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40 years after the Fall of Saigon

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The Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, China and North Korea, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States with its allies, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines. To honor the veterans that fought for our country and preserve the stories of American heroes, The News-Sentinel gathered stories, photos, maps and more to remember the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the last few days of the war.

In this April 29, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/File)

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

In this April 1, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Peter O'Loughlin, 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)

In this April 4, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Dang Van Phuoc, File)

In this April 5, 1965 file 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. (AP Photo/File)

In this Thursday, April 4, 1975 file photo, young demonstrators toss sticks and rocks at South Vietnamese riot police in Saigon in a brief confrontation after a rally sponsored by the mainly Catholic anti-corruption movement. (AP Photo/Lo Vinh, File)

In this April 23, 1975 photo provided by the Department of Defense, Vietnamese refugees crowd aboard the Military Sealift Command ship Pioneer Contender to be evacuated to areas further south. (Department of Defense via AP, File)

In this Sunday, April 27, 1975 file photo, a cross from a church in Saigon stands against the dawn sky after a rocket attack and ensuing fire. (AP Photo/Matt Franjola, File)

In this April 28, 1975 photo provided the White House via the Gerald R. Ford Library, 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 AP, File)

In this Monday, April 28, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Hoanh, File)

In this Tuesday, April 29, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/File)

In this Tuesday, April 29, 1975 file 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. (U.S. Navy via AP, File)

In this April 29, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Neal Ulevich, 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)

In this April 30, 1975 file photo, a North Vietnamese tank rolls through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon, signifying the fall of South 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/File)

In this Thursday, May 1, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

In this May 4, 1975 file 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. (AP Photo/Matt Franjola, File)

In this April 30, 1975 photo, the last three staffers in The Associated Press' Saigon bureau, reporters Matt Franjola, left, Peter Arnett, rear, and George Esper, second from right, are joined by two North Vietnamese soldiers and a member of the Viet Cong on the day the government of South Vietnam surrendered. One of the soldiers is showing Esper the route of his final advance into the city. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years la

In this April 29, 1975, file photo, a helicopter lifts off from the U.S. embassy in Saigon, Vietnam, during the evacuation of authorized personnel and civilians. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, former Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience covering the war for The AP. (AP Photo/File)

In this April 29, 1975, file photo, South Vietnamese civilians try to scale the 14-foot wall of the U.S. embassy in Saigon, trying to reach evacuation helicopters as the last Americans departed from Vietnam. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, former Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience covering the war for The AP. (AP Photo/File)

In this Aug. 19, 1965, file photo, made by Peter Arnett, a U.S. Marine who was wounded in the head as he fought against the Viet Cong from inside an amphibious tank, is led to an evacuation helicopter landing zone at Van Tuong, Vietnam. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience covering the war for The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Peter Arnett, File)

In this Oct. 12, 1965, file photo, Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett stands beside the burned-out wreckage of an A1 Skyraider near Bien Hoa, Vietnam, north of Saigon. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience covering the war for The AP. (AP Photo/File)

In this April 10, 1965, file photo, made by Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett, newly-landed U.S. Marines make their way through the sands of Red Beach at Da Nang, Vietnam on their way to reinforce the air base as South Vietnamese Rangers battled guerrillas about three miles south of the beach. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience coveri

In this 1963 file photo, Associated Press correspondent Peter Arnett stands with gear that he carries out in field while covering the Vietnamese army. More than two bitter decades of war in Vietnam ended with the last days of April 1975. Today, 40 years later, Arnett has written a new memoir, “Saigon Has Fallen,” detailing his experience covering the war for The AP. (AP Photo/File)

In this Jan. 28, 1974 file photo, Cambodians flee Khmer Rouge insurgents during artillery shelling of Phnom Penh. Still haunted by the Vietnam War next door and the 1970s genocide, the Southeast Asian country is not exactly the place that the world's refugees dream of reaching. Plagued by poverty, corruption and human rights abuses, it has been run by a strongman prime minister who has held power for 30 years. It’s a nation where medical care outside main cities is nonexistent, where decent jobs

In this April 10, 1975 file photo, a South Vietnamese soldier gestures to a buddy as he runs along Route 4 in Tan An, South Vietnam during a battle, as a gas storage tank hit by Communist shells burns. (AP Photo/Lien)

People protest the Vietnam War in front of the Lincoln Life National Insurance Co. (Courtesy of The Allen County Public Library)

People protest the Vietnam War in front of the Federal Building on Nov. 14, 1968. (Courtesy of The Allen County Public Library)

Kyle Herrick poses during his tour of duty in Vietnam. He served 33 months, with 10 months in the country. (The News-Sentinel archives)

Kyle Herrick and two of his buddies pose for a picture while serving in Vietnam. Herrick is in the back on the left. (The News-Sentinel archives)

The effects of agent orange in Vietnam. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Herrick).

Feb. 6, 1970: Col. John S. Loisel, left, briefs Col. Forrest L. Rauscher, new U.S. Air Force adviser to the Air Guard's 122nd Tactical Fighter Wing at Baer Field, about his duties. Col. Rauscher is a veteran of Vietnam, and before his assignment here served as commander of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing at Bitburg Air Base, Germany. Col. Loisel recently retired as adviser to the wing. (The News-Sentinel archives)

Al Brothers, left, and navigator Major Tony Peter, right, pose in front of a B-57 during the Vietnam conflict. (The News-Sentinel archives)