted on April 30, 2025 in News


The Vietnam War came to an end on April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The fall of the city marked the end of the South Vietnamese government and decades of conflict.

In the days leading up to the city’s fall, tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians desperately tried to flee, including government officials, soldiers and their families, who feared persecution under the incoming communist regime. Almost all American civilian and military personnel were evacuated from Saigon after nearly two decades of war.

Thousands of people hoped to secure a spot on one of the last helicopters out, in what became the largest helicopter evacuation in history. Some of the most unforgettable images from those final days include South Vietnamese soldiers stripping off their uniforms to blend in with civilians, panicked crowds scaling the walls of the U.S. Embassy, and Navy crews pushing helicopters off aircraft carriers into the sea to make room for incoming flights carrying evacuees.

Victorious North Vietnamese troops on tanks take up positions outside Independence Palace in Saigon, April 30, 1975, the day the South Vietnamese government surrendered, ending the Vietnam War. Communist flags fly from the palace and the tank. (AP Photo/Yves Billy)

Defeated South Vietnam President Duong Van Minh (middle) walks out of Independence Palace after surrendering to PRG forces in Saigon on May 1, 1975. (AP Photo/Yves Billy)

As victorious North Vietnamese troops ride past on a tank, defeated South Vietnamese troops discard their uniforms in Saigon, April 30, 1975, the day the South Vietnamese capital fell to communist forces, ending the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Yves Billy)

A South Vietnamese medic comforts a trooper wounded in the leg during a battle in Long An province southwest of Saigon on April 18, 1975. Fighting in the area, just north of the Mekong Delta, is on the increase.

(Original Caption) The first rocket attack hit Saigon at 430, striking the town center and setting fire to 150 wooden houses. Fourteen died and over forty people were injured in the attacks. Inhabitants of Saigon wake up to the devastation of war, 21st April 1975. (Photo by © Jacques Pavlovsky/Sygma/CORBIS/Sygma via Getty Images)

Jacques Pavlovsky/CORBIS/Sygma via Getty Images

Desperate South Vietnamese refugees cling to vehicles along Highway 1 as they flee North Vietnamese troops advancing to capture Saigon a few days before the Fall of Saigon that signaled the end of the Vietnam War. (Photo by nik wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images)

Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

FILE - In this April 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this April 29, 1975 file photo, a South Vietnamese mother and her three children are shown on the deck of an amphibious command ship being plucked out of Saigon by U.S. Marine helicopters in Vietnam. The war ended on April 30, 1975, with the fall of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City, to communist troops from the north. (AP Photo/J.T. Walkerstorfer)

Evacuees inside the US Embassy surround the swimming pool as helicopter rescues stranded civilians trying to escape North Vietnamese troops about to capture Saigon (Photo by nik wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images)

Nik Wheeler/Corbis via Getty Images

Mobs of South Vietnamese civilians scale the 14-foot wall of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, April 29, 1975, trying to reach evacuation helicopters as the last Americans departed from Vietnam. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this April 30, 1975 file photo, South Vietnamese civilians try to scale the walls of the U.S. embassy in Saigon in an attempt to get aboard evacuation flights. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich, File)

A CIA employee (probably O.B. Harnage) helps Vietnamese evacuees onto an Air America helicopter from the top of 22 Gia Long Street, a half mile from the U.S. Embassy.

RECORD DATE NOT STATED Vietnam / USA The US Navy carrier USS Enterprise loaded to the gunnels with helicopters and planes evacuated from Saigon, Operation Frequent Wind, April 1975 The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise CVAN-65 underway returning to the United States from a Western Pacific cruise that included the evacuation of Saigon.br/br/ The aircraft on her deck include U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters, which were hitching a ride home on board the ship.br/br/ There are pilots and or crew sunbathing on the forward part of the flight deck. Copyright xxPicturesxFromxHistoryxNo Use Switzerland. No Use Germany. No Use Japan. No Use Austria

IMAGO/CPA Media via Reuters

The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (also known as the Viet Cong) on April 30, 1975. The event marked the end of the Vietnam War and the start of a transition period leading to the formal reunification of Vietnam into a Socialist Republic governed by the Communist Party. North Vietnamese forces under the command of the General Van Tien Dung began their final attack on Saigon, with South Vietnamese forces commanded by General Nguyen Van Toan, on April 29, suffering heavy artillery bombardment. By the afternoon of the next day, North Vietnamese troops had occupied the important points of the city and raised their flag over the South Vietnamese presidential palace. The South Vietnamese government capitulated shortly afterward. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, after the Democratic Republic's President Ho Chi Minh. The fall of the city was preceded by the evacuation of almost all the American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians associated with the southern regime. The evacuation culminated in Operation Frequent Wind, the largest helicopter evacuation in history. (Photo by Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images



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