0:00:31 > 0:00:35"They carried infections, they carried chess sets, basketballs,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37"Vietnamese-English dictionaries,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40"insignia of rank, Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts."
0:01:27 > 0:01:33On March 29th, 1973, the last American troops left South Vietnam.
0:01:35 > 0:01:38Fewer than 200 Marines would remain,
0:01:38 > 0:01:42assigned to guard consular officers and the American Embassy,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44and other installations in Saigon.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Thousands of other Americans, including CIA agents,
0:01:50 > 0:01:54diplomats and contractors stayed behind as well.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01Over the next two years, the forces of North and South Vietnam would
0:02:01 > 0:02:03continue to savage one another.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11And the Vietnamese people would find themselves back where they were at
0:02:11 > 0:02:16the beginning, engulfed in an apparently endless civil war...
0:02:18 > 0:02:21..and struggling over what kind of future they would have.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27For the United States, combat did end...
0:02:29 > 0:02:31..but controversy over the war did not.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Subcommittee will come to order.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52As the Watergate scandal unfolded during the spring,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55summer and fall of 1973,
0:02:55 > 0:02:59Americans watched the Nixon administration slowly come apart.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05Blackmail, enemies lists, dirty tricks...
0:03:06 > 0:03:11..a vice president forced to resign, perjury, cover-up...
0:03:13 > 0:03:17..abuse of presidential power, secret White House tapes.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Mr Butterfield, are you aware of the installation
0:03:21 > 0:03:24of any listening devices in the Oval Office of the President?
0:03:28 > 0:03:33I was aware of listening devices, yes, sir.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Good evening. The country tonight is in the midst of what may be
0:03:38 > 0:03:42the most serious constitutional crisis in its history.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46I told the President about the fact that there were money demands
0:03:46 > 0:03:49being made by the seven convicted defendants.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51He asked me how much it would cost.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53I told him I could only make an estimate,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57but it might be as high as 1 million or more.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59He told me that was no problem.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03I have no prior knowledge of the Watergate break-in.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07I neither took part in, nor knew,
0:04:07 > 0:04:09about any of the subsequent cover-up activities.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Well, the agreement was called
0:04:17 > 0:04:21The Agreement To End The War And Restore Peace In Vietnam
0:04:21 > 0:04:24and, of course, that was a huge euphemism.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It neither ended the war, nor did it restore peace.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30And if you look at the substance of it,
0:04:30 > 0:04:32it really was a withdrawal agreement.
0:04:32 > 0:04:38We were withdrawing our forces in exchange for prisoners of war.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Those are the two matters that were definitively settled
0:04:42 > 0:04:44by the peace agreement.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47We got our troops out and we got our prisoners back.
0:04:48 > 0:04:54The rest is just all a model of nebulosity and vagueness,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and didn't resolve a darn thing.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Neither North nor South Vietnam had had any intention
0:05:33 > 0:05:37of observing the ceasefire called for in the peace treaty
0:05:37 > 0:05:41signed in Paris on January 27th, 1973.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Even before the ink was dry,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49each side had sought to claim as much territory as it could
0:05:49 > 0:05:52in what became known as the War Of The Flags.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56Within three weeks of the ceasefire,
0:05:56 > 0:06:01they were already some 3,000 violations by both sides.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03RAPID GUNFIRE
0:06:03 > 0:06:04The fighting went on for months.
0:06:08 > 0:06:10Nixon had privately promised
0:06:10 > 0:06:13South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu
0:06:13 > 0:06:17that he would retaliate with American air power
0:06:17 > 0:06:20if Saigon ever seemed seriously threatened.
0:06:23 > 0:06:25But in Washington, week by week,
0:06:25 > 0:06:28as the secrets of Watergate kept tumbling out,
0:06:28 > 0:06:32Nixon's influence on Capitol Hill steadily weakened.
0:06:35 > 0:06:40In June of 1973, an energised Congress, reflecting the views
0:06:40 > 0:06:43of a majority of Americans,
0:06:43 > 0:06:49voted to stop all military operations in or over Vietnam,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Laos or Cambodia by August 15th.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59To abandon the South Vietnamese, when all we were providing them
0:06:59 > 0:07:03at the end was money, was reprehensible
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and disrespected the sacrifices of all soldiers,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08ours and the South Vietnamese.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14I think the moral obligation doesn't stem from a philosophical commitment
0:07:14 > 0:07:15to stopping Communism.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18Now it stems from our keeping our promises
0:07:18 > 0:07:22to this erstwhile unfortunate ally.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28While one regrets that we pulled the rug out, in some respects,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31I think the ultimate outcome would have been the same.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38Had we continued, it would have cost probably more lives,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41in the long-term, with no change in the outcome.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46In the 18 bloody months that followed the signing
0:07:46 > 0:07:49of the peace accords, South Vietnam's position
0:07:49 > 0:07:51became more and more precarious.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59But by the summer of 1974, few Americans were paying attention.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02They were riveted by what was happening to their own country.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09On July 27th, 1974, the House Judiciary Committee
0:08:09 > 0:08:14recommended that the President be impeached for abusing his office.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19On August 9th, rather than face impeachment,
0:08:19 > 0:08:22Richard Nixon became the first president
0:08:22 > 0:08:24in American history to resign.
0:08:26 > 0:08:30Just a few days after the new president, Gerald Ford,
0:08:30 > 0:08:34moved into the White House, Congress cut in half the funds
0:08:34 > 0:08:36for military and economic assistance
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Nixon had promised to deliver to Saigon.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Conditions in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48With the American military presence gone,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52one out of every five civilian workers was jobless.
0:08:53 > 0:08:55Prices soared.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03There were many mistakes made by the Americans,
0:09:03 > 0:09:08but the biggest mistake was creating an army in their own image,
0:09:08 > 0:09:10an army that...
0:09:11 > 0:09:15..was used to fighting a rich man's war,
0:09:15 > 0:09:19and South Vietnam was too poor to be able to sustain that kind of war.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26Meanwhile, the chronically underpaid South Vietnamese army
0:09:26 > 0:09:28had its pay cut further.
0:09:30 > 0:09:31It began to disintegrate.
0:09:33 > 0:09:37As many as 20,000 men were deserting each month,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40most heading home to try to help their families survive
0:09:40 > 0:09:42in such hard times.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53In November of 1974, the Politburo and the Central Military Committee
0:09:53 > 0:09:55met in Hanoi to discuss strategy.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59Some members urged caution.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03They worried that if they tried to push Saigon to the point of collapse
0:10:03 > 0:10:06too quickly, the Americans would return.
0:10:07 > 0:10:11Final victory, they calculated, would come in 1976.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16Party First Secretary Le Duan didn't agree.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22He ordered a test attack to see if the Americans would intervene
0:10:22 > 0:10:26with air power as they had during the Easter Offensive,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28two and a half years earlier.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30EXPLOSION
0:10:30 > 0:10:35In December 1974, North Vietnamese forces attacked Phuoc Long,
0:10:35 > 0:10:36north-east of Saigon.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Within three weeks, they had overrun the entire province
0:10:43 > 0:10:47and had killed or captured thousands of ARVN defenders.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The United States did nothing in response.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57MUSIC: Kashmir by Led Zeppelin
0:10:57 > 0:11:01The North Vietnamese now undertook a new assault on cities
0:11:01 > 0:11:05in the central highlands, including Buon Ma Thuot,
0:11:05 > 0:11:10where their forces outnumbered the overextended ARVN nearly six to one.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20Buon Ma Thuot fell in two days.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24And here is the second province to fall...
0:11:25 > 0:11:27..and it falls fairly quickly.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31At that point, they realised, "Well, we don't have to wait till 1976,
0:11:31 > 0:11:33"we can go for it now."
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Within a week, Pleiku and Kon Tum were in enemy hands.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:11:56 > 0:11:59According to Western diplomats here in Saigon,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02the South Vietnamese are quitting the central highlands
0:12:02 > 0:12:04because they hope to avoid a complete rout.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08The withdrawal is said to be an attempt to save men and equipment
0:12:08 > 0:12:11that may become sorely needed in other, more heavily populated
0:12:11 > 0:12:12parts of the country.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:12:40 > 0:12:45As the ARVN fled south, 400,000 civilians fled with them.
0:12:53 > 0:12:58On March 29th, 1975, the North Vietnamese entered Danang,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01South Vietnam's second largest city.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Civilians and soldiers alike tried to flee.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17"Danang was not captured," an American reporter remembered,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20"it disintegrated in its own terror."
0:13:31 > 0:13:34SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:14:11 > 0:14:14On the same beach where the US Marines had landed
0:14:14 > 0:14:18nearly ten years earlier, beginning America's combat involvement
0:14:18 > 0:14:24in Vietnam, 16,000 ARVN soldiers fought for space
0:14:24 > 0:14:27with 75,000 terrified civilians
0:14:27 > 0:14:31aboard an improvised fleet of freighters and fishing boats
0:14:31 > 0:14:35headed south for Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau and Saigon...
0:14:37 > 0:14:40..anywhere they thought northern troops might not follow.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52Thousands drowned struggling to reach the boats,
0:14:52 > 0:14:56thousands more were killed by enemy shells raining down on the beach.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:15:15 > 0:15:18The North Vietnamese decided to move against Saigon
0:15:18 > 0:15:22and take it before Ho Chi Minh's birthday on May 19th.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29- GERALD FORD:- A vast human tragedy has befallen our friends
0:15:29 > 0:15:31in Vietnam and Cambodia.
0:15:32 > 0:15:36On April 10th, President Ford appealed to a joint session
0:15:36 > 0:15:41of Congress for 722 million in military aid to Saigon.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47If they refused, and Saigon fell, Congress, not the White House,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49should take the blame.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Under five presidents and 12 congresses,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54the United States was engaged in Indochina.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58Millions of Americans served...
0:15:59 > 0:16:01..thousands died...
0:16:02 > 0:16:06..and many more were wounded, imprisoned, or lost.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11In the end, Congress voted against any military aid.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17I don't think that it is good for a big nation like the US
0:16:17 > 0:16:18to behave like that
0:16:18 > 0:16:24because, by that time, we didn't ask for the blood of American soldiers.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29I mean, the last minutes, they washed their hands, like that.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33It is not up to a diplomat to use strong words against the Americans,
0:16:33 > 0:16:35but I felt deeply sorry about it.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
0:16:39 > 0:16:44On April 21st, Highway 1 was open all the way to Saigon.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49That evening, President Thieu resigned.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56News of Thieu's resignation had sent thousands of panicked Vietnamese
0:16:56 > 0:17:00rushing to Tan Son Nhat Airport, hoping to get out of their country.
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Some had exit visas, many did not.
0:17:09 > 0:17:13Duong Van Mai's family had fled Hanoi in 1954,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16leaving behind her older sister, Thang,
0:17:16 > 0:17:18who had joined Ho Chi Minh's forces.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25Now, 20 years later, with the North Vietnamese closing in on Saigon,
0:17:25 > 0:17:28they were faced with the prospect of fleeing once again.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32My mother didn't want to leave.
0:17:33 > 0:17:36She said didn't want to be a refugee again.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38She had been a refugee too many times.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Plus, my sister, Thang, was about to arrive
0:17:42 > 0:17:44and meet us after all these years.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49She said she wanted to stay and see Thang.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54My father was determined to leave
0:17:54 > 0:17:57because he was afraid that if we stayed we'd be killed.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02He got mad at my mother and they argued.
0:18:02 > 0:18:07But, in the end, my mother yielded to his insistence
0:18:07 > 0:18:08that they should leave.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13Through the whole thing, I thought, "This is crazy." You know?
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Why we have to leave under these conditions?
0:18:17 > 0:18:22It was so humiliating and I carry that humiliation with me
0:18:22 > 0:18:27to the United States. When I get in line to sign up for a job,
0:18:27 > 0:18:29you know, I was...
0:18:29 > 0:18:33I remind them of the war in Vietnam, which the Americans hate.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39You have to lose a nation in a dream to feel...
0:18:39 > 0:18:40to feel that humiliation.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:20:02 > 0:20:08We have always sent a wreath to his grave in Arlington...
0:20:09 > 0:20:12..partly in remembrance, of course, of him,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16but also thinking of other grieving people are there,
0:20:16 > 0:20:20or just people that are visiting to pay their respects.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25It's good for them to know that people...
0:20:25 > 0:20:26That the soldiers are remembered.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41EXPLOSIONS BLAST, ROCKETS WHOOSH
0:20:41 > 0:20:47On April 27th, 1975, rockets landed in the heart of Saigon.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51It was the signal for the North Vietnamese to begin
0:20:51 > 0:20:53their main assault on the city.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00"They attacked from five sides, like a hurricane," their commander said.
0:21:00 > 0:21:05MUSIC: All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
0:21:13 > 0:21:17When the Communists began shelling the seaside town of Vung Tau,
0:21:17 > 0:21:19just south-east of Saigon,
0:21:19 > 0:21:22thousands of terrified people clambered into any vessel
0:21:22 > 0:21:25they could find in hope of rescue by the Americans.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31At the American Embassy, Ambassador Graham Martin
0:21:31 > 0:21:35cabled Henry Kissinger, now Secretary of State, that...
0:21:44 > 0:21:46HELICOPTER WHIRS Evacuation planners had quietly
0:21:46 > 0:21:49designated two spots within the Embassy
0:21:49 > 0:21:52as potential helicopter landing zones -
0:21:52 > 0:21:55a courtyard that could accommodate large choppers
0:21:55 > 0:21:59and the helipad on the Embassy roof meant for smaller ones.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05Meanwhile, General Duong Van Minh was sworn in as
0:22:05 > 0:22:07the new president of South Vietnam.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10He called for an immediate ceasefire.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15On April 29th, at 3:58 in the morning,
0:22:15 > 0:22:19North Vietnamese rockets began falling on Tan Son Nhat Airport.
0:22:21 > 0:22:25The runways were cratered and blocked by wrecked planes,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28littered with jettisoned bombs and fuel tanks.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34It was time to call in the helicopters from the offshore fleet.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38There was no way all of the remaining South Vietnamese
0:22:38 > 0:22:40could be evacuated.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48There were anywhere from 10,000 to 12,000 people
0:22:48 > 0:22:49surrounding the Embassy.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53We were supposed to get Americans out of there,
0:22:53 > 0:22:55we were supposed to get South Vietnamese that worked for us
0:22:55 > 0:22:57at the Embassy.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01But every time you reached out to grab a specific individual,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04other people were grabbing your hands and trying to pull you down
0:23:04 > 0:23:07with them, you know, so that you could help them out.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11Some Americans had left so rapidly, they'd left their radios behind.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19So their Vietnamese friends were on the radios, begging to be rescued.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23"I'm Han, the driver, I'm Mr Noc, your translator."
0:23:25 > 0:23:28I realised what the Americans had often done in Vietnam...
0:23:29 > 0:23:33..they had forgotten that these were human beings.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41My experience in Vietnam had often been like a B-52 strike
0:23:41 > 0:23:44from on high.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47I never had to confront the consequences of my action.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51I could just let the bomb doors open...
0:23:52 > 0:23:53..and still remain...
0:23:54 > 0:23:55..detached.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00This will be the final message from Saigon's station
0:24:00 > 0:24:03the CIA chief Thomas Polgar wired to Washington.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08"It has been a long fight and we have lost.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13"Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18"Let us hope that we will not have another Vietnam experience
0:24:18 > 0:24:20"and that we have learned our lesson."
0:24:29 > 0:24:34More than 50 US helicopters now crisscrossed the sky over Saigon,
0:24:34 > 0:24:39picking up evacuees from designated rooftops, as well as the Embassy...
0:24:40 > 0:24:45..ferrying them to the fleet far out at sea, then returning for more.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Some desperate South Vietnamese officers also
0:24:50 > 0:24:54commandeered helicopters for themselves and their families,
0:24:54 > 0:24:59dangerously crowding the decks of the American aircraft carriers.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00There was no room for them.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06The image that remains in my mind is the picture of the helicopter
0:25:06 > 0:25:08being pushed over the side of the carrier.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12The helicopter was everything in Vietnam.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14I mean, it was dust off, it was resupply,
0:25:14 > 0:25:17it was fire support, it was everything.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22All I could think of was, "What a waste, what a waste."
0:25:23 > 0:25:29As I watched that all unfold, I felt...responsible.
0:25:29 > 0:25:30I was ashamed.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33We had told these people
0:25:33 > 0:25:35that we would be there to support them and we were not.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46This action closes a chapter in the American experience.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The President asks all Americans to close ranks,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54to avoid recriminations about the past...
0:25:55 > 0:25:57..and to work together on the great tasks
0:25:57 > 0:25:59that remain to be accomplished.
0:26:00 > 0:26:05Now, to give you details of the events of the past few days
0:26:05 > 0:26:08and to answer your questions, Secretary of State Kissinger.
0:26:08 > 0:26:10Mr Secretary, are you confident that all the Americans
0:26:10 > 0:26:13that wanted to come out are out of Saigon?
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Do you have any idea of the number of Americans who remain behind?
0:26:17 > 0:26:23I have no idea of the number of Americans that remain behind.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I'm confident that every American who wanted to come out...
0:26:27 > 0:26:29..is out.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34What we need now in this country is to heal the wounds
0:26:34 > 0:26:36and to put Vietnam behind us.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41An aide handed Kissinger a note.
0:26:41 > 0:26:46It said that 129 Marines had somehow been left behind
0:26:46 > 0:26:47on the Embassy roof.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Helicopters were dispatched to pick them up.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Eventually, only Sergeant Valdez
0:26:55 > 0:26:58and his ten-man Embassy security unit remained.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04But then, an hour went by with no sign of any more helicopters.
0:27:06 > 0:27:11Their radio was dead, the Marines had no way to contact the fleet
0:27:11 > 0:27:12to see if anyone was on the way.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17Everything stopped. We were being left behind.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21We pretty much decided that we were going to fight it out,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24use the arms that we had and just fight it to the end.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28We started seeing two puffs of smoke coming from out at sea.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32As they got closer, we were able to determine
0:27:32 > 0:27:35that they were helicopters.
0:27:35 > 0:27:36It was a relief.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39One of the Marines, I believe it was Staff Sergeant Sullivan,
0:27:39 > 0:27:42my assistant, grabbed me and started pulling me in
0:27:42 > 0:27:43as the ramp was going up.
0:27:45 > 0:27:50At 7:53am, April 30th, 1975,
0:27:50 > 0:27:53the last helicopter lifted off the Embassy roof.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Master Sergeant Juan Valdez was the last American to climb aboard.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10President Minh spoke from the palace at mid-morning.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16He urged what was left of the South Vietnamese Army to stop fighting.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:28:50 > 0:28:55At noon, North Vietnamese tanks flying Vietcong flags
0:28:55 > 0:28:59smashed their way through the gates of the Presidential Palace.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Within hours, victorious soldiers were calling Saigon
0:29:06 > 0:29:07Ho Chi Minh City.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16All over town, ARVN soldiers tore off their uniforms
0:29:16 > 0:29:18and did their best to melt into the crowds.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22Families burned their photo albums,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26so there would be no evidence that their sons or husbands
0:29:26 > 0:29:28had ever fought for South Vietnam.
0:29:31 > 0:29:38I felt a sense of relief, but also a sense of sadness when it ended.
0:29:38 > 0:29:45I felt relief that the killing and destruction finally came to an end,
0:29:45 > 0:29:47and I didn't care which side won.
0:29:47 > 0:29:51To me, Vietnam won, the Vietnamese people won
0:29:51 > 0:29:54because they finally could live normally.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00And sad because I saw that my family was again fleeing,
0:30:00 > 0:30:05and this time from their homeland, and the future was very uncertain.
0:30:07 > 0:30:09I got a call from the VVAW national office,
0:30:09 > 0:30:12from some friends of mine from the old days.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15They were having a big celebration, drinking booze,
0:30:15 > 0:30:19and, "Oh, it's a great day, isn't it? And I said, "Are you nuts?"
0:30:20 > 0:30:22I said, "No, it's not a great day."
0:30:24 > 0:30:26To see America leaving like that,
0:30:26 > 0:30:30after we'd given almost 60,000 of our sons and daughters?
0:30:32 > 0:30:34That wasn't something to celebrate.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39I knew we were abandoning millions of South Vietnamese
0:30:39 > 0:30:42that had trusted us, thrown in their lot with us.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45That wasn't anything to celebrate.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49I thought it was just one of the saddest moments
0:30:49 > 0:30:51I'd ever seen in American history.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54So, when some future politician, for some reason,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58feels the need to drag this country into a war,
0:30:58 > 0:31:00he might come out here to Arlington
0:31:00 > 0:31:03and stand maybe right over there, somewhere,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06to make his announcement and to tell what he has in mind.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:32:37 > 0:32:40CHEERING
0:32:40 > 0:32:42In Vietnam, the Communist Party is triumphant.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45They have exceptionalism, too.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49And their exceptionalism gets in their way,
0:32:49 > 0:32:52just like our exceptionalism got in our way.
0:32:53 > 0:32:59So, they unified the country, in a military sense, and then they
0:32:59 > 0:33:03don't really unify the country after that. They...they...
0:33:04 > 0:33:05They try, but they fail.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11In the end, there was no bloodbath on the scale many had feared.
0:33:13 > 0:33:17But hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in the countryside
0:33:17 > 0:33:21are thought to have been killed in individual acts of revenge
0:33:21 > 0:33:22or political retaliation.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28Those who had served the Thieu regime, from generals
0:33:28 > 0:33:32to ordinary clerks, were required to undergo re-education.
0:33:34 > 0:33:37HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:33:56 > 0:33:59HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:34:06 > 0:34:08A million and a half people are believed to have undergone
0:34:08 > 0:34:11some form of indoctrination.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17ARVN cemeteries were bulldozed or padlocked,
0:34:17 > 0:34:20as if the memory of an independent South Vietnam,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25and those who had died for that cause, could both be obliterated.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31The Communists, in their effort to erase vestiges
0:34:31 > 0:34:32of the former regime...
0:34:34 > 0:34:39..have not allowed the South Vietnamese who lost their sons
0:34:39 > 0:34:45in the war to mourn, to have their graves, and to honour their memory.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50It caused a division that lasts to this day.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55The winners would not accommodate the losers, in some way.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01After 30 years of war, much of Vietnam lay in ruins.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06Three million people are thought to have died, North and South.
0:35:08 > 0:35:09Still more had been wounded.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Thousands of children, fathered by American servicemen,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17had been left behind.
0:35:18 > 0:35:23Villages needed to be rebuilt, land had to be re-claimed.
0:35:25 > 0:35:30Cities were choked with refugees, millions were without work.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35President Ford imposed an economic embargo.
0:35:35 > 0:35:40Washington refused to recognise the new government of Vietnam.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45But Le Duan and his allies on the Politburo remained optimistic.
0:35:46 > 0:35:50"Nothing more can happen," one committee member said.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53"The problems we face now are trifles compared to those
0:35:53 > 0:35:54"in the past."
0:35:56 > 0:36:01Le Duan resolved, with Soviet help, to turn all of Vietnam into what
0:36:01 > 0:36:06he called, "An impregnable outpost of the socialist system."
0:36:07 > 0:36:11Hanoi forcibly collectivised agriculture in the South,
0:36:11 > 0:36:16virtually abolished capitalism, nationalised industries,
0:36:16 > 0:36:21and appointed planners to run it all along strict Communist lines.
0:36:23 > 0:36:25The result would be economic disaster.
0:36:26 > 0:36:30Inflation rose as high as 700% a year.
0:36:32 > 0:36:33People starved.
0:36:35 > 0:36:37HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:37:03 > 0:37:06- REPORTER:- The South China Sea, 1978.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10They come ashore at the rate of 10,000 a month,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13much faster than the United States, or any other nation,
0:37:13 > 0:37:14is willing to accept them.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20They come chasing an elusive memory - the promise of America.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26A million and a half people would eventually flee Vietnam.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Hundreds of thousands of the boat people died.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35Others suffered in refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia.
0:37:41 > 0:37:44Some 400,000 eventually made it to America...
0:37:46 > 0:37:49..but memories of their homeland could never be erased.
0:37:52 > 0:37:54HE SPEAKS ENGLISH:
0:38:33 > 0:38:35- APPLAUSE REPORTER:- 21-year-old Maya Ying Lin,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39an architect student at Yale University, got the 20,000 prize.
0:38:39 > 0:38:42Her winning design is comprised of two elongated triangles
0:38:42 > 0:38:44of black granite inset into a hill
0:38:44 > 0:38:49and inscribed with the names of the 57,692 men and women
0:38:49 > 0:38:51who died in the war.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Lin, whose parents emigrated from China in the 1940s to Ohio,
0:38:55 > 0:38:58thought she wouldn't win because her design was too strange
0:38:58 > 0:38:59and too strong.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I had a general idea that I wanted to describe a journey,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06a journey that would make you experience stuff,
0:39:06 > 0:39:08and where you'd have to be an observer,
0:39:08 > 0:39:11where you could never, really, fully be with the dead.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14It wasn't going to be something that was going to say, "It's all right,
0:39:14 > 0:39:16"it's all over," because it's not.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19MUSIC: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel
0:39:22 > 0:39:25# When you're weary
0:39:28 > 0:39:31# Feeling small
0:39:33 > 0:39:39# And tears are in your eyes
0:39:41 > 0:39:46# I will dry them all... #
0:39:50 > 0:39:52As you got out of the car and you approach the wall...
0:39:54 > 0:39:58..the intensity of which it grabs you...
0:39:59 > 0:40:01..you go up...
0:40:04 > 0:40:07..you see the names, you touch the names.
0:40:10 > 0:40:12It's intense.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17# Like a bridge over troubled water
0:40:18 > 0:40:22# I will lay me down... #
0:40:32 > 0:40:35I did not like the Vietnam Wall.
0:40:35 > 0:40:38I considered it an ugly, black ditch,
0:40:38 > 0:40:41and that it said, "The only people
0:40:41 > 0:40:44"that are to be commemorated are the dead...
0:40:46 > 0:40:49"..not because they're heroes, but because they're victims."
0:40:51 > 0:40:54I didn't go...until...
0:40:56 > 0:40:58..one year...
0:40:59 > 0:41:03..they were going to put the wreath in front of the name of my roommate.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06I had to go.
0:41:07 > 0:41:10So I've gone every year since then,
0:41:10 > 0:41:14to remember those...we lost and...
0:41:16 > 0:41:18..I walked down to the far left and I...
0:41:20 > 0:41:22..run my fingers over that name.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34You go to that wall and even my son, who was nine years old
0:41:34 > 0:41:38when I first took him, and you see over 58,000 names...
0:41:39 > 0:41:42..and you know that...written behind,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45or beside each name, there's a mother, or a father,
0:41:45 > 0:41:52or a wife, or a daughter whose lives were forever shattered
0:41:52 > 0:41:53by that damn war.
0:42:02 > 0:42:03When I caught sight of it...
0:42:06 > 0:42:08..I literally lost my breath.
0:42:11 > 0:42:12Of course I wept.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18I had help getting lifted up, so I could touch it.
0:42:20 > 0:42:21I found my brother's name.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28I looked at my brother's name,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31in the company of all those other people.
0:42:34 > 0:42:36There was sadness...
0:42:38 > 0:42:40..but now he wasn't alone either.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44He was in the company of people.
0:42:45 > 0:42:46And he was...
0:42:47 > 0:42:52..there for people to know and to think about,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55and he wasn't forgotten and he wasn't lost.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59It was incredibly healing and freeing for me.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11As I was walking towards it from the reflecting pool,
0:43:11 > 0:43:13they were so many names on those walls...
0:43:14 > 0:43:18And, all of a sudden, my throat swole up and I thought,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20"I can't do this. I can't do this right now."
0:43:22 > 0:43:23And I collapsed.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30And all the tears I'd been holding back...
0:43:34 > 0:43:35I didn't cry, I sobbed.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38I was on my knees...
0:43:39 > 0:43:42..sobbing. I couldn't stop, I couldn't get my breath.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49And I was so grateful to God that it was there.
0:43:52 > 0:43:53I thought...
0:43:54 > 0:43:56"This is going to save lives.
0:43:59 > 0:44:00"This is going to save lives."
0:44:14 > 0:44:17Le Duan died in 1986.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23His successors adopted what they called Doi Moi,
0:44:23 > 0:44:26a more pragmatic, reformist economic policy.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32As the Cold War ended, Soviet aid disappeared.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38And Hanoi finally began to help US military teams
0:44:38 > 0:44:40search for American remains.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48In 1994, the United States lifted its trade embargo.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52Full normalisation came the following year.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00In November of 2000, President Bill Clinton travelled to Vietnam.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05The first American president to visit that country
0:45:05 > 0:45:10since Richard Nixon reviewed US troops there 31 years earlier.
0:45:16 > 0:45:17- BARACK OBAMA:- Now we can say something that
0:45:17 > 0:45:19was once unimaginable.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Today, Vietnam and the United States are partners.
0:45:24 > 0:45:26We have shown that hearts can change...
0:45:28 > 0:45:30..and that a different future is possible when we refuse to be
0:45:30 > 0:45:32prisoners of the past.
0:45:37 > 0:45:39HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:46:41 > 0:46:44In Vietnam, the land has largely healed.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49Old animosities have mostly been buried.
0:46:52 > 0:46:53But ghosts remain.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01Americans and Vietnamese work together to clean up places
0:47:01 > 0:47:03where Agent Orange has poisoned the earth.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09Unexploded ordnance, half hidden in the ground,
0:47:09 > 0:47:11still takes lives each year.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17Aged mothers and fathers from Northern Vietnam
0:47:17 > 0:47:19still roam the South,
0:47:19 > 0:47:22seeking to discover what happened to their sons and daughters.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:48:23 > 0:48:26HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE:
0:49:09 > 0:49:12More than four decades after the war ended,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15the divisions it created between Americans
0:49:15 > 0:49:17have not yet wholly healed.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Lessons were learned and then forgotten.
0:49:24 > 0:49:27Divides were bridged and then widened.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33Old secrets were revealed and new secrets were locked away.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41The Vietnam War was a tragedy, immeasurable and irredeemable.
0:49:45 > 0:49:49But meaning can be found in the individual stories
0:49:49 > 0:49:51of those who lived through it,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55stories of courage and comradeship
0:49:55 > 0:49:57and perseverance,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00of understanding and forgiveness,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and ultimately reconciliation.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11"They shared the weight of memory.
0:50:13 > 0:50:15"They took up what others could no longer bear.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19"Often they carried each other, the wounded or weak.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23"They carried infections...
0:50:24 > 0:50:27"..they carried chess sets,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31"basketballs, Vietnamese-English dictionaries...
0:50:33 > 0:50:34"..insignia of rank...
0:50:35 > 0:50:38"..Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts...
0:50:40 > 0:50:43"..plastic cards imprinted with the code of conduct.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51"They carried diseases, among them malaria and dysentery.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57"They carried lice, and ring worm, and leeches...
0:51:00 > 0:51:03"..paddy algae, and various rots and moulds.
0:51:06 > 0:51:08"They carried the land itself...
0:51:09 > 0:51:10"..Vietnam.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17"The place, the soil, a powdery orange red dust...
0:51:19 > 0:51:23"..that covered their boots and fatigues, and faces.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28"They carried the sky,
0:51:28 > 0:51:29"the whole atmosphere.
0:51:32 > 0:51:34"They carried it.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36"The humidity, the monsoons...
0:51:38 > 0:51:39"..the stink of fungus.
0:51:40 > 0:51:43"By daylight, they took sniper fire.
0:51:43 > 0:51:44"At night, they were mortared.
0:51:46 > 0:51:48"They crawled into tunnels, and walk point,
0:51:48 > 0:51:50"and advanced under fire.
0:51:52 > 0:51:53"But it was not battle.
0:51:54 > 0:51:56"It was just the endless march...
0:51:57 > 0:51:58"..village to village.
0:52:00 > 0:52:02"They marched for the sake of the march.
0:52:05 > 0:52:07"They plodded along, slowly, dumbly...
0:52:09 > 0:52:11"..leaning forward against the heat,
0:52:11 > 0:52:13"unthinking, all blood and bone.
0:52:15 > 0:52:17"Simple grunts, soldiering with their legs.
0:52:18 > 0:52:21"Toiling up the hills and down into the paddys,
0:52:21 > 0:52:25"and across the rivers, and up again and down, just humping.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29"One step, and then the next, and then another.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33"They made their legs move.
0:52:36 > 0:52:37"They endured."
0:52:38 > 0:52:42MUSIC: Let It Be by The Beatles
0:52:51 > 0:52:55# When I find myself in times of trouble
0:52:55 > 0:52:58# Mother Mary comes to me
0:52:58 > 0:53:00# Speaking words of wisdom
0:53:00 > 0:53:02# Let it be
0:53:04 > 0:53:07# And in my hour of darkness
0:53:07 > 0:53:11# She is standing right in front of me
0:53:11 > 0:53:13# Speaking words of wisdom
0:53:13 > 0:53:15# Let it be
0:53:16 > 0:53:19# Let it be, let it be
0:53:19 > 0:53:22# Let it be, let it be
0:53:24 > 0:53:26# Whisper words of wisdom
0:53:26 > 0:53:28# Let it be
0:53:30 > 0:53:37# And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree
0:53:37 > 0:53:39# There will be an answer
0:53:39 > 0:53:41# Let it be
0:53:43 > 0:53:46# For though they may be parted
0:53:46 > 0:53:50# There is still a chance that they will see
0:53:50 > 0:53:53# There will be an answer
0:53:53 > 0:53:55# Let it be
0:53:56 > 0:53:59# Let it be, let it be
0:53:59 > 0:54:03# Let it be, let it be
0:54:03 > 0:54:06# Yeah, there will be an answer
0:54:06 > 0:54:08# Let it be
0:54:09 > 0:54:13# Let it be, let it be
0:54:13 > 0:54:16# Let it be, yeah, let it be
0:54:17 > 0:54:20# Whisper words of wisdom
0:54:20 > 0:54:22# Let it be
0:54:24 > 0:54:27# And when the night is cloudy
0:54:27 > 0:54:31# There is still a light that shines on me
0:54:31 > 0:54:34# Shine until tomorrow
0:54:34 > 0:54:36# Let it be
0:54:38 > 0:54:42# I wake up to the sound of music
0:54:42 > 0:54:45# Mother Mary comes to me
0:54:45 > 0:54:48# Speaking words of wisdom
0:54:48 > 0:54:50# Let it be
0:54:52 > 0:54:54# Let it be, let it be
0:54:55 > 0:54:58# Let it be, yeah, let it be
0:54:59 > 0:55:02# Oh, there will be an answer
0:55:02 > 0:55:06# Let it be
0:55:06 > 0:55:09# Let it be, let it be
0:55:09 > 0:55:12# Let it be, yeah, let it be
0:55:13 > 0:55:16# There will be an answer
0:55:16 > 0:55:19# Let it be
0:55:19 > 0:55:22# Let it be, let it be
0:55:23 > 0:55:26# Let it be, yeah, let it be
0:55:27 > 0:55:30# Whisper words of wisdom
0:55:30 > 0:55:33# Let it be. #