Boomer Legacies: End of the Vietnam War

The blog is on a break right now, but for today, see some images and music commemorating the end of the Vietnam War, 39 years ago on 30 April 1975. This day is celebrated in Vietnam as Liberation Day or Reunification Day to mark when Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) from the South Vietnamese and the Americans.

Views of the war, also known as the Second Indochina War (1956-1975), are skewed by the fact that it stands at the crossroads of a huge counter-cultural revolution in the west. For the American government, participation was part of a strategy to contain Communist states. But the more complex causes of the war involved local Asian and anti-French conflicts exploding after the post-World-War-II revival, and subsequent collapse, of French Indochina in the First Indochina War (1946-1954).

Image Source: Guardian.

Image Source: HuffPo.

Image Source: Black Rainbow.

Image Source: National Geographic.

For the history of this famous photo, go here. Image Source: University of Texas. 

Image Source: Examiner. 

Caption for the above photo: Gen. Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnamese chief of the national police, fires his pistol into the head of suspected Viet Cong official Nguyen Van Lem on a Saigon street early in the Tet Offensive, February 1, 1968. Photographer Eddie Adams reported that after the shooting, Loan approached him and said, “They killed many of my people, and yours too,” then walked away. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams) 1969 Pulitzer Prize winner for Spot News Photography.

Image Source: Asian History. 

Image Source: Trek Earth. 

"A U.S. paratrooper wounded in the battle for Hamburger Hill grimaces in pain as he awaits medical evacuation at base camp near the Laotian border, May 19, 1969. (AP Photo/Hugh Van Es)" Dutch photographer Hugh Van Es, who captured some of the most striking images of the Vietnam War, died in hospital in Hong Kong at the age of 67 in 2009. Image Source: BBC.

Image Source: University of Texas.

Image Source: Refried Hippie. 

Image Source: Curitiba in English. 

Fall of Saigon: the last officials and CIA personnel scramble to leave the US embassy, 29 April 1975. Image Source: Z's World.

Image Source: Schadle.

Image Source: Airline Pilot Chatter.

Video Source: Youtube.

Copyright of these songs belongs to copyright holders and is reproduced here solely for non-commercial discussion.
1. The Animals - House of The Rising Sun (00:00 - 04:26)
2. The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (04:26 - 10:50)
3. Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower (10:51 - 14:47)
4. CCR - Fortunate Son (14:48 - 17:06)
5. The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black (17:10 - 21:00)
6. Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit (21:06 - 23:29)
7. Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze (23:30 - 26:14)
8. Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (26:20 - 28:59)
9. The Doors - Riders on The Storm (29:04 - 36:00)
10. K.C and The Sunshine Band - I'm Your Boogie Man (36:05)