The following are recollections from several members of the ThisCantBeHappening! about their anti-war movement struggles and the day of final triumph in Vietnam 45 years ago today.
Dave Lindorff: A Day in the Park Like No Other
When the US war on Vietnam ended on April 30 with the Vietnamese liberation forces marching into Saigon, a victory celebration was called in New York City, where I and my wife Joyce were living and working at the time. The massive festivity was held in Central Park's Sheep Meadow on a beautiful May 11. Hundreds of thousands of people who for almost a decade had marched, protested, blocked streets, occupied university buildings, rioted during "days of rage," maybe even bombed banks or a Congressional bathroom at night, jammed into the grassy expanse to celebrate. Protest singers like Joan Baez and Phil Ochs were on hand to sing songs of peace and victory. People finally felt safe bringing along their little children to a political action. There was laughter and tears, often mixed together. Vietnamese flags appeared and were being waved. It was an amazing, magical event"....
John Grant: My Vietnam War 45 Years Later
Forty-five years ago today the Vietnamese took control of Saigon away from the United States. The 30-year bloody struggle that had begun in 1945 when the United States refused to accept Vietnamese independence and chose to support the French desire to re-colonize Vietnam was over, and the Vietnamese prevailed. I was a kid in Vietnam in 1966-67, and it was the most pivotal year of my life. Looking back from age 72, I see my history with that war in the context of ideas, books and writing"...
Ron Ridenour: Ron Ridenour: Remembering a Lifetime of Struggle and Vietnam's Heroic Victory
My father, an Air Force officer, and I sat glued to the radio. The Ruskies were invading Hungary, October 23, 1956. I just turned 17, a high school senior. The next day, I joined the United States Air Force, with my Dad's permission, to fight and kill the Commies"...
Laurie Dobson: Laurie Dobson: Saigon's Liberation, My Father's War on Vietnam and My War at Home
Today is the 45th Anniversary of the "fall" of Saigon. April 30, 1975 was the day the last remaining personnel along with hordes of terrified Vietnamese who had worked with the Americans, were airlifted off the US Embassy roof by helicopter, in video footage I still see in my mind, these many years later. At the time, growing up in an Air Force family, and as a freshman at UNH, I had not yet processed how to deal with my father's direct involvement in the US war on that country. My dad, Major Al Goodrich, was an Air Force Major, crew commander and pilot of B-52 aircraft. He flew over 100 missions, carpet-bombing swaths of North Vietnam and most likely also Cambodia with explosives and the defoliant Agent Orange"...
Gary Lindorff: Gary Lindorff: By the Time Vietnam Won the War I was Sick of My Country
By the time the Vietnam War was finally over on April 30, 1975, I was one foot out of this country so to speak. I had filed for my CO deferment at my local draft board the summer I graduated High School, in 1969. That summer and through October, I worked at a wire factory to earn enough money to head for the Navajo Reservation where I tutored Navajos students at Navajo Community College located in the middle of the desert (it's now a four-year school called Dine' College) until January 1970. While sequestering in Navajo Country I wrote my manifesto, giving myself permission to "breathe my own air". I titled it "Man Behind the Waterfall"...
To read any or all of these musings and recollections on the 45th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War by TCBH! journalists and veteran antiwar activists, please go to: https://thiscantbehappening.net/5027-2/
(Article changed on May 1, 2020 at 16:59)
