The Fall of Saigon
On one humid morning of April 30, 1975 at 10:51 a. m., a tank crashed
in to the gate of the presidential palace in Saigon. In just a few mimites South Vietnam
would surrender and the Vietnam War would be over. But the only thing that would be
over would be the gun fire. The fight would still go on for many year's. In some years
later Saigon would be called Ho Chi Minh City.
Being lost
The tanks from the 203rd Tank Regiment met little resistance as they made their
way toward the city, and the North Vietnamese troops noticed the roadsides were littered
with uniforms of fleeing South Vietnamese soldiers. "We knew those who we found
wearing only underpants and undershirts were soldiers," they said smiling. "They hadn't
had enough time to put on civilians clothes." "That's true" said Le Thanh Chon, a former
pilot in the North Vietnamese air force who tagged along with the tanks that day. " I was
driving a U.S. Army Jeep (it was abandoned); I was so lost I had to ask a little girl for
directions."
How did it fall?
All important city gates were open and with South Vietnamese under Martial
Law, people were still running out of their homes and trying to leave there cites. The
voices of crying children who lost their parents were all around you.
Sigon was hit in 10:51 a.m. in the morning by North Vietnam had entered the
country of South Vietnam in the city knows now as Ho Chi Mien City. They entered
through the gates of the emperor's palace, the front gates were gone in about two
minuets.
The first tank tried to fire but the first shell got stuck in the barrel, someone onboard
said, "that's the only shot we fired". Then, the tank commander, jumped out of his
immobilized tank and ran onto the palace grounds. The second tank drove a...