1
00:00:27,281 --> 00:00:31,127
They took up what others
could no longer bear.

2
00:00:33,454 --> 00:00:38,631
Often, they carried each other,
the wounded or weak.

3
00:00:38,751 --> 00:00:40,298
They carried infections.

4
00:00:40,461 --> 00:00:42,589
They carried chess sets,
basketballs,

5
00:00:42,713 --> 00:00:44,807
Vietnamese-English dictionaries,

6
00:00:44,965 --> 00:00:48,469
insignia of rank,
Bronze Stars, and Purple Hearts,

7
00:00:48,636 --> 00:00:52,641
plastic cards imprinted
with the Code of Conduct.

8
00:00:55,476 --> 00:00:59,276
They carried diseases, among
them malaria and dysentery.

9
00:01:03,067 --> 00:01:07,573
They carried lice and ringworm
and leeches and paddy algae

10
00:01:07,696 --> 00:01:09,994
and various rots and molds.

11
00:01:14,328 --> 00:01:17,832
They carried the land itself...

12
00:01:17,998 --> 00:01:19,796
Vietnam.

13
00:01:37,893 --> 00:01:40,772
Thank you.

14
00:01:56,412 --> 00:02:01,839
I can tell you, as I look back
over those months and years,

15
00:02:01,959 --> 00:02:05,213
that we have met
with the wives and the mothers

16
00:02:05,379 --> 00:02:09,759
of those of you
who were prisoners of war,

17
00:02:09,883 --> 00:02:15,561
they were and are the bravest,
most magnificent women

18
00:02:15,681 --> 00:02:17,103
I have ever met in my life.

19
00:02:18,726 --> 00:02:20,966
And now, if they will give me
my official toasting glass,

20
00:02:21,020 --> 00:02:22,317
I will propose the toast.

21
00:02:23,856 --> 00:02:24,856
Tonight...

22
00:02:24,940 --> 00:02:28,160
On May 24, 1973,

23
00:02:28,277 --> 00:02:30,075
President Nixon invited

24
00:02:30,195 --> 00:02:33,369
all the returned prisoners
of war and their families

25
00:02:33,490 --> 00:02:35,242
to Washington.

26
00:02:35,367 --> 00:02:38,291
Among them was Everett Alvarez,

27
00:02:38,412 --> 00:02:42,792
the first pilot shot down
over North Vietnam.

28
00:02:42,916 --> 00:02:44,996
Sometimes,
I feel too much attention

29
00:02:45,085 --> 00:02:48,055
was being paid to us,
the P.O.W.s.

30
00:02:48,172 --> 00:02:50,846
And what about the poor guys
that fought the war, those kids?

31
00:02:50,966 --> 00:02:56,097
You know, that came home, um,
you know, amputees...

32
00:02:56,263 --> 00:03:02,111
Uh, wounded
with the injuries of war.

33
00:03:02,227 --> 00:03:04,275
What about them?

34
00:03:04,396 --> 00:03:06,899
We had our own challenges,

35
00:03:07,024 --> 00:03:09,447
and the key was
to, to face these

36
00:03:09,610 --> 00:03:12,284
and yet maintain our, our honor.

37
00:03:12,446 --> 00:03:14,119
That's what it was.

38
00:03:16,075 --> 00:03:18,578
Dr. Hal Kushner,

39
00:03:18,702 --> 00:03:21,421
who had been a prisoner
for more than five years,

40
00:03:21,538 --> 00:03:23,961
was unable to attend.

41
00:03:24,083 --> 00:03:28,133
He was reunited with his family
at Valley Forge.

42
00:03:28,253 --> 00:03:32,224
We flew to
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

43
00:03:32,341 --> 00:03:36,312
And I came off the helicopter
and I saw my wife...

44
00:03:39,348 --> 00:03:42,022
and my daughter,

45
00:03:42,142 --> 00:03:43,894
who I hadn't seen
since she was 21/2.

46
00:03:44,019 --> 00:03:45,987
And she was born in 1963.

47
00:03:52,486 --> 00:03:57,162
So she was ten years old.

48
00:03:57,282 --> 00:03:58,955
And my son,
who I had never seen,

49
00:03:59,076 --> 00:04:01,204
a week before
his fifth birthday.

50
00:04:01,328 --> 00:04:05,003
And he had on a little tie
and a little coat.

51
00:04:08,544 --> 00:04:10,217
And my mom and dad.

52
00:04:10,337 --> 00:04:15,138
And my mother was just overcome
with emotion.

53
00:04:18,387 --> 00:04:22,017
And I just...

54
00:04:22,182 --> 00:04:25,777
It was just
an incomprehensible moment.

55
00:04:25,894 --> 00:04:28,113
And we hugged everybody.

56
00:04:28,230 --> 00:04:31,029
And my little boy had a flag,
American flag.

57
00:04:34,194 --> 00:04:37,414
Like many P.O.W. marriages,

58
00:04:37,531 --> 00:04:41,707
Hal Kushner's would not survive.

59
00:05:01,889 --> 00:05:05,769
On March 29, 1973,

60
00:05:05,893 --> 00:05:09,898
the last American troops
left South Vietnam.

61
00:05:10,063 --> 00:05:13,658
Fewer than 200 Marines
would remain,

62
00:05:13,775 --> 00:05:16,278
assigned to guard
consular offices

63
00:05:16,403 --> 00:05:17,950
and the American Embassy

64
00:05:18,071 --> 00:05:21,245
and other installations
in Saigon.

65
00:05:21,408 --> 00:05:27,086
Thousands of other Americans,
including C.I.A. agents,

66
00:05:27,247 --> 00:05:29,249
diplomats, and contractors,

67
00:05:29,374 --> 00:05:31,251
stayed behind, as well.

68
00:05:33,754 --> 00:05:35,597
Over the next two years,

69
00:05:35,756 --> 00:05:38,009
the forces
of North and South Vietnam

70
00:05:38,133 --> 00:05:42,183
would continue
to savage one another.

71
00:05:42,304 --> 00:05:46,775
And the Vietnamese people
would find themselves

72
00:05:46,892 --> 00:05:48,860
back where they were
at the beginning,

73
00:05:48,977 --> 00:05:53,483
engulfed in
an apparently endless civil war

74
00:05:53,607 --> 00:05:58,204
and struggling over what kind
of future they would have.

75
00:06:01,865 --> 00:06:06,291
For the United States,
combat did end,

76
00:06:06,453 --> 00:06:11,550
but controversy over the war
did not.

77
00:06:11,667 --> 00:06:14,295
The best you
could say about Vietnam

78
00:06:14,461 --> 00:06:17,806
was that certain blood
was being shed

79
00:06:17,965 --> 00:06:20,218
for uncertain reasons.

80
00:06:20,342 --> 00:06:22,140
The blood was for sure...

81
00:06:22,261 --> 00:06:23,763
the bodies, the widows,
the orphans...

82
00:06:23,887 --> 00:06:25,264
they were certain.

83
00:06:25,389 --> 00:06:30,020
Nobody disputed it,
the dead people were dead.

84
00:06:30,143 --> 00:06:34,694
But the rectitude of the war
was in great dispute.

85
00:06:34,815 --> 00:06:36,317
Smart people in pinstripes

86
00:06:36,483 --> 00:06:38,360
couldn't make their minds up
about the war.

87
00:06:47,202 --> 00:06:49,751
And I remember asking myself...

88
00:06:54,835 --> 00:06:58,055
"Was it worth it?"

89
00:06:58,171 --> 00:07:03,348
Maybe it was all a big mistake,
and, you know,

90
00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:06,104
what, what was it all about?

91
00:07:06,221 --> 00:07:09,145
We answered the call,

92
00:07:09,266 --> 00:07:12,110
me and probably 21/2 million
other young Americans

93
00:07:12,227 --> 00:07:14,321
who went over there.

94
00:07:14,438 --> 00:07:20,195
It was a cause worth the effort.

95
00:07:20,319 --> 00:07:23,823
And sometimes,
things just don't turn out

96
00:07:23,947 --> 00:07:26,200
and the guys in the white hats
don't win.

97
00:07:26,325 --> 00:07:28,669
But that doesn't make it, uh,

98
00:07:28,785 --> 00:07:32,039
or doesn't basically take away

99
00:07:32,205 --> 00:07:35,049
from the rectitude of the cause.

100
00:07:59,566 --> 00:08:01,989
Subcommittee will come to order.

101
00:08:02,110 --> 00:08:04,283
Night after night
during the spring, summer,

102
00:08:04,404 --> 00:08:06,827
and fall of 1973,

103
00:08:06,948 --> 00:08:09,747
Americans watched
the Nixon administration

104
00:08:09,868 --> 00:08:12,121
slowly come apart.

105
00:08:12,245 --> 00:08:13,747
Blackmail,

106
00:08:13,914 --> 00:08:15,712
enemies lists,

107
00:08:15,832 --> 00:08:17,755
dirty tricks,

108
00:08:17,918 --> 00:08:20,967
a vice president
forced to resign,

109
00:08:21,088 --> 00:08:24,012
perjury, cover-u p,

110
00:08:24,132 --> 00:08:27,432
abuse of presidential power,

111
00:08:27,552 --> 00:08:30,772
secret White House tapes.

112
00:08:30,889 --> 00:08:32,241
Mr. Butterfield, are you aware

113
00:08:32,265 --> 00:08:34,267
of the installation
of any listening devices

114
00:08:34,434 --> 00:08:36,277
in the Oval Office
of the president?

115
00:08:40,065 --> 00:08:44,161
I was aware
of listening devices.

116
00:08:44,277 --> 00:08:45,904
Yes, sir.

117
00:08:46,029 --> 00:08:47,451
Good evening.

118
00:08:47,572 --> 00:08:50,121
The country tonight
is in the midst of what may be

119
00:08:50,242 --> 00:08:52,665
the most serious
constitutional crisis

120
00:08:52,786 --> 00:08:54,288
in its history.

121
00:08:54,413 --> 00:08:56,211
I told the president
about the fact

122
00:08:56,331 --> 00:08:58,584
that there were money demands
being made

123
00:08:58,709 --> 00:09:00,552
by the seven
convicted defendants.

124
00:09:00,669 --> 00:09:02,797
He asked me
how much it would cost.

125
00:09:02,921 --> 00:09:05,094
I told him
I could only make an estimate

126
00:09:05,215 --> 00:09:08,640
that it might be as high
as a million dollars or more.

127
00:09:08,802 --> 00:09:11,646
He told me that
that was no problem.

128
00:09:11,805 --> 00:09:15,651
I had no prior knowledge
of the Watergate break-in.

129
00:09:15,767 --> 00:09:18,987
I neither took part in
nor knew about

130
00:09:19,104 --> 00:09:21,903
any of the subsequent
cover-up activities.

131
00:09:23,984 --> 00:09:25,304
The one frustrating thing
about...

132
00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:26,657
about going to Canada was,

133
00:09:26,778 --> 00:09:29,327
it left me
outside the debate here.

134
00:09:29,489 --> 00:09:32,163
I felt about... frustrated
with that till this day.

135
00:09:32,284 --> 00:09:36,505
As the Watergate
scandal unfolded, Jack Todd,

136
00:09:36,621 --> 00:09:38,794
who had deserted
the United States Army

137
00:09:38,915 --> 00:09:39,916
and fled to Canada,

138
00:09:40,041 --> 00:09:42,339
had never felt so bitter,

139
00:09:42,502 --> 00:09:44,880
so disenchanted, so out of touch

140
00:09:45,005 --> 00:09:47,884
with what the United States
seemed to have become.

141
00:09:48,008 --> 00:09:53,731
He asked himself, "How did we
let this gang take charge?"

142
00:09:53,847 --> 00:09:59,229
Then he made a decision
he would always regret:

143
00:09:59,352 --> 00:10:03,448
he renounced
his American citizenship.

144
00:10:03,565 --> 00:10:05,533
I thought it
was a political act,

145
00:10:05,650 --> 00:10:08,529
renouncing
my American citizenship.

146
00:10:08,695 --> 00:10:13,166
And it was the stupidest thing
I have ever done in my life.

147
00:10:13,283 --> 00:10:15,536
I'm a Canadian citizen
and I'm proud of it.

148
00:10:15,660 --> 00:10:19,381
It's a wonderful country,
but in here, I'm an American.

149
00:10:27,214 --> 00:10:28,608
Well, the agreement was called

150
00:10:28,632 --> 00:10:30,555
"The Agreement to End the War

151
00:10:30,717 --> 00:10:33,266
and Restore Peace
in Vietnam."

152
00:10:33,386 --> 00:10:37,107
And, of course,
that was a huge euphemism.

153
00:10:37,224 --> 00:10:40,398
It neither ended the war
nor did it restore peace.

154
00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:43,063
And if you look at
the substance of it,

155
00:10:43,188 --> 00:10:44,582
it really was
a withdrawal agreement.

156
00:10:44,606 --> 00:10:46,404
We were withdrawing our forces

157
00:10:46,566 --> 00:10:49,410
in exchange
for prisoners of war.

158
00:10:49,569 --> 00:10:54,291
Those are the two matters
that were definitively settled

159
00:10:54,407 --> 00:10:55,909
by the peace agreement.

160
00:10:56,034 --> 00:11:00,961
We got our troops out
and we got our prisoners back.

161
00:11:01,081 --> 00:11:07,555
The rest is just all a model
of nebulosity and vagueness

162
00:11:07,671 --> 00:11:10,015
and didn't resolve a darn thing.

163
00:11:42,122 --> 00:11:44,216
Neither North nor South Vietnam

164
00:11:44,332 --> 00:11:47,586
had had any intention
of observing the cease-fire

165
00:11:47,711 --> 00:11:50,180
called for in the peace treaty
signed in Paris

166
00:11:50,297 --> 00:11:54,598
on January 27, 1973.

167
00:11:54,718 --> 00:11:56,971
Even before the ink was dry,

168
00:11:57,137 --> 00:12:01,392
each side had sought to claim
as much territory as it could

169
00:12:01,516 --> 00:12:05,737
in what became known
as "the War of the Flags."

170
00:12:05,854 --> 00:12:08,277
Within three weeks
of the ceasefire,

171
00:12:08,398 --> 00:12:13,700
there were already some 3,000
violations by both sides.

172
00:12:13,820 --> 00:12:17,120
South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu,

173
00:12:17,240 --> 00:12:20,710
who now commanded
the fifth-largest army on Earth,

174
00:12:20,827 --> 00:12:26,300
insisted the ARVN take and hold
every inch of South Vietnam,

175
00:12:26,416 --> 00:12:28,339
something they had been
unable to do

176
00:12:28,501 --> 00:12:33,849
even with the help of
nearly 600,000 American troops.

177
00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:38,849
Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese
had attacked Tay Ninh,

178
00:12:39,012 --> 00:12:41,140
near the Cambodian border,

179
00:12:41,264 --> 00:12:44,143
hoping to establish
a rival capital of their own

180
00:12:44,267 --> 00:12:46,190
in the South.

181
00:12:46,311 --> 00:12:50,782
Hanoi installed surface-to-air
missiles near Khe Sanh,

182
00:12:50,899 --> 00:12:54,028
just below the DMZ.

183
00:12:54,152 --> 00:12:57,577
At the same time,
ARVN troops attacked enclaves

184
00:12:57,697 --> 00:13:00,166
seized by the North Vietnamese.

185
00:13:00,283 --> 00:13:04,333
The fighting went on for months.

186
00:13:04,454 --> 00:13:07,628
Hanoi built a new paved highway

187
00:13:07,749 --> 00:13:10,047
within South Vietnam itself,

188
00:13:10,210 --> 00:13:14,306
down which convoys
of 200 to 300 vehicles

189
00:13:14,422 --> 00:13:16,174
soon began streaming:

190
00:13:16,299 --> 00:13:22,102
trucks, tanks, and heavy guns
moving in broad daylight.

191
00:13:22,222 --> 00:13:26,068
And they began laying down
a giant oil pipeline

192
00:13:26,184 --> 00:13:30,564
to fuel their vehicles
in the South.

193
00:13:30,689 --> 00:13:33,989
Nixon had privately promised
President Thieu

194
00:13:34,109 --> 00:13:37,158
that he would retaliate
with American airpower

195
00:13:37,278 --> 00:13:41,499
if Saigon ever seemed
seriously threatened.

196
00:13:43,326 --> 00:13:45,670
But in Washington, week by week,

197
00:13:45,787 --> 00:13:48,791
as the secrets of Watergate kept
tumbling out,

198
00:13:48,915 --> 00:13:55,093
Nixon's influence on
Capitol Hill steadily weakened.

199
00:13:55,255 --> 00:13:59,806
In June of 1973,
an energized Congress,

200
00:13:59,926 --> 00:14:03,055
reflecting the views
of a majority of Americans,

201
00:14:03,179 --> 00:14:06,353
voted to stop
all military operations

202
00:14:06,474 --> 00:14:11,275
in or over Vietnam,
Laos, or Cambodia

203
00:14:11,396 --> 00:14:13,114
by August 15,

204
00:14:13,231 --> 00:14:15,450
and insisted
that they not be resumed

205
00:14:15,608 --> 00:14:18,407
without congressional approval.

206
00:14:18,528 --> 00:14:20,622
"America wants peace,"

207
00:14:20,739 --> 00:14:24,209
Senator Edward Kennedy
of Massachusetts declared.

208
00:14:24,325 --> 00:14:29,957
"Congress is strong in its
resolve to end the killing."

209
00:14:30,123 --> 00:14:33,252
To abandon the South Vietnamese,

210
00:14:33,376 --> 00:14:37,131
when all we were providing them
at the end was money,

211
00:14:37,255 --> 00:14:39,132
was reprehensible,

212
00:14:39,257 --> 00:14:42,887
and disrespected
the sacrifices of all soldiers,

213
00:14:43,011 --> 00:14:45,605
ours and the South Vietnamese.

214
00:14:45,722 --> 00:14:47,315
I think the moral obligation,

215
00:14:47,432 --> 00:14:50,481
that doesn't stem
from a philosophical commitment

216
00:14:50,602 --> 00:14:51,819
to stopping communism.

217
00:14:51,936 --> 00:14:54,860
Now it stems
from our keeping our promises

218
00:14:54,981 --> 00:14:58,952
to this erstwhile,
unfortunate ally.

219
00:14:59,069 --> 00:15:00,742
That they had us as the ally

220
00:15:00,862 --> 00:15:03,081
where the other guys
had the Soviet Union

221
00:15:03,198 --> 00:15:05,667
and communist China.

222
00:15:05,784 --> 00:15:07,411
Most Americans, I think,

223
00:15:07,535 --> 00:15:09,472
would not like to hear it said
that the communists

224
00:15:09,496 --> 00:15:11,669
were more faithful allies
than the United States.

225
00:15:11,831 --> 00:15:14,880
But that is, in fact,
what the case was.

226
00:15:15,001 --> 00:15:18,380
While one regrets
that we pulled the rug out,

227
00:15:18,505 --> 00:15:20,257
in some respects,

228
00:15:20,381 --> 00:15:24,386
I think the ultimate outcome
would've been the same.

229
00:15:24,511 --> 00:15:29,187
Had we continued,
it would have cost

230
00:15:29,307 --> 00:15:32,060
probably more lives
in the long term

231
00:15:32,185 --> 00:15:34,734
with no change in the outcome.

232
00:15:34,854 --> 00:15:37,027
In the 18 bloody months

233
00:15:37,190 --> 00:15:39,534
that followed the signing
of the peace accords,

234
00:15:39,651 --> 00:15:44,748
South Vietnam's position became
more and more precarious.

235
00:15:44,864 --> 00:15:48,209
But by the summer of 1974,

236
00:15:48,326 --> 00:15:51,045
few Americans
were paying attention.

237
00:15:51,204 --> 00:15:55,710
They were riveted by what was
happening to their own country.

238
00:15:55,875 --> 00:15:58,378
to investigate
fully and completely

239
00:15:58,503 --> 00:16:01,097
whether sufficient grounds exist

240
00:16:01,214 --> 00:16:03,387
for the House of Representatives

241
00:16:03,550 --> 00:16:06,599
to exercise
its constitutional power

242
00:16:06,719 --> 00:16:09,063
to impeach Richard M. Nixon,

243
00:16:09,180 --> 00:16:12,400
president of the United States
of America.

244
00:16:12,517 --> 00:16:15,066
- Mr. Danielson?
- Aye.

245
00:16:15,186 --> 00:16:19,236
- Mr. Drinan?
- Aye.

246
00:16:19,357 --> 00:16:22,156
- Mr. Rangel?
- Aye.

247
00:16:22,277 --> 00:16:24,154
- Ms. Jordan?
- Aye.

248
00:16:24,279 --> 00:16:26,782
- Mr. Lott?
- No.

249
00:16:26,906 --> 00:16:30,661
On July 27, 1974,

250
00:16:30,785 --> 00:16:33,504
the House Judiciary Committee
recommended

251
00:16:33,621 --> 00:16:38,422
that the president be impeached
for abusing his office.

252
00:16:38,543 --> 00:16:42,173
On August 9,
rather than face impeachment,

253
00:16:42,297 --> 00:16:46,177
Richard Nixon became the first
president in American history

254
00:16:46,301 --> 00:16:48,099
to resign.

255
00:16:48,261 --> 00:16:50,104
Always remember,

256
00:16:50,221 --> 00:16:52,349
others may hate you,

257
00:16:52,473 --> 00:16:56,103
but those who hate you don't win

258
00:16:56,269 --> 00:16:59,113
unless you hate them,

259
00:16:59,230 --> 00:17:01,949
and then you destroy yourself.

260
00:17:02,108 --> 00:17:05,237
At the presidential
palace in Saigon,

261
00:17:05,361 --> 00:17:08,035
President Thieu closed
his office door

262
00:17:08,156 --> 00:17:10,454
and refused to see anyone.

263
00:17:10,575 --> 00:17:13,203
He had staked
South Vietnam's survival

264
00:17:13,328 --> 00:17:15,422
on Nixon's personal pledge

265
00:17:15,538 --> 00:17:17,666
that North Vietnamese aggression
would be met

266
00:17:17,790 --> 00:17:20,964
by renewed American airpower.

267
00:17:21,085 --> 00:17:25,636
Just a few days after
the new president, Gerald Ford,

268
00:17:25,798 --> 00:17:27,300
moved into the White House,

269
00:17:27,425 --> 00:17:29,348
Congress cut in half the funds

270
00:17:29,469 --> 00:17:32,313
for military
and economic assistance

271
00:17:32,472 --> 00:17:35,942
Nixon had promised
to deliver to Saigon.

272
00:17:37,477 --> 00:17:41,482
Conditions in South Vietnam
continued to deteriorate.

273
00:17:41,648 --> 00:17:44,151
With the American
military presence gone,

274
00:17:44,317 --> 00:17:48,823
one out of every five
civilian workers was jobless.

275
00:17:48,947 --> 00:17:51,621
Prices soared.

276
00:17:55,495 --> 00:17:58,419
There were
many mistakes made by the Americans,

277
00:17:58,539 --> 00:18:00,416
but the biggest mistake

278
00:18:00,541 --> 00:18:04,762
was in creating
the sense of dependency.

279
00:18:04,879 --> 00:18:08,349
Another mistake was in creating
an army in their own image,

280
00:18:08,466 --> 00:18:14,724
an army that was used
to fighting a rich man's war.

281
00:18:14,847 --> 00:18:16,315
And South Vietnam was too poor

282
00:18:16,432 --> 00:18:19,151
to be able to sustain
that kind of war.

283
00:18:19,269 --> 00:18:23,365
Thieu had steadily
grown more authoritarian,

284
00:18:23,481 --> 00:18:27,452
closing newspapers,
restricting opposition parties,

285
00:18:27,568 --> 00:18:32,369
selling political
and military appointments.

286
00:18:32,490 --> 00:18:36,461
A coalition of Catholics
and Buddhists charged him

287
00:18:36,577 --> 00:18:39,956
with corrupting every aspect
of South Vietnamese life,

288
00:18:40,081 --> 00:18:43,210
and demanded his resignation.

289
00:18:43,334 --> 00:18:45,132
Thousands of demonstrators

290
00:18:45,253 --> 00:18:48,223
poured into the streets
of Saigon.

291
00:18:51,092 --> 00:18:55,222
Meanwhile, the chronically
underpaid South Vietnamese Army

292
00:18:55,346 --> 00:18:58,566
had its pay cut further.

293
00:18:58,683 --> 00:19:01,732
It began to disintegrate.

294
00:19:01,853 --> 00:19:05,778
As many as 20,000 men
were deserting each month,

295
00:19:05,898 --> 00:19:09,323
most heading home to try
to help their families survive

296
00:19:09,444 --> 00:19:12,243
in such hard times.

297
00:19:12,405 --> 00:19:15,409
Those ARVN who stood and fought

298
00:19:15,533 --> 00:19:18,787
often had to do so without
the sophisticated weaponry

299
00:19:18,911 --> 00:19:22,632
they'd been trained
by the Americans to use.

300
00:19:22,749 --> 00:19:25,502
Much of the equipment
Nixon had provided

301
00:19:25,626 --> 00:19:29,631
was ill-suited to the war
the South was now waging,

302
00:19:29,756 --> 00:19:32,600
aircraft for which
there were no trained pilots

303
00:19:32,759 --> 00:19:34,432
or ground crews,

304
00:19:34,594 --> 00:19:36,813
artillery and military vehicles

305
00:19:36,929 --> 00:19:39,728
for which
there were no spare parts.

306
00:19:39,849 --> 00:19:44,821
And the U.S. Congress
was in no mood to provide more.

307
00:19:44,937 --> 00:19:47,281
Fuel ran low.

308
00:19:47,398 --> 00:19:50,277
So did ammunition.

309
00:19:50,443 --> 00:19:54,118
Before long, artillerymen
in the Central Highlands

310
00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:57,454
could fire
just four shells a day,

311
00:19:57,575 --> 00:20:03,127
and infantrymen were limited
to 85 bullets a month.

312
00:20:21,599 --> 00:20:23,647
In November of 1974,

313
00:20:23,810 --> 00:20:28,111
the Politburo and the Central
Military Committee met in Hanoi

314
00:20:28,231 --> 00:20:30,484
to discuss strategy.

315
00:20:30,608 --> 00:20:33,157
Some members urged caution.

316
00:20:33,319 --> 00:20:35,287
They worried that if they tried

317
00:20:35,405 --> 00:20:38,158
to push Saigon to the point
of collapse too quickly,

318
00:20:38,324 --> 00:20:40,998
the Americans would return.

319
00:20:41,119 --> 00:20:46,876
Final victory, they calculated,
would come in 1976.

320
00:20:46,999 --> 00:20:51,550
Party First Secretary Le Duan
didn't agree.

321
00:20:51,671 --> 00:20:54,595
"Now that the United States
has pulled out," he said,

322
00:20:54,715 --> 00:20:58,390
"it will be hard for them
to jump back in."

323
00:20:58,511 --> 00:21:00,684
He ordered a test attack

324
00:21:00,847 --> 00:21:04,192
to see if the Americans
would intervene with airpower

325
00:21:04,350 --> 00:21:06,318
as they had
during the Easter Offensive

326
00:21:06,436 --> 00:21:09,110
21/2 years earlier.

327
00:21:10,773 --> 00:21:13,071
In December 1974,

328
00:21:13,192 --> 00:21:15,365
North Vietnamese forces attacked
Phuoc Long,

329
00:21:15,528 --> 00:21:17,405
northeast of Saigon.

330
00:21:19,532 --> 00:21:23,457
Within three weeks, they had
overrun the entire province

331
00:21:23,578 --> 00:21:28,755
and had killed or captured
thousands of ARVN defenders.

332
00:21:28,875 --> 00:21:33,847
The United States
did nothing in response.

333
00:21:33,963 --> 00:21:39,220
President Ford, preoccupied
with other problems...

334
00:21:39,343 --> 00:21:43,348
inflation, unemployment,
tensions in the Middle East...

335
00:21:43,473 --> 00:21:45,066
held a press conference

336
00:21:45,224 --> 00:21:49,229
that offered
the South Vietnamese no comfort.

337
00:21:49,353 --> 00:21:50,730
Are you considering

338
00:21:50,855 --> 00:21:52,666
any additional measures,
beyond a supplemental,

339
00:21:52,690 --> 00:21:55,614
of assistance to
the South Vietnamese government?

340
00:21:55,735 --> 00:21:59,239
I am not anticipating

341
00:21:59,405 --> 00:22:02,204
any further action
beyond that supplemental

342
00:22:02,325 --> 00:22:03,577
at this time.

343
00:22:03,743 --> 00:22:06,292
Washington
seemed to have no interest

344
00:22:06,412 --> 00:22:08,380
in fulfilling the secret pledges

345
00:22:08,498 --> 00:22:11,718
Nixon had repeatedly made
to Thieu.

346
00:22:11,834 --> 00:22:14,678
He was stunned.

347
00:22:14,795 --> 00:22:16,763
With the communist flag

348
00:22:16,881 --> 00:22:21,102
planted in a provincial capital
just to the north of Saigon,

349
00:22:21,219 --> 00:22:23,847
to me, the handwriting
was on the wall.

350
00:22:23,971 --> 00:22:27,316
I then communicated
with my family, and told them

351
00:22:27,433 --> 00:22:30,607
that even though my tour was
supposed to take me till August,

352
00:22:30,770 --> 00:22:32,613
that I would be home sooner.

353
00:22:32,772 --> 00:22:37,369
And then I began to quietly,
one little box at a time,

354
00:22:37,485 --> 00:22:40,864
mail my possessions
out of Vietnam.

355
00:22:45,576 --> 00:22:47,670
The North
Vietnamese now undertook

356
00:22:47,787 --> 00:22:50,836
a new assault on cities
in the Central Highlands,

357
00:22:50,957 --> 00:22:53,255
including Ban Me Thuot,

358
00:22:53,376 --> 00:22:56,596
where their forces outnumbered
the over-extended ARVN

359
00:22:56,712 --> 00:22:58,760
nearly six to one.

360
00:23:04,804 --> 00:23:09,150
Ban Me Thuot fell in two days.

361
00:23:09,308 --> 00:23:12,903
And here is
the second province to fall,

362
00:23:13,020 --> 00:23:16,570
and it falls fairly quickly.

363
00:23:16,691 --> 00:23:18,159
At that point, they realize,

364
00:23:18,276 --> 00:23:19,753
"Well, we don't have
to wait till 1976,

365
00:23:19,777 --> 00:23:20,994
we can go for it now."

366
00:23:21,112 --> 00:23:22,989
Hanoi was delighted

367
00:23:23,155 --> 00:23:26,159
by the Americans'
lack of response.

368
00:23:26,325 --> 00:23:31,456
But all the previous offensives
Le Duan had set in motion...

369
00:23:31,581 --> 00:23:33,458
in 1964,

370
00:23:33,583 --> 00:23:36,257
in 1968,

371
00:23:36,377 --> 00:23:38,505
in 1972...

372
00:23:38,629 --> 00:23:42,384
had ended in failure.

373
00:23:42,508 --> 00:23:46,183
This time, he turned
to General Vo Nguyen Giap,

374
00:23:46,304 --> 00:23:49,148
the architect of the great
victory over the French

375
00:23:49,265 --> 00:23:50,687
at Dien Bien Phu,

376
00:23:50,850 --> 00:23:55,981
who had been sidelined
during the Tet Offensive.

377
00:24:18,044 --> 00:24:19,717
For weeks, the ARVN top command

378
00:24:19,837 --> 00:24:22,886
had warned Thieu
that his already weakened forces

379
00:24:23,007 --> 00:24:24,759
were spread too thinly;

380
00:24:24,884 --> 00:24:28,934
that it was no longer possible
to defend the entire country.

381
00:24:29,055 --> 00:24:31,729
He had angrily resisted.

382
00:24:31,849 --> 00:24:36,195
But now, suddenly,
he changed his mind.

383
00:24:36,312 --> 00:24:39,942
Thieu ordered his troops
to abandon the highlands,

384
00:24:40,066 --> 00:24:41,818
to withdraw under fire

385
00:24:41,942 --> 00:24:45,742
and then regroup in order
to retake Ban Me Thuot.

386
00:24:45,863 --> 00:24:48,332
It would have been
a near-impossible task

387
00:24:48,449 --> 00:24:51,077
with a carefully
worked-out plan.

388
00:24:51,202 --> 00:24:53,204
Thieu had none.

389
00:24:59,043 --> 00:25:01,341
The result would be disaster.

390
00:25:19,438 --> 00:25:20,860
Within a week,

391
00:25:20,981 --> 00:25:24,576
Pleiku and Kon Tum
were in enemy hands.

392
00:25:41,836 --> 00:25:44,464
According to Western diplomats
here in Saigon,

393
00:25:44,630 --> 00:25:47,133
the South Vietnamese are
quitting the Central Highlands

394
00:25:47,299 --> 00:25:50,052
because they hope
to avoid a complete rout.

395
00:25:50,177 --> 00:25:51,697
The withdrawal is said
to be an attempt

396
00:25:51,804 --> 00:25:54,728
to save men and equipment
that may become sorely needed

397
00:25:54,849 --> 00:25:57,728
in other, more heavily populated
parts of the country.

398
00:26:24,670 --> 00:26:27,674
As the ARVN fled south,

399
00:26:27,798 --> 00:26:31,052
400,000 civilians
fled with them.

400
00:26:37,767 --> 00:26:40,361
The enemy blocked the main roads

401
00:26:40,478 --> 00:26:43,778
so that they had to
take a disused back road.

402
00:26:43,898 --> 00:26:45,900
Thousands died,

403
00:26:46,025 --> 00:26:48,494
killed
by North Vietnamese shells

404
00:26:48,611 --> 00:26:50,238
and machine gun fire,

405
00:26:50,362 --> 00:26:52,865
trampled by fellow refugees,

406
00:26:53,032 --> 00:26:55,535
run over by retreating tanks,

407
00:26:55,659 --> 00:26:58,879
blown apart by
South Vietnamese bombs

408
00:26:58,996 --> 00:27:03,467
dropped by pilots who mistook
them for the enemy.

409
00:27:03,584 --> 00:27:07,555
Reporters called it
the "Convoy of Tears."

410
00:27:09,715 --> 00:27:13,390
Then, Hue fell.

411
00:27:27,608 --> 00:27:31,408
On March 29, 1975,

412
00:27:31,529 --> 00:27:34,499
the North Vietnamese
entered Danang,

413
00:27:34,615 --> 00:27:36,868
South Vietnam's
second-largest city.

414
00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,544
Civilians and soldiers
alike tried to flee.

415
00:27:51,882 --> 00:27:56,058
"Danang was not captured,"
an American reporter remembered.

416
00:27:56,178 --> 00:28:00,274
"It disintegrated
in its own terror."

417
00:29:17,176 --> 00:29:20,020
On the same beach
where the U.S. Marines

418
00:29:20,137 --> 00:29:22,640
had landed
nearly ten years earlier,

419
00:29:22,765 --> 00:29:26,315
beginning America's combat
involvement in Vietnam,

420
00:29:26,435 --> 00:29:30,485
16,000 ARVN soldiers
fought for space

421
00:29:30,606 --> 00:29:33,906
with 75,000 terrified civilians

422
00:29:34,026 --> 00:29:37,872
aboard an improvised fleet
of freighters and fishing boats

423
00:29:38,030 --> 00:29:42,831
headed south for Cam Ranh Bay,
Vung Tau, and Saigon;

424
00:29:42,952 --> 00:29:48,083
anywhere they thought Northern
troops might not follow.

425
00:29:54,046 --> 00:29:57,926
Thousands drowned struggling
to reach the boats.

426
00:29:58,050 --> 00:30:01,304
Thousands more were killed
by enemy shells

427
00:30:01,428 --> 00:30:04,056
raining down on the beach.

428
00:30:20,406 --> 00:30:22,909
Danang, Tam Ky,

429
00:30:23,033 --> 00:30:25,252
Quang Ngai, Qui Nhon,

430
00:30:25,411 --> 00:30:29,336
Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Bay.

431
00:30:29,456 --> 00:30:32,710
The North Vietnamese
kept moving closer and closer

432
00:30:32,835 --> 00:30:34,508
to Saigon.

433
00:30:34,628 --> 00:30:39,759
It was stunning
to sit there in Saigon,

434
00:30:39,883 --> 00:30:42,432
writing the daily ledes

435
00:30:42,594 --> 00:30:46,349
on the fall of all these places.

436
00:30:46,473 --> 00:30:49,443
You just were overwhelmed

437
00:30:49,601 --> 00:30:52,320
with ten years' worth of history

438
00:30:52,438 --> 00:30:56,534
and seeing
all of it come unglued.

439
00:30:57,943 --> 00:30:59,490
At the end of March,

440
00:30:59,611 --> 00:31:03,332
18 North Vietnamese divisions,

441
00:31:03,449 --> 00:31:05,793
with five in reserve,

442
00:31:05,909 --> 00:31:07,035
were now arrayed

443
00:31:07,161 --> 00:31:12,042
against, basically,
six South Vietnamese divisions.

444
00:31:12,166 --> 00:31:14,919
The manpower imbalance

445
00:31:15,044 --> 00:31:18,765
was about three or four to one,
in favor of the communists.

446
00:31:18,881 --> 00:31:20,883
This was breathtaking.

447
00:31:21,008 --> 00:31:23,727
The North Vietnamese now decided

448
00:31:23,844 --> 00:31:25,642
to move against Saigon

449
00:31:25,763 --> 00:31:30,485
and take it before Ho Chi Minh's
birthday on May 19.

450
00:31:30,642 --> 00:31:33,270
It became clear
to Thomas Polgar,

451
00:31:33,395 --> 00:31:36,319
the C.I.A. station chief
in Saigon,

452
00:31:36,482 --> 00:31:40,112
that the time had come to begin
preparing for an evacuation.

453
00:31:40,235 --> 00:31:44,035
There were still
some 5,000 Americans in Saigon,

454
00:31:44,156 --> 00:31:45,874
and there were also as many

455
00:31:45,991 --> 00:31:49,495
as 200,000 South Vietnamese
and their families

456
00:31:49,620 --> 00:31:53,295
who had cooperated
with the United States.

457
00:31:53,415 --> 00:31:57,215
But Ambassador
Graham Martin disagreed.

458
00:31:57,336 --> 00:31:59,634
He was a resolute Cold Warrior,

459
00:31:59,755 --> 00:32:01,849
who had been appointed
to reassure Thieu

460
00:32:02,007 --> 00:32:04,601
of continuing American backing,

461
00:32:04,718 --> 00:32:07,312
and his feelings
had only been intensified

462
00:32:07,429 --> 00:32:10,103
by the death of his son
in Vietnam.

463
00:32:10,224 --> 00:32:12,352
He had not been
appointed ambassador,

464
00:32:12,518 --> 00:32:14,020
he had told an aide,

465
00:32:14,186 --> 00:32:17,690
to "give Vietnam away
to the communists."

466
00:32:17,815 --> 00:32:21,285
The C.I.A. was being alarmist,
he said.

467
00:32:21,401 --> 00:32:23,529
There would be
no attack on Saigon,

468
00:32:23,695 --> 00:32:26,915
and, therefore, no evacuation.

469
00:32:27,032 --> 00:32:32,163
President Thieu also continued
to insist all was not lost.

470
00:32:32,287 --> 00:32:35,336
The ARVN were ready to
"fight on to the last bullet

471
00:32:35,457 --> 00:32:38,210
and the last grain of rice,"
he said.

472
00:32:40,170 --> 00:32:42,969
Just 40 miles east of Saigon,

473
00:32:43,090 --> 00:32:45,263
North Vietnamese forces attacked

474
00:32:45,384 --> 00:32:48,558
the town of Xuan Loc
on Highway One,

475
00:32:48,679 --> 00:32:52,775
the last obstacle
on their way to Saigon.

476
00:32:52,891 --> 00:32:55,565
Although they were outnumbered
and outgunned,

477
00:32:55,727 --> 00:32:59,857
the South Vietnamese
commander refused to retreat.

478
00:32:59,982 --> 00:33:04,579
He was determined to keep
the enemy from his capital.

479
00:33:04,695 --> 00:33:07,369
You're certain
that you can hold Xuan Loc?

480
00:33:07,489 --> 00:33:08,911
Surely, surely.

481
00:33:09,032 --> 00:33:10,625
I am certain to you.

482
00:33:10,742 --> 00:33:13,416
I am sure with you
I can hold Xuan Loc.

483
00:33:13,579 --> 00:33:16,503
Even the enemies uses,
you know, the double forces

484
00:33:16,623 --> 00:33:19,422
or maybe three time
more than my forces.

485
00:33:19,585 --> 00:33:20,757
But no problem, sir.

486
00:33:20,919 --> 00:33:22,296
No problem.

487
00:33:23,714 --> 00:33:26,263
A vast human tragedy

488
00:33:26,425 --> 00:33:31,101
has befallen our friends
in Vietnam and Cambodia.

489
00:33:31,221 --> 00:33:32,814
On April 10,

490
00:33:32,931 --> 00:33:36,481
President Ford appealed
to a joint session of Congress

491
00:33:36,602 --> 00:33:39,276
for emergency aid to Saigon.

492
00:33:39,438 --> 00:33:41,907
If they refused and Saigon fell,

493
00:33:42,024 --> 00:33:45,619
Congress, not the White House,
should take the blame.

494
00:33:45,736 --> 00:33:48,364
Under five presidents
and 12 Congresses,

495
00:33:48,488 --> 00:33:52,709
the United States
was engaged in Indochina.

496
00:33:52,826 --> 00:33:56,296
Millions of Americans served,

497
00:33:56,413 --> 00:33:58,381
thousands died,

498
00:33:58,498 --> 00:34:03,129
and many more were wounded,
imprisoned, or lost.

499
00:34:03,295 --> 00:34:07,675
The president asked
Congress for $722 million

500
00:34:07,799 --> 00:34:09,472
in military aid.

501
00:34:09,635 --> 00:34:11,353
There was no applause.

502
00:34:11,470 --> 00:34:14,724
Most legislators,
and their constituents,

503
00:34:14,848 --> 00:34:17,897
thought it was too late
to make any difference.

504
00:34:18,018 --> 00:34:23,024
In the end, Congress voted
against any military aid.

505
00:34:23,148 --> 00:34:25,651
I didn't think that it is good

506
00:34:25,817 --> 00:34:29,993
for a big nation like the U.S.
to behave like that.

507
00:34:30,113 --> 00:34:31,660
Because by that time,

508
00:34:31,823 --> 00:34:35,544
we didn't ask for the blood
of American soldiers.

509
00:34:35,661 --> 00:34:40,007
I mean, the last minute, they
washed their hands like that.

510
00:34:40,165 --> 00:34:43,044
It is not up to a diplomat
to use strong words

511
00:34:43,168 --> 00:34:44,590
against the American,

512
00:34:44,711 --> 00:34:47,965
but I felt
deeply sorry about it.

513
00:34:50,592 --> 00:34:53,391
We broke every rule in
the book to get people out,

514
00:34:53,512 --> 00:34:56,482
the young officers did,

515
00:34:56,598 --> 00:35:01,729
while the ambassador
continued to stonewall

516
00:35:01,853 --> 00:35:03,981
both the embassy and Washington.

517
00:35:04,106 --> 00:35:07,952
Evacuation plans
were finally drawn up.

518
00:35:08,068 --> 00:35:11,197
There were four options:

519
00:35:11,363 --> 00:35:16,711
sealift by cargo ships anchored
in the port of Saigon,

520
00:35:16,827 --> 00:35:20,047
airlift by commercial airliner,

521
00:35:20,205 --> 00:35:22,879
a military airlift,

522
00:35:23,041 --> 00:35:25,260
and, as a last resort,

523
00:35:25,377 --> 00:35:27,800
evacuation by flights
of helicopters

524
00:35:27,921 --> 00:35:31,016
to a flotilla
of U.S. Navy ships

525
00:35:31,133 --> 00:35:33,886
in the South China Sea.

526
00:35:34,011 --> 00:35:38,232
Ambassador Martin continued
to show little interest.

527
00:35:38,390 --> 00:35:40,233
The slightest sign
that the United States

528
00:35:40,350 --> 00:35:43,149
would abandon South Vietnam,
he said,

529
00:35:43,270 --> 00:35:47,070
would produce panic
in the streets.

530
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:50,073
On April 21,

531
00:35:50,193 --> 00:35:53,618
Xuan Loc finally fell
to the North Vietnamese.

532
00:35:53,739 --> 00:35:58,836
The ARVN had valiantly held
on for 12 bloody days.

533
00:35:58,952 --> 00:36:04,630
Highway One was
now open all the way to Saigon.

534
00:36:04,750 --> 00:36:09,927
That evening,
President Thieu resigned.

535
00:36:10,047 --> 00:36:14,974
Four clays later, the C.I.A.
would spirit Thieu to Taiwan,

536
00:36:15,093 --> 00:36:17,016
where an American emissary
brought him

537
00:36:17,137 --> 00:36:19,856
a private message
from President Ford.

538
00:36:19,973 --> 00:36:23,773
It was not a good time for him
to visit America.

539
00:36:23,894 --> 00:36:27,569
Antiwar feelings
were too strong.

540
00:36:27,689 --> 00:36:30,989
"It is so easy to be an enemy
of the United States,"

541
00:36:31,109 --> 00:36:32,486
Thieu said,

542
00:36:32,611 --> 00:36:36,206
"but so difficult
to be a friend."

543
00:36:36,323 --> 00:36:39,167
News of Thieu's resignation

544
00:36:39,284 --> 00:36:42,128
had sent thousands
of panicked Vietnamese

545
00:36:42,287 --> 00:36:44,460
rushing to Tan Son Nhut Airport,

546
00:36:44,581 --> 00:36:47,130
hoping to get out
of their country.

547
00:36:47,292 --> 00:36:52,719
Some had exit visas;
many did not.

548
00:36:52,839 --> 00:36:57,390
Marines did what they could
to establish order.

549
00:36:57,511 --> 00:37:01,857
Master Sergeant Juan Valdez was
the noncommissioned officer

550
00:37:01,973 --> 00:37:06,353
in charge of Marine Corps
Security Guards in Saigon.

551
00:37:06,478 --> 00:37:08,480
He had been one
of the first Marines

552
00:37:08,647 --> 00:37:12,572
to land in Vietnam in 1965.

553
00:37:12,692 --> 00:37:15,662
People were trying
to bribe the Marines.

554
00:37:15,779 --> 00:37:19,158
You know, they were bringing
money out there, jewelry,

555
00:37:19,282 --> 00:37:21,330
to get them out of the country.

556
00:37:21,493 --> 00:37:23,304
I think just about every Marine
that was at the gate

557
00:37:23,328 --> 00:37:25,330
encountered this type of bribes.

558
00:37:25,455 --> 00:37:27,753
But they had to refuse them,
yeah, yeah.

559
00:37:27,874 --> 00:37:31,128
Duong Van Mai Elliott's family

560
00:37:31,253 --> 00:37:33,927
had fled Hanoi in 1954,

561
00:37:34,047 --> 00:37:37,017
leaving behind
her older sister, Thang,

562
00:37:37,175 --> 00:37:39,974
who had joined
Ho Chi Minh's forces.

563
00:37:40,095 --> 00:37:42,348
Now, 2O years later,

564
00:37:42,514 --> 00:37:45,484
with the North Vietnamese
closing in on Saigon,

565
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:47,352
they were faced
with the prospect

566
00:37:47,477 --> 00:37:50,526
of fleeing once again.

567
00:37:50,647 --> 00:37:53,867
My mother didn't want to leave.

568
00:37:54,025 --> 00:37:56,699
She said she didn't want
to be a refugee again.

569
00:37:56,862 --> 00:37:59,490
She had been a refugee
too many times.

570
00:37:59,614 --> 00:38:02,333
Plus, my sister Thang
was about to arrive

571
00:38:02,451 --> 00:38:05,876
and meet us
after all these years.

572
00:38:05,996 --> 00:38:10,877
She said she wanted
to stay and see Thang.

573
00:38:11,042 --> 00:38:14,387
My father was determined
to leave,

574
00:38:14,504 --> 00:38:18,475
because he was afraid that
if we stayed, we'd be killed.

575
00:38:18,592 --> 00:38:23,098
He got mad at my mother,
and they argued,

576
00:38:23,221 --> 00:38:25,394
but in the end,
my mother yielded

577
00:38:25,557 --> 00:38:29,061
to his, uh, insistence that
we should... they should leave.

578
00:38:30,729 --> 00:38:33,152
I knew that
the end was approaching.

579
00:38:33,273 --> 00:38:36,368
When you are at the center
of the storm,

580
00:38:36,485 --> 00:38:38,533
you have to get out.

581
00:38:38,653 --> 00:38:43,750
When I myself
and my immediate family,

582
00:38:43,909 --> 00:38:45,832
and my father
and his immediate family,

583
00:38:45,952 --> 00:38:48,455
went to the Tan Son Nhut
Airport,

584
00:38:48,580 --> 00:38:52,426
through the whole thing I said,
"This is crazy, you know.

585
00:38:52,584 --> 00:38:56,009
Why, why do we have to leave
under these conditions?"

586
00:38:56,129 --> 00:38:57,597
It was so humiliating.

587
00:38:57,714 --> 00:39:02,845
And I carry that humiliation
with me to the United States.

588
00:39:02,969 --> 00:39:05,688
When I get in line
to sign up for a job,

589
00:39:05,805 --> 00:39:07,682
you know, I was a...

590
00:39:07,807 --> 00:39:11,152
I remind them of the war
in Vietnam,

591
00:39:11,269 --> 00:39:13,818
which the Americans hate.

592
00:39:13,939 --> 00:39:16,783
You have to lose a nation
and a dream

593
00:39:16,942 --> 00:39:20,412
to feel...
to feel that humiliation.

594
00:40:40,859 --> 00:40:44,079
We have always sent a wreath

595
00:40:44,195 --> 00:40:48,371
to his grave at Arlington.

596
00:40:48,491 --> 00:40:51,415
Partly in remembrance,
of course, of him,

597
00:40:51,536 --> 00:40:55,416
but also thinking, if other
grieving people are there,

598
00:40:55,540 --> 00:40:59,590
or just people that are
visiting to pay their respects,

599
00:40:59,711 --> 00:41:03,887
that it's good for them to know
that people are,

600
00:41:04,007 --> 00:41:06,260
that the soldiers are
remembered.

601
00:41:19,689 --> 00:41:22,067
Today...

602
00:41:22,192 --> 00:41:26,117
America can regain
the sense of pride

603
00:41:26,237 --> 00:41:28,990
that existed before Vietnam.

604
00:41:29,115 --> 00:41:33,871
But it cannot be achieved
by refighting a war

605
00:41:33,995 --> 00:41:37,966
that is finished as far
as America is concerned.

606
00:41:43,922 --> 00:41:47,176
On April 27, 1975,

607
00:41:47,300 --> 00:41:50,429
rockets landed in the heart
of Saigon.

608
00:41:50,595 --> 00:41:53,690
It was the signal for
the North Vietnamese to begin

609
00:41:53,807 --> 00:41:56,105
their main assault on the city.

610
00:41:56,226 --> 00:41:59,571
They attacked from five sides,

611
00:41:59,688 --> 00:42:02,612
"like a hurricane,"
their commander said.

612
00:42:02,732 --> 00:42:06,282
The White House ordered
all American cargo ships

613
00:42:06,403 --> 00:42:08,747
to sail out to sea
without waiting

614
00:42:08,863 --> 00:42:11,082
to take on any passengers.

615
00:42:11,199 --> 00:42:14,794
There now could be
no organized sealift.

616
00:42:26,589 --> 00:42:29,012
When the
communists began shelling

617
00:42:29,134 --> 00:42:33,184
the seaside town of Vung Tau,
just southeast of Saigon,

618
00:42:33,304 --> 00:42:35,147
thousands of terrified people

619
00:42:35,306 --> 00:42:37,650
clambered into any vessel
they could find

620
00:42:37,809 --> 00:42:40,608
in hope of rescue
by the Americans.

621
00:42:40,729 --> 00:42:43,198
Before the exodus ended,

622
00:42:43,314 --> 00:42:46,409
more than 60,000 refugees
from Vung Tau

623
00:42:46,526 --> 00:42:48,153
would be picked up.

624
00:42:48,278 --> 00:42:51,452
But thousands more
were left behind,

625
00:42:51,573 --> 00:42:55,203
floating helplessly at sea.

626
00:42:55,326 --> 00:42:57,249
At the American Embassy,

627
00:42:57,370 --> 00:43:00,294
Ambassador Martin cabled
Henry Kissinger,

628
00:43:00,415 --> 00:43:01,962
now secretary of state,

629
00:43:02,083 --> 00:43:04,256
that "It is
the unanimous opinion

630
00:43:04,377 --> 00:43:06,220
"of the senior personnel here

631
00:43:06,337 --> 00:43:11,343
that there will be no direct
or serious attack on Saigon."

632
00:43:11,468 --> 00:43:13,516
A lot of us began to wonder

633
00:43:13,678 --> 00:43:16,682
whether he had lost grip
on reality.

634
00:43:16,848 --> 00:43:21,604
He had come down with pneumonia
in the final days.

635
00:43:21,728 --> 00:43:24,072
He was terribly enfeebled.

636
00:43:24,189 --> 00:43:27,159
And it's possible
this affected his judgment.

637
00:43:27,275 --> 00:43:31,200
Evacuation planners
had quietly designated

638
00:43:31,362 --> 00:43:33,114
two spots within the embassy

639
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:35,788
as potential helicopter
landing zones-

640
00:43:35,909 --> 00:43:39,083
a courtyard that could
accommodate large choppers,

641
00:43:39,204 --> 00:43:41,502
and the helipad
on the embassy roof,

642
00:43:41,623 --> 00:43:44,046
meant for smaller ones.

643
00:43:44,209 --> 00:43:48,510
An old tamarind tree stood
in the center of the courtyard.

644
00:43:48,630 --> 00:43:52,055
Again and again, the Marines
asked Ambassador Martin

645
00:43:52,217 --> 00:43:54,140
for permission to cut it down

646
00:43:54,260 --> 00:43:57,389
so as not to interfere
with the lift-offs and landings

647
00:43:57,555 --> 00:44:00,399
they were certain
would soon have to begin.

648
00:44:00,558 --> 00:44:03,232
He always refused.

649
00:44:03,394 --> 00:44:06,944
That tree was a symbol
of American resolve, he said.

650
00:44:07,065 --> 00:44:10,990
Cutting it down would send
the wrong message.

651
00:44:11,110 --> 00:44:13,909
Meanwhile,
General Duong Van Minh,

652
00:44:14,030 --> 00:44:15,577
who had been part of the coup

653
00:44:15,698 --> 00:44:19,248
that overthrew President Diem
12 years earlier,

654
00:44:19,410 --> 00:44:23,085
was sworn in as the new
president of South Vietnam.

655
00:44:23,206 --> 00:44:25,959
He called for an immediate
cease-fire

656
00:44:26,084 --> 00:44:32,057
and asked that Americans leave
within 24 hours.

657
00:44:33,466 --> 00:44:36,436
On April 29,
at 3:58 in the morning,

658
00:44:36,594 --> 00:44:39,268
North Vietnamese rockets
began falling

659
00:44:39,430 --> 00:44:41,603
on Tan Son Nhut Airport.

660
00:44:41,766 --> 00:44:43,939
The North Vietnamese were just“.

661
00:44:44,102 --> 00:44:45,695
Walking these shells...

662
00:44:45,812 --> 00:44:47,940
these big 130-millimeter
artillery shells

663
00:44:48,106 --> 00:44:49,528
all over the airfield,

664
00:44:49,649 --> 00:44:51,401
destroying the runway,
basically.

665
00:44:51,526 --> 00:44:52,778
It was close enough

666
00:44:52,902 --> 00:44:54,662
that you could hear
the incoming go overhead.

667
00:44:55,697 --> 00:44:57,870
Two Marine guards,

668
00:44:57,991 --> 00:45:01,712
Lance Corporal Darwin Judge,
of Marshalltown, Iowa,

669
00:45:01,828 --> 00:45:06,004
and Corporal Charles McMahon,
Jr., of Woburn, Massachusetts,

670
00:45:06,124 --> 00:45:08,252
were killed in the barrage...

671
00:45:08,376 --> 00:45:12,631
the last American servicemen
to die in Vietnam.

672
00:45:15,842 --> 00:45:17,936
I still blame the ambassador.

673
00:45:18,052 --> 00:45:19,269
This shouldn't have happened.

674
00:45:19,387 --> 00:45:21,435
You know, if the ambassador
had taken action

675
00:45:21,556 --> 00:45:24,685
and gotten people out of there,
which he was supposed to,

676
00:45:24,809 --> 00:45:27,779
this would have never happened.

677
00:45:27,896 --> 00:45:30,274
The runways were cratered

678
00:45:30,398 --> 00:45:32,071
and blocked by wrecked planes,

679
00:45:32,191 --> 00:45:36,321
littered with jettisoned bombs
and fuel tanks.

680
00:45:36,446 --> 00:45:40,997
The Americans had run out
of evacuation options.

681
00:45:41,117 --> 00:45:43,996
It was time to call in
the helicopters

682
00:45:44,162 --> 00:45:46,506
from the offshore fleet.

683
00:45:46,623 --> 00:45:47,875
There was no way

684
00:45:47,999 --> 00:45:50,001
all of the remaining
South Vietnamese

685
00:45:50,126 --> 00:45:52,299
could be evacuated.

686
00:45:56,341 --> 00:45:58,969
The tamarind tree
in the embassy compound

687
00:45:59,093 --> 00:46:00,845
was finally hacked down

688
00:46:01,012 --> 00:46:03,856
so helicopters could
begin landing.

689
00:46:04,015 --> 00:46:07,110
So they had to chop
this big tamarind tree clown,

690
00:46:07,226 --> 00:46:09,604
cut it in pieces, tow it away.

691
00:46:09,729 --> 00:46:11,606
And then they had to get
the fire department

692
00:46:11,731 --> 00:46:14,325
to wash all the debris
and everything

693
00:46:14,442 --> 00:46:15,694
so when the choppers land,

694
00:46:15,860 --> 00:46:17,407
they wouldn't suck up
all those debris

695
00:46:17,528 --> 00:46:19,951
into the, uh, into the engines.

696
00:46:20,073 --> 00:46:22,872
Just after 11:00 a.m.,

697
00:46:23,034 --> 00:46:25,628
a prearranged signal to evacuate
was broadcast

698
00:46:25,745 --> 00:46:29,625
over a special radio
frequency in the capital:

699
00:46:29,749 --> 00:46:34,380
"The temperature in Saigon is
105 degrees and rising."

700
00:46:37,966 --> 00:46:40,344
It was supposed to
be followed by Bing Crosby

701
00:46:40,468 --> 00:46:42,562
singing "White Christmas."

702
00:46:42,720 --> 00:46:45,314
But the disc jockey
couldn't find the record

703
00:46:45,431 --> 00:46:50,562
and played Tennessee Ernie
Ford's version instead.

704
00:46:50,687 --> 00:46:54,567
Americans and Vietnamese
with proper papers

705
00:46:54,691 --> 00:46:57,410
gathered at pre-arranged
collection points

706
00:46:57,527 --> 00:46:59,996
and boarded convoys of buses.

707
00:47:00,113 --> 00:47:03,868
Angry South Vietnamese beat
on the sides of the vehicles

708
00:47:03,992 --> 00:47:06,336
as they moved
through the crowded streets

709
00:47:06,452 --> 00:47:08,454
to the airport.

710
00:47:08,579 --> 00:47:13,005
Philip Caputo, now covering
the fall of Saigon,

711
00:47:13,126 --> 00:47:15,754
was among the evacuees.

712
00:47:15,920 --> 00:47:18,924
We were evacuated
from Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

713
00:47:19,090 --> 00:47:23,015
But we drove past the embassy,
and you just saw this scrum,

714
00:47:23,136 --> 00:47:27,937
this horde of people
pressing up against the walls,

715
00:47:28,057 --> 00:47:30,856
and Marines standing on the wall

716
00:47:30,977 --> 00:47:36,234
and gun-butting people to,
uh, to keep them...

717
00:47:36,357 --> 00:47:38,655
to keep them from pouring
over the walls.

718
00:47:38,776 --> 00:47:41,620
The evacuees at
the airport were divided

719
00:47:41,779 --> 00:47:44,578
into helicopter teams
of 50 each,

720
00:47:44,699 --> 00:47:47,873
and led down a long hallway
to the tarmac.

721
00:47:47,994 --> 00:47:50,372
Someone in Caputo's group joked

722
00:47:50,496 --> 00:47:55,548
about finally seeing "light
at the end of the tunnel."

723
00:47:55,668 --> 00:47:57,636
The choppers take off.

724
00:47:57,754 --> 00:48:01,133
And they're flying, uh...
flying toward the coast.

725
00:48:01,299 --> 00:48:04,803
And you could look down
and all you could see,

726
00:48:04,927 --> 00:48:07,055
all around Saigon,
all around the airfield,

727
00:48:07,180 --> 00:48:10,650
were just these plumes of smoke
from burning buildings,

728
00:48:10,767 --> 00:48:13,065
from exploding artillery shells.

729
00:48:13,186 --> 00:48:15,985
And I'll never forget
going over that coastline,

730
00:48:16,105 --> 00:48:19,985
seeing the entire 7th Fleet...
dozens and dozens...

731
00:48:20,151 --> 00:48:23,121
and this enormous fleet
out there like that.

732
00:48:23,237 --> 00:48:28,084
And I just remember this sense
of, of disbelief, completely.

733
00:48:28,201 --> 00:48:31,250
Disbelief and relief
at the same time.

734
00:48:34,415 --> 00:48:36,615
There were anywhere
from 10,000 to 12,000 people

735
00:48:36,667 --> 00:48:38,886
surrounding the embassy.

736
00:48:39,003 --> 00:48:42,303
We're supposed to get Americans
out of there.

737
00:48:42,423 --> 00:48:44,642
And we were supposed to get
South Vietnamese

738
00:48:44,759 --> 00:48:47,558
that worked for us
in the embassy.

739
00:48:47,678 --> 00:48:49,897
The C.I.A. was behind us,

740
00:48:50,014 --> 00:48:51,325
and they were pointing
at the people

741
00:48:51,349 --> 00:48:53,147
who were supposed to get out.

742
00:48:53,267 --> 00:48:55,941
But every time you reached out
to grab a specific individual,

743
00:48:56,062 --> 00:48:57,814
other people
were grabbing your hands

744
00:48:57,939 --> 00:48:59,862
and trying to pull you down
with them, you know,

745
00:49:00,024 --> 00:49:01,321
so that you could help them out.

746
00:49:01,442 --> 00:49:04,992
Some Americans
had left so rapidly,

747
00:49:05,113 --> 00:49:07,707
they'd left the radios behind.

748
00:49:07,824 --> 00:49:11,829
So their Vietnamese friends
were on the radios

749
00:49:11,953 --> 00:49:13,626
begging to be rescued.

750
00:49:13,746 --> 00:49:15,999
"I'm Han, the driver."

751
00:49:16,124 --> 00:49:19,219
"I'm Mr. Ngoc,
your translator."

752
00:49:19,377 --> 00:49:24,053
I realized what the Americans
had often done in Vietnam.

753
00:49:24,215 --> 00:49:29,096
They had forgotten
that these were human beings.

754
00:49:31,264 --> 00:49:33,562
My experience in Vietnam

755
00:49:33,683 --> 00:49:39,781
had often been like
a B-52 strike from on high.

756
00:49:39,897 --> 00:49:43,743
I never had to confront
the consequences of my action.

757
00:49:43,901 --> 00:49:46,996
I could just
let the bomb doors open

758
00:49:47,113 --> 00:49:51,334
and still remain detached.

759
00:49:51,450 --> 00:49:53,669
Elsewhere in the embassy,

760
00:49:53,786 --> 00:49:57,836
Marines frantically destroyed
classified documents.

761
00:49:57,957 --> 00:50:00,927
The top of the roof
had two big incinerators

762
00:50:01,085 --> 00:50:03,463
right underneath
the helicopter pad.

763
00:50:03,588 --> 00:50:06,057
And the Marines
burned classified material

764
00:50:06,174 --> 00:50:08,097
around the clock.

765
00:50:08,259 --> 00:50:10,261
But to my understanding,
even when we left,

766
00:50:10,428 --> 00:50:13,932
there was still
classified material left behind.

767
00:50:14,098 --> 00:50:17,648
Well, when the choppers
finally began coming in,

768
00:50:17,768 --> 00:50:20,487
the downdraft
ripped open those bags

769
00:50:20,605 --> 00:50:22,903
and there was
classified material

770
00:50:23,024 --> 00:50:26,278
all over the parking lot.

771
00:50:26,402 --> 00:50:28,200
When the North Vietnamese
arrived,

772
00:50:28,321 --> 00:50:33,999
they apparently Scotch-taped
that material back together

773
00:50:34,118 --> 00:50:36,291
and it became a blood list
that they could use

774
00:50:36,412 --> 00:50:39,632
to track down people,
Vietnamese, who'd worked for us.

775
00:50:39,749 --> 00:50:43,470
Embassy officials
dumped bags of currency

776
00:50:43,628 --> 00:50:44,971
into an oil drum

777
00:50:45,087 --> 00:50:46,805
and set it afire.

778
00:50:46,923 --> 00:50:49,597
Millions of dollars
in contingency funds

779
00:50:49,717 --> 00:50:51,811
went up in smoke.

780
00:50:51,928 --> 00:50:55,523
"This will be the final message
from Saigon station,"

781
00:50:55,640 --> 00:50:59,690
the C.I.A. chief Thomas Polgar
wired to Washington.

782
00:50:59,810 --> 00:51:04,566
"It has been a long fight
and we have lost.

783
00:51:04,690 --> 00:51:07,489
"Those who fail to learn
from history

784
00:51:07,652 --> 00:51:09,575
"are forced to repeat it.

785
00:51:09,695 --> 00:51:13,825
"Let us hope that we will not
have another Vietnam experience

786
00:51:13,991 --> 00:51:16,619
"and that we have
learned our lesson.

787
00:51:16,744 --> 00:51:20,044
Saigon signing off."

788
00:51:23,668 --> 00:51:26,342
More than 50 U.S. helicopters

789
00:51:26,504 --> 00:51:29,508
now crisscrossed the sky
over Saigon,

790
00:51:29,674 --> 00:51:33,053
picking up evacuees
from designated rooftops,

791
00:51:33,177 --> 00:51:35,396
as well as the embassy,

792
00:51:35,513 --> 00:51:38,733
ferrying them to the fleet
far out at sea,

793
00:51:38,849 --> 00:51:40,647
then returning for more.

794
00:51:42,395 --> 00:51:45,194
Some desperate
South Vietnamese officers

795
00:51:45,314 --> 00:51:47,112
also commandeered helicopters

796
00:51:47,233 --> 00:51:49,486
for themselves
and their families,

797
00:51:49,610 --> 00:51:51,533
dangerously crowding the decks

798
00:51:51,654 --> 00:51:54,123
of the American
aircraft carriers.

799
00:51:54,240 --> 00:51:57,084
There was no room for them.

800
00:51:57,201 --> 00:51:59,795
The image
that remains in my mind

801
00:51:59,912 --> 00:52:01,755
is the picture of the helicopter

802
00:52:01,872 --> 00:52:04,591
being pushed over the side
of the carrier.

803
00:52:04,709 --> 00:52:07,838
The helicopter
was everything in Vietnam.

804
00:52:07,962 --> 00:52:10,715
I mean, it was dust-off,
it was resupply,

805
00:52:10,881 --> 00:52:13,179
it was fire support,
it was everything.

806
00:52:13,301 --> 00:52:18,228
All I could think of was:
what a waste, what a waste.

807
00:52:18,389 --> 00:52:20,767
As I watched that all unfold,

808
00:52:20,891 --> 00:52:24,896
I, I felt responsible.

809
00:52:25,021 --> 00:52:26,113
I was ashamed.

810
00:52:26,230 --> 00:52:28,232
We had told these people

811
00:52:28,357 --> 00:52:30,485
that we would be there
to support them

812
00:52:30,609 --> 00:52:32,077
and we were not.

813
00:52:37,241 --> 00:52:40,962
About 9:15 on the last night,

814
00:52:41,078 --> 00:52:44,207
Polgar came and he said,
"We've got to all leave.

815
00:52:44,332 --> 00:52:46,018
"We've been ordered
by headquarters to leave.

816
00:52:46,042 --> 00:52:47,589
Let's go."

817
00:52:47,752 --> 00:52:51,802
Ambassador Martin had
wanted to be the last man to leave.

818
00:52:51,922 --> 00:52:55,597
But at about 4:00
in the morning of April 30,

819
00:52:55,760 --> 00:52:59,981
a CH-46 touched down
on the embassy roof.

820
00:53:00,097 --> 00:53:03,977
Its pilot carried orders
from the president himself.

821
00:53:04,101 --> 00:53:07,901
Martin was to leave, now.

822
00:53:08,022 --> 00:53:10,400
"I guess this is it," he said.

823
00:53:10,524 --> 00:53:12,572
As Martin was helped aboard,

824
00:53:12,693 --> 00:53:15,162
he was handed
the furled American flag

825
00:53:15,279 --> 00:53:19,455
that had flown from
the flagstaff the previous day.

826
00:53:19,575 --> 00:53:25,457
He lifted off at 4:58 a.m.
and headed out to sea.

827
00:53:25,581 --> 00:53:29,506
President Ford had also ordered
that from then on,

828
00:53:29,627 --> 00:53:33,928
only Americans
would be evacuated.

829
00:53:34,048 --> 00:53:37,848
Tens of thousands
of South Vietnamese

830
00:53:37,968 --> 00:53:39,811
would be left behind,

831
00:53:39,970 --> 00:53:42,564
and more than 400
were still waiting

832
00:53:42,681 --> 00:53:44,274
in the embassy courtyard.

833
00:53:44,392 --> 00:53:47,066
Time and again,
they had been assured

834
00:53:47,186 --> 00:53:51,032
helicopters were on the way
to pick them up.

835
00:53:51,148 --> 00:53:53,697
I was directed

836
00:53:53,818 --> 00:53:56,992
to stay with the Vietnamese
and keep them warm,

837
00:53:57,154 --> 00:53:59,703
meaning, "Don't give any hint

838
00:53:59,824 --> 00:54:05,331
that all these promises
we made to them are for naught."

839
00:54:05,454 --> 00:54:07,502
I felt sick at heart,
I had a hard time.

840
00:54:07,665 --> 00:54:09,508
It was dark out,
so I didn't have to worry

841
00:54:09,667 --> 00:54:12,671
about looking these folks
in the eye.

842
00:54:12,795 --> 00:54:15,719
But I made my excuse and, um...

843
00:54:15,840 --> 00:54:17,683
"I have to go to the bathroom."

844
00:54:17,842 --> 00:54:21,062
And left into the landscaping,

845
00:54:21,178 --> 00:54:23,977
circuitous route
to the back door of the embassy,

846
00:54:24,098 --> 00:54:25,691
to the chancery building,

847
00:54:25,850 --> 00:54:28,103
and made my way to the roof.

848
00:54:28,227 --> 00:54:32,983
Some 129 Marines
remained in the compound.

849
00:54:33,107 --> 00:54:34,279
They did their best

850
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:37,700
to pull back into the embassy
and up onto the roof

851
00:54:37,862 --> 00:54:39,284
without alerting the Vietnamese

852
00:54:39,405 --> 00:54:42,500
that they were
about to be left behind.

853
00:54:42,616 --> 00:54:45,711
We locked ourselves
inside the embassy

854
00:54:45,828 --> 00:54:49,082
and found ourselves
up on the roof.

855
00:54:49,206 --> 00:54:51,550
It was actually after we got up
on top of the roof

856
00:54:51,709 --> 00:54:53,645
that we started seeing
all these masses of people.

857
00:54:53,669 --> 00:54:56,013
Some of them had already
come on the embassy compound.

858
00:54:56,130 --> 00:54:57,598
And they broke those doors.

859
00:54:57,715 --> 00:55:00,434
And that's how those,
uh, South Vietnamese

860
00:55:00,551 --> 00:55:03,976
were able
to get inside the embassy.

861
00:55:06,348 --> 00:55:10,899
This action closes a
chapter in the American experience.

862
00:55:11,061 --> 00:55:15,441
The president asks all Americans
to close ranks,

863
00:55:15,566 --> 00:55:19,742
to avoid recriminations
about the past,

864
00:55:19,904 --> 00:55:22,703
and to work together
on the great tasks

865
00:55:22,823 --> 00:55:25,793
that remain to be accomplished.

866
00:55:25,910 --> 00:55:30,290
Now, to, uh, give you details of
the events of the past few days

867
00:55:30,414 --> 00:55:32,166
and to answer your questions,

868
00:55:32,291 --> 00:55:33,634
Secretary of State Kissinger.

869
00:55:33,751 --> 00:55:35,061
Mr. Secretary,
are you confident

870
00:55:35,085 --> 00:55:37,258
that all the Americans
that wanted to come out

871
00:55:37,421 --> 00:55:39,094
are out of Saigon,

872
00:55:39,215 --> 00:55:40,683
and do you have any idea

873
00:55:40,799 --> 00:55:42,559
of the number of Americans
who remain behind?

874
00:55:42,593 --> 00:55:45,221
I have no idea
of the number of Americans

875
00:55:45,346 --> 00:55:46,939
that remain behind.

876
00:55:47,097 --> 00:55:50,522
Uh, I am confident
that every American

877
00:55:50,643 --> 00:55:51,895
who wanted to come out,

878
00:55:52,019 --> 00:55:55,114
uh, is, is out.

879
00:55:55,231 --> 00:55:58,110
What we need now in this country

880
00:55:58,234 --> 00:56:02,114
is to heal the wounds
and to put Vietnam behind us.

881
00:56:03,864 --> 00:56:06,913
An aide handed Kissinger a note.

882
00:56:07,034 --> 00:56:09,958
It said that the 129 Marines

883
00:56:10,079 --> 00:56:14,129
had somehow been left behind
on the embassy roof.

884
00:56:14,291 --> 00:56:17,636
Helicopters were dispatched
to pick them up.

885
00:56:17,753 --> 00:56:20,632
Eventually, only Sergeant Valdez

886
00:56:20,756 --> 00:56:25,478
and his ten-man embassy security
unit remained.

887
00:56:25,594 --> 00:56:28,017
But then, an hour went by

888
00:56:28,138 --> 00:56:30,641
with no sign
of any more helicopters.

889
00:56:30,766 --> 00:56:33,189
Their radio was dead.

890
00:56:33,310 --> 00:56:36,405
The Marines had no way
to contact the fleet

891
00:56:36,522 --> 00:56:39,822
to see if anyone was on the way.

892
00:56:39,984 --> 00:56:41,657
Everything stopped.

893
00:56:41,777 --> 00:56:43,450
We're being left behind.

894
00:56:43,571 --> 00:56:46,415
People are sitting around
in their own little thoughts,

895
00:56:46,532 --> 00:56:49,206
uh, not doing too much talking.

896
00:56:49,326 --> 00:56:52,330
We pretty much decided that
we were going to fight it out,

897
00:56:52,454 --> 00:56:53,751
use these small arms that we had

898
00:56:53,872 --> 00:56:56,216
and just fight it to the end.

899
00:56:56,333 --> 00:57:01,009
We started seeing two puffs of
smoke coming from out at sea.

900
00:57:01,171 --> 00:57:04,266
As they got closer,
then we were able to determine

901
00:57:04,383 --> 00:57:06,010
that they were helicopters.

902
00:57:06,135 --> 00:57:08,263
It was a relief.

903
00:57:08,387 --> 00:57:10,782
One of the Marines, I believe
it was Staff Sergeant Sullivan,

904
00:57:10,806 --> 00:57:11,853
my assistant,

905
00:57:11,974 --> 00:57:13,521
grabbed me
and started pulling me in

906
00:57:13,684 --> 00:57:15,027
as the ramp's going up.

907
00:57:15,185 --> 00:57:21,613
At 7:53 a.m., April 30, 1975,

908
00:57:21,734 --> 00:57:26,035
the last helicopter
lifted off the embassy roof.

909
00:57:26,155 --> 00:57:28,704
Master Sergeant Juan Valdez

910
00:57:28,824 --> 00:57:33,421
was the last American
to climb aboard.

911
00:57:36,040 --> 00:57:38,338
The government of South Vietnam

912
00:57:38,459 --> 00:57:40,962
had less than five hours
to live.

913
00:57:45,257 --> 00:57:50,229
President Minh spoke from
the palace at mid-morning.

914
00:57:50,346 --> 00:57:54,021
He urged what was left
of the South Vietnamese Army

915
00:57:54,141 --> 00:57:55,859
to stop fighting.

916
00:57:55,976 --> 00:58:00,447
"We are here waiting," he said,
"to hand over the authority

917
00:58:00,564 --> 00:58:04,740
in order to stop
useless bloodshed."

918
00:59:26,233 --> 00:59:28,031
At noon,

919
00:59:28,152 --> 00:59:31,998
North Vietnamese tanks
flying Viet Cong flags

920
00:59:32,114 --> 00:59:33,866
smashed their way
through the gates

921
00:59:33,991 --> 00:59:35,914
of the presidential palace.

922
00:59:38,203 --> 00:59:41,252
Within hours,
victorious soldiers

923
00:59:41,373 --> 00:59:45,173
were calling Saigon
"Ho Chi Minh City."

924
00:59:48,130 --> 00:59:52,510
All over town, ARVN soldiers
tore off their uniforms

925
00:59:52,676 --> 00:59:56,306
and did their best
to melt into the crowds.

926
00:59:56,430 --> 00:59:58,558
Families burned
their photo albums

927
00:59:58,682 --> 01:00:00,434
so there would be no evidence

928
01:00:00,559 --> 01:00:05,440
that their sons or husbands had
ever fought for South Vietnam.

929
01:00:07,775 --> 01:00:11,871
Colonel Tran Ngoc Toan had been
fighting the communists

930
01:00:12,029 --> 01:00:13,997
for more than 12 years,

931
01:00:14,114 --> 01:00:15,912
and had survived terrible wounds

932
01:00:16,033 --> 01:00:18,707
suffered at the Battle
of Binh Gia.

933
01:00:18,827 --> 01:00:21,080
He was leading what was left

934
01:00:21,205 --> 01:00:24,379
of the 4th South Vietnamese
Marine Battalion

935
01:00:24,500 --> 01:00:29,472
near Bien Hoa,
2O miles east of Saigon.

936
01:00:29,588 --> 01:00:32,262
His commanding general
had long since

937
01:00:32,382 --> 01:00:36,637
bribed his way aboard a ship
and fled the country.

938
01:00:36,762 --> 01:00:41,438
An American friend had urged
Toan to get out, too.

939
01:00:41,558 --> 01:00:43,435
He refused.

940
01:01:24,268 --> 01:01:27,192
A South
Vietnamese police officer

941
01:01:27,312 --> 01:01:29,406
walked to a memorial
built to honor

942
01:01:29,523 --> 01:01:32,948
those who had fallen
defending South Vietnam.

943
01:01:33,068 --> 01:01:36,072
He saluted it,
stood there for a time,

944
01:01:36,196 --> 01:01:39,666
and then shot himself
in the head.

945
01:01:39,783 --> 01:01:43,037
It was a very messy ending

946
01:01:43,161 --> 01:01:46,040
to a very messy war.

947
01:01:46,164 --> 01:01:48,462
I felt a sense of relief,

948
01:01:48,625 --> 01:01:52,380
but also a sense of sadness
when it ended.

949
01:01:52,504 --> 01:01:57,385
I felt relief
that the killing, destruction,

950
01:01:57,509 --> 01:01:59,637
finally came to an end,

951
01:01:59,803 --> 01:02:01,805
and I didn't care
which side won.

952
01:02:01,930 --> 01:02:04,274
To me, Vietnam won.

953
01:02:04,391 --> 01:02:06,234
Vietnamese people won

954
01:02:06,351 --> 01:02:09,571
because they finally could live
normally.

955
01:02:09,688 --> 01:02:15,161
And sad because I saw that
my family was again fleeing,

956
01:02:15,277 --> 01:02:17,200
and this time
from their homeland,

957
01:02:17,321 --> 01:02:20,666
and their future
was very uncertain.

958
01:02:20,824 --> 01:02:23,828
And I knew that
with the communists taking over,

959
01:02:23,952 --> 01:02:28,332
Vietnamese society
would be changed drastically.

960
01:02:28,457 --> 01:02:30,960
Lo Khac Tam had been fighting

961
01:02:31,084 --> 01:02:34,679
in the North Vietnamese Army
for nearly ten years now,

962
01:02:34,838 --> 01:02:38,092
beginning with the bloody clash
in the Ia Drang Valley,

963
01:02:38,216 --> 01:02:42,312
the first full-scale battle
of the American war.

964
01:02:42,429 --> 01:02:46,900
Now he was watching
that war's end.

965
01:03:20,509 --> 01:03:23,979
In Vietnam, we finally have
reached the end of the tunnel,

966
01:03:24,096 --> 01:03:26,315
and there is no light there.

967
01:03:26,431 --> 01:03:29,901
What is there, perhaps,
was best said by President Ford,

968
01:03:30,060 --> 01:03:32,358
"a war that is finished."

969
01:03:32,479 --> 01:03:35,983
I happened to be at a conference

970
01:03:36,108 --> 01:03:37,485
at Tufts University,

971
01:03:37,609 --> 01:03:40,203
and the dean there
was a former ambassador

972
01:03:40,320 --> 01:03:42,163
who spoke to us
late on that day,

973
01:03:42,280 --> 01:03:44,578
as it turned out,
the fateful day.

974
01:03:44,700 --> 01:03:47,954
And he said he had just come
back from Washington,

975
01:03:48,078 --> 01:03:51,708
where the spring weather
was beautiful

976
01:03:51,832 --> 01:03:54,426
and the daffodils were in bloom,

977
01:03:54,543 --> 01:04:00,767
to Boston, where it was gloomy
and gray as it was in his heart.

978
01:04:02,676 --> 01:04:05,771
And people hissed him
and booed him.

979
01:04:05,929 --> 01:04:09,183
I was there in uniform.

980
01:04:09,307 --> 01:04:11,605
One of my great regrets
was that I did not get up

981
01:04:11,727 --> 01:04:13,570
and start laying waste
to those people

982
01:04:13,687 --> 01:04:14,939
who disrespected the ambassador

983
01:04:15,105 --> 01:04:18,029
and his sorrow
at the fall of South Vietnam.

984
01:04:18,150 --> 01:04:20,528
I got a call from
the V.V.A.W. national office

985
01:04:20,652 --> 01:04:23,201
from some friends of mine
from the old days.

986
01:04:23,321 --> 01:04:25,289
They were having
a big celebration,

987
01:04:25,449 --> 01:04:28,453
drinking booze and, "Ah, well,
it's a great day, isn't it?"

988
01:04:28,577 --> 01:04:31,456
And I said, "Are you nuts?"

989
01:04:31,621 --> 01:04:34,465
I said,
"No, it's not a great day."

990
01:04:34,624 --> 01:04:37,468
To see America leaving
like that,

991
01:04:37,627 --> 01:04:42,258
after we'd given almost 60,000
of our sons and daughters,

992
01:04:42,382 --> 01:04:45,932
that wasn't something
to celebrate.

993
01:04:46,053 --> 01:04:47,930
I knew we were abandoning

994
01:04:48,055 --> 01:04:51,480
millions of South Vietnamese
that had trusted us,

995
01:04:51,641 --> 01:04:54,394
thrown in their lot with us.

996
01:04:54,519 --> 01:04:57,648
That wasn't anything
to celebrate.

997
01:04:57,773 --> 01:05:00,117
I thought it was just
one of the saddest moments

998
01:05:00,233 --> 01:05:03,783
I'd ever seen
in American history.

999
01:05:03,904 --> 01:05:05,906
So when some future politician,
for some reason,

1000
01:05:06,031 --> 01:05:10,002
feels the need to drag
this country into a war,

1001
01:05:10,160 --> 01:05:11,912
he might come out here
to Arlington,

1002
01:05:12,037 --> 01:05:14,039
and stand maybe
right over there somewhere,

1003
01:05:14,164 --> 01:05:18,010
to make his announcement
and to tell what he has in mind.

1004
01:06:50,760 --> 01:06:54,105
In Vietnam, the
Communist Party is triumphant.

1005
01:06:54,264 --> 01:06:56,938
And they have
exceptionalism, too.

1006
01:06:57,058 --> 01:07:00,733
And their exceptionalism
gets in their way

1007
01:07:00,854 --> 01:07:04,484
just like our exceptionalism
got in our way.

1008
01:07:04,608 --> 01:07:08,408
So they unify the country
in a military sense,

1009
01:07:08,528 --> 01:07:12,783
and then they, they don't really
unify the country after that.

1010
01:07:12,949 --> 01:07:17,420
They, they try, but they fail.

1011
01:07:17,537 --> 01:07:20,290
In the end,
there was no bloodbath

1012
01:07:20,415 --> 01:07:23,339
on the scale many had feared,

1013
01:07:23,460 --> 01:07:27,931
but hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of people in the countryside

1014
01:07:28,048 --> 01:07:29,641
are thought to have been killed

1015
01:07:29,758 --> 01:07:34,980
in individual acts of revenge
or political retaliation.

1016
01:07:35,138 --> 01:07:38,142
Those who had served
the Thieu regime,

1017
01:07:38,308 --> 01:07:40,811
from generals
to ordinary clerks,

1018
01:07:40,977 --> 01:07:44,572
were required
to undergo re-education.

1019
01:07:44,689 --> 01:07:46,566
Enlisted men were assured

1020
01:07:46,691 --> 01:07:50,241
they would only have to submit
to three days of "study."

1021
01:07:50,362 --> 01:07:54,868
Officers needn't attend
for more than a month.

1022
01:08:26,856 --> 01:08:28,950
A million and a half people

1023
01:08:29,067 --> 01:08:33,743
are believed to have undergone
some form of indoctrination.

1024
01:08:33,863 --> 01:08:38,369
ARVN cemeteries were bulldozed
or padlocked,

1025
01:08:38,493 --> 01:08:41,372
as if the memory of
an independent South Vietnam,

1026
01:08:41,496 --> 01:08:44,249
and those who had died
for that cause,

1027
01:08:44,374 --> 01:08:47,548
could both be obliterated.

1028
01:08:47,711 --> 01:08:49,191
The communists,

1029
01:08:49,296 --> 01:08:52,596
in their effort
to erase vestiges

1030
01:08:52,716 --> 01:08:54,309
of the former regime,

1031
01:08:54,426 --> 01:08:58,397
have not allowed
the South Vietnamese

1032
01:08:58,555 --> 01:09:01,855
who lost their sons in the war

1033
01:09:01,975 --> 01:09:07,402
to mourn, to have their graves
and to honor their memory.

1034
01:09:07,564 --> 01:09:11,114
It caused a division
that lasts to this day,

1035
01:09:11,234 --> 01:09:16,081
that the winners would not
accommodate the losers

1036
01:09:16,197 --> 01:09:18,074
in some way.

1037
01:09:31,254 --> 01:09:36,602
After 30 yea rs of war,
much of Vietnam lay in ruins.

1038
01:09:36,718 --> 01:09:39,312
Three million people
are thought to have died,

1039
01:09:39,429 --> 01:09:41,602
North and South.

1040
01:09:41,765 --> 01:09:45,440
Still more had been wounded.

1041
01:09:45,560 --> 01:09:49,781
Thousands of children
fathered by American servicemen

1042
01:09:49,898 --> 01:09:52,697
had been left behind.

1043
01:09:52,817 --> 01:09:59,120
Villages needed to be rebuilt,
land had to be reclaimed.

1044
01:09:59,282 --> 01:10:02,627
Cities were choked
with refugees.

1045
01:10:02,744 --> 01:10:05,497
Millions were without work.

1046
01:10:05,622 --> 01:10:09,877
President Ford
imposed an economic embargo.

1047
01:10:10,001 --> 01:10:15,804
Washington refused to recognize
the new government of Vietnam.

1048
01:10:15,924 --> 01:10:18,643
But Le Duan and his allies
on the Politburo

1049
01:10:18,802 --> 01:10:21,100
remained optimistic.

1050
01:10:21,221 --> 01:10:24,441
"Nothing more can happen,"
one committee member said.

1051
01:10:24,557 --> 01:10:27,151
"The problems we face now
are trifles

1052
01:10:27,268 --> 01:10:30,488
compared to those in the past."

1053
01:10:30,647 --> 01:10:33,366
Le Duan resolved,
with Soviet help,

1054
01:10:33,483 --> 01:10:36,453
to turn all of Vietnam
into what he called

1055
01:10:36,569 --> 01:10:41,325
an "impregnable outpost
of the socialist system."

1056
01:10:41,491 --> 01:10:45,667
Hanoi forcibly collectivized
agriculture in the South,

1057
01:10:45,787 --> 01:10:48,165
virtually abolished capitalism,

1058
01:10:48,331 --> 01:10:50,834
nationalized industries,

1059
01:10:50,959 --> 01:10:53,337
and appointed planners
to run it all

1060
01:10:53,503 --> 01:10:56,882
along strict communist lines.

1061
01:10:57,006 --> 01:11:00,977
The result would be
economic disaster.

1062
01:11:01,094 --> 01:11:05,941
Inflation rose
as high as 700% a year.

1063
01:11:06,057 --> 01:11:08,685
People starved.

1064
01:11:37,714 --> 01:11:40,558
To compound its problems,

1065
01:11:40,717 --> 01:11:44,221
Vietnam found itself,
once again, at war,

1066
01:11:44,387 --> 01:11:47,937
caught between the interests
of the two communist powers

1067
01:11:48,057 --> 01:11:50,936
that had once been
its staunchest allies,

1068
01:11:51,060 --> 01:11:53,563
China and the Soviet Union.

1069
01:11:55,064 --> 01:11:58,113
After the brutal Maoist regime
in Cambodia

1070
01:11:58,234 --> 01:11:59,736
raided border areas,

1071
01:11:59,861 --> 01:12:03,832
Vietnamese troops, with
Soviet arms and encouragement,

1072
01:12:03,948 --> 01:12:08,545
crossed the frontier in 1978
and overthrew it.

1073
01:12:08,661 --> 01:12:10,755
A frustrating ten-year

1074
01:12:10,914 --> 01:12:13,292
counterinsurgency campaign
followed

1075
01:12:13,416 --> 01:12:18,047
that some called
"Vietnam's Vietnam."

1076
01:12:18,171 --> 01:12:19,969
Before it was over,

1077
01:12:20,089 --> 01:12:23,889
the Vietnamese would lose
some 50,000 more men,

1078
01:12:24,010 --> 01:12:29,062
almost as many as the Americans
had lost in their war.

1079
01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:32,443
Meanwhile, communist China,

1080
01:12:32,602 --> 01:12:36,448
determined to punish Vietnam
for invading Cambodia,

1081
01:12:36,564 --> 01:12:39,113
and to show Moscow
it would not have a free hand

1082
01:12:39,275 --> 01:12:40,948
in Southeast Asia,

1083
01:12:41,069 --> 01:12:45,540
sent 85,000 troops
storming into northern Vietnam.

1084
01:12:45,657 --> 01:12:48,957
They devastated areas
along the border

1085
01:12:49,118 --> 01:12:52,873
before the Vietnamese
pushed them back.

1086
01:12:54,916 --> 01:12:58,466
The South China Sea, 1978.

1087
01:12:58,586 --> 01:13:02,136
They come ashore
at the rate of 10,000 a month,

1088
01:13:02,257 --> 01:13:04,726
much faster than the United
States or any other nation

1089
01:13:04,842 --> 01:13:06,640
is willing to accept them.

1090
01:13:06,761 --> 01:13:10,732
They come chasing
an elusive memory:

1091
01:13:10,848 --> 01:13:12,942
the promise of America.

1092
01:13:13,059 --> 01:13:18,281
A million and a half people
would eventually flee Vietnam:

1093
01:13:18,398 --> 01:13:21,368
supporters
of the old Saigon regime,

1094
01:13:21,484 --> 01:13:23,407
refugees
from the renewed fighting

1095
01:13:23,528 --> 01:13:25,496
along the Cambodian border,

1096
01:13:25,613 --> 01:13:28,332
and ethnic Chinese
residents of Vietnam,

1097
01:13:28,491 --> 01:13:32,837
whom the new government
had treated especially harshly.

1098
01:13:32,996 --> 01:13:37,126
Hundreds of thousands
of the boat people died.

1099
01:13:37,250 --> 01:13:39,503
Others suffered in refugee camps

1100
01:13:39,627 --> 01:13:41,880
throughout Southeast Asia.

1101
01:13:46,175 --> 01:13:51,272
Some 400,000 eventually
made it to America,

1102
01:13:51,389 --> 01:13:54,108
where they settled
in nearly every state,

1103
01:13:54,225 --> 01:13:57,024
industrious, entrepreneurial,

1104
01:13:57,145 --> 01:14:00,775
more eager to take part
in American political life

1105
01:14:00,898 --> 01:14:04,368
and more likely to become
American citizens

1106
01:14:04,527 --> 01:14:07,872
than other immigrant groups
from Asia.

1107
01:14:08,031 --> 01:14:12,002
But for that first generation
of Vietnamese Americans,

1108
01:14:12,118 --> 01:14:17,045
memories of their homeland
could never be erased.

1109
01:15:04,295 --> 01:15:06,013
I remember I was

1110
01:15:06,130 --> 01:15:08,132
with one of my daughters, uh...

1111
01:15:08,257 --> 01:15:10,476
at an intersection and some guy
came up behind me

1112
01:15:10,593 --> 01:15:13,563
and blasted the horn.

1113
01:15:13,680 --> 01:15:15,774
When I came to my senses,

1114
01:15:15,890 --> 01:15:17,767
I was on the hood of his car,

1115
01:15:17,934 --> 01:15:20,904
about to, trying to kick
his windshield in.

1116
01:15:21,020 --> 01:15:23,220
And I went... and there's people
all over looking at me.

1117
01:15:23,272 --> 01:15:24,945
I mean, this is crazy.
This is crazy.

1118
01:15:25,066 --> 01:15:26,919
And then I started going,
"Well, this is weird."

1119
01:15:26,943 --> 01:15:29,196
I sort of slinked back
to my car and, you know,

1120
01:15:29,320 --> 01:15:31,006
my daughter, she's about four,
looking at me,

1121
01:15:31,030 --> 01:15:32,132
"Wow, what's that all about?"

1122
01:15:32,156 --> 01:15:33,516
And I go,
"What is that all about?"

1123
01:15:33,616 --> 01:15:34,708
I had no idea.

1124
01:15:34,826 --> 01:15:37,170
I had no idea that it was
even related to the war.

1125
01:15:39,288 --> 01:15:43,088
It is as old as war itself.

1126
01:15:43,209 --> 01:15:46,133
The ancient Greeks
called it "divine madness."

1127
01:15:49,048 --> 01:15:54,145
It was "soldier's heart"
in the Civil War,

1128
01:15:54,262 --> 01:15:58,813
"shell shock" during
the First World War

1129
01:15:58,975 --> 01:16:01,194
and "combat fatigue"
in the Second.

1130
01:16:05,189 --> 01:16:08,238
Following Vietnam,
it was given a new name,

1131
01:16:08,359 --> 01:16:11,659
Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder...

1132
01:16:14,490 --> 01:16:19,087
And what you learn
is that PTSD doesn't go away.

1133
01:16:19,203 --> 01:16:22,457
But now if someone
honks the horn,

1134
01:16:22,582 --> 01:16:23,959
and it startles me, I'm still...

1135
01:16:24,083 --> 01:16:25,676
My heart rate's still
going to go up,

1136
01:16:25,835 --> 01:16:27,813
and it'll be there for five
minutes and I'm like this.

1137
01:16:27,837 --> 01:16:30,465
But, "Ten, nine,
it's just some asshole,

1138
01:16:30,590 --> 01:16:32,684
"he's had a bad day at work,
eight, seven, six,

1139
01:16:32,800 --> 01:16:34,653
"it's not... no one's shooting
at you, you're safe,

1140
01:16:34,677 --> 01:16:36,280
it's seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one."

1141
01:16:36,304 --> 01:16:37,806
And I can control it,

1142
01:16:37,930 --> 01:16:39,182
whereas I couldn't do it before

1143
01:16:39,307 --> 01:16:41,355
because I didn't understand
what was going on.

1144
01:16:42,977 --> 01:16:45,355
Adding to the
pain many veterans felt

1145
01:16:45,521 --> 01:16:49,697
was their country's
eagerness to forget the war.

1146
01:16:49,859 --> 01:16:52,362
There were few parades.

1147
01:16:53,863 --> 01:16:59,461
In many ways, everyone
came home from Vietnam alone.

1148
01:17:01,245 --> 01:17:02,838
When I got home,

1149
01:17:02,955 --> 01:17:04,298
and my mom and dad were there,

1150
01:17:04,415 --> 01:17:06,884
my brothers and sisters,
my wife.

1151
01:17:07,001 --> 01:17:08,674
And we're embracing and...

1152
01:17:11,380 --> 01:17:15,886
I couldn't relate to my wife
or my mother what I had seen,

1153
01:17:16,052 --> 01:17:19,306
what I had done in Vietnam.

1154
01:17:19,430 --> 01:17:21,649
I could've talked
to my brothers about it,

1155
01:17:21,766 --> 01:17:24,895
but they, they knew
I didn't want to.

1156
01:17:25,061 --> 01:17:27,860
And so it just, uh,
something unsaid, you know.

1157
01:17:27,980 --> 01:17:29,903
"Welcome back, Vince.

1158
01:17:30,066 --> 01:17:32,990
You've been through the,
the wringer, but welcome back."

1159
01:17:35,988 --> 01:17:38,241
In April 1981,

1160
01:17:38,366 --> 01:17:40,915
a panel of eight architects
and sculptors

1161
01:17:41,035 --> 01:17:42,958
gathered in an airplane hangar

1162
01:17:43,079 --> 01:17:46,629
at Andrews Air Force Base
outside Washington.

1163
01:17:46,749 --> 01:17:49,628
They were there to choose
the winning design

1164
01:17:49,752 --> 01:17:52,801
for a Vietnam memorial
for the nation's capital

1165
01:17:52,922 --> 01:17:55,641
from more
than 1,400 submissions.

1166
01:17:59,470 --> 01:18:03,441
The memorial was the brainchild
of a single stubborn veteran,

1167
01:18:03,558 --> 01:18:06,482
a former rifleman
named Jan Scruggs,

1168
01:18:06,602 --> 01:18:09,981
who, after suffering
a frightening flashback,

1169
01:18:10,106 --> 01:18:12,859
told his wife he wanted
to "build a memorial

1170
01:18:12,984 --> 01:18:16,204
"to all the guys
who served in Vietnam.

1171
01:18:16,320 --> 01:18:19,324
It'll have the name
of everyone killed."

1172
01:18:19,448 --> 01:18:20,950
With other veterans,

1173
01:18:21,075 --> 01:18:23,874
he established
a nonprofit organization,

1174
01:18:23,995 --> 01:18:26,589
the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund,

1175
01:18:26,706 --> 01:18:30,756
and went to work collecting
money and making plans.

1176
01:18:30,877 --> 01:18:35,428
In the end,
some 650,000 Americans

1177
01:18:35,548 --> 01:18:39,018
would contribute more
than $8 million.

1178
01:18:39,135 --> 01:18:43,811
The judges chose
submission number 1026.

1179
01:18:45,141 --> 01:18:47,109
21-year-old Maya Ying Lin,

1180
01:18:47,226 --> 01:18:49,274
an architect student
at Yale University,

1181
01:18:49,395 --> 01:18:51,523
got the $20,000 prize.

1182
01:18:51,647 --> 01:18:53,490
Her winning design is comprised

1183
01:18:53,608 --> 01:18:56,031
of two elongated triangles
of black granite,

1184
01:18:56,152 --> 01:18:58,621
inset into a hill
and inscribed with the names

1185
01:18:58,738 --> 01:19:03,414
of the 57,692 men and women
who died in the war.

1186
01:19:03,534 --> 01:19:07,835
Lin, whose parents emigrated
from China in the 1940s to Ohio,

1187
01:19:07,955 --> 01:19:09,377
thought she wouldn't win

1188
01:19:09,498 --> 01:19:11,967
because her design
was too strange and too strong.

1189
01:19:12,084 --> 01:19:15,133
I had a general idea that
I wanted to describe a journey,

1190
01:19:15,254 --> 01:19:18,383
a journey that would
make you experience death

1191
01:19:18,507 --> 01:19:20,976
and where you'd have
to be an observer,

1192
01:19:21,093 --> 01:19:23,721
where you could never really
fully be with the dead.

1193
01:19:23,846 --> 01:19:25,908
It wasn't going to be something
that was going to say,

1194
01:19:25,932 --> 01:19:27,684
"It's all right, it's all over,"

1195
01:19:27,808 --> 01:19:28,855
because it's not.

1196
01:19:28,976 --> 01:19:31,729
Differences about the war

1197
01:19:31,854 --> 01:19:35,904
colored people's feelings
about the proposed design.

1198
01:19:36,025 --> 01:19:39,404
Some who believed that the war
had been unjust and immoral

1199
01:19:39,528 --> 01:19:43,078
feared the monument was
somehow meant to glorify it.

1200
01:19:44,575 --> 01:19:48,045
Others feared its stark design
failed to do justice

1201
01:19:48,204 --> 01:19:52,050
to the cause for which
Americans had fought.

1202
01:19:52,166 --> 01:19:54,715
The writer Tom Wolfe
dismissed it

1203
01:19:54,877 --> 01:19:57,847
as "a tribute to Jane Fonda."

1204
01:19:57,964 --> 01:19:59,942
I don't care
about artistic perceptions.

1205
01:19:59,966 --> 01:20:01,968
One needs no artistic education

1206
01:20:02,093 --> 01:20:04,562
to see this memorial design
for what it is:

1207
01:20:04,679 --> 01:20:07,148
a black scar.

1208
01:20:07,264 --> 01:20:09,062
Black, the universal color

1209
01:20:09,225 --> 01:20:11,569
of sorrow and shame
and degradation

1210
01:20:11,727 --> 01:20:14,355
in all races and all societies
worldwide.

1211
01:20:14,480 --> 01:20:17,450
In a hole,
hidden as if out of shame.

1212
01:20:17,566 --> 01:20:20,240
Mr. Chairman,
members of the commission,

1213
01:20:20,403 --> 01:20:21,950
I speak as an individual,

1214
01:20:22,071 --> 01:20:24,574
a member from
the general public.

1215
01:20:24,699 --> 01:20:29,205
What are the memorable images
from the war in Vietnam?

1216
01:20:29,328 --> 01:20:30,796
A guerrilla,

1217
01:20:30,913 --> 01:20:33,416
shot at point-blank range.

1218
01:20:33,541 --> 01:20:36,044
A naked girl, afire, running,

1219
01:20:36,168 --> 01:20:38,262
screaming down a dusty road.

1220
01:20:39,839 --> 01:20:41,841
I think Maya Lin was right

1221
01:20:41,966 --> 01:20:45,266
in going beyond
these kinds of images.

1222
01:20:45,386 --> 01:20:50,187
She resolved all the pain and
conflict of that unhappy time

1223
01:20:50,307 --> 01:20:54,983
in a simple message of sacrifice
and quiet heroism.

1224
01:20:55,104 --> 01:20:59,905
In an official vote of
support for Maya Lin's design,

1225
01:21:00,026 --> 01:21:03,576
the American Gold Star Mothers
spoke for many.

1226
01:21:03,696 --> 01:21:05,448
"Nowadays," they said,

1227
01:21:05,614 --> 01:21:08,458
"patriotism is
a complicated matter.

1228
01:21:08,576 --> 01:21:10,578
"But perhaps that is why

1229
01:21:10,703 --> 01:21:12,580
"the V-shaped,
black granite lines

1230
01:21:12,705 --> 01:21:15,959
"merging gently
with the sloping earth

1231
01:21:16,125 --> 01:21:18,503
"convey the only point
about the war

1232
01:21:18,627 --> 01:21:20,675
"on which people may agree:

1233
01:21:20,796 --> 01:21:24,016
that those who died
should be remembered."

1234
01:22:13,349 --> 01:22:17,820
As you got out of the
car and you approached the wall,

1235
01:22:17,937 --> 01:22:22,488
the intensity of which,
it grabs you...

1236
01:22:23,776 --> 01:22:25,153
You go UP»-

1237
01:22:28,489 --> 01:22:29,866
You see the names,

1238
01:22:30,032 --> 01:22:31,284
you touch the names...

1239
01:22:34,036 --> 01:22:35,959
It's intense.

1240
01:22:55,850 --> 01:22:56,976
I did not like

1241
01:22:57,101 --> 01:22:58,819
the Vietnam wall.

1242
01:22:58,936 --> 01:23:02,611
I considered it
an ugly, black ditch

1243
01:23:02,731 --> 01:23:06,406
and that it said
the only people that, uh...

1244
01:23:06,569 --> 01:23:08,663
to be commemorated are the dead,

1245
01:23:08,779 --> 01:23:13,159
not because they're heroes,
but because they're victims.

1246
01:23:14,702 --> 01:23:17,581
I didn't go.

1247
01:23:17,746 --> 01:23:20,875
Until...

1248
01:23:21,000 --> 01:23:23,094
one year...

1249
01:23:23,210 --> 01:23:26,214
they were going to put
the wreath in front of...

1250
01:23:26,338 --> 01:23:28,340
the name of my roommate.

1251
01:23:28,465 --> 01:23:31,093
I had, I had to go.

1252
01:23:31,218 --> 01:23:34,518
So I've gone
every year since then

1253
01:23:34,638 --> 01:23:38,438
to remember those we, we lost.

1254
01:23:38,559 --> 01:23:40,436
And, um...

1255
01:23:40,603 --> 01:23:42,105
I walk down to the far left

1256
01:23:42,229 --> 01:23:46,985
and I run my fingers
over that name.

1257
01:23:53,824 --> 01:23:55,952
You go to that wall,

1258
01:23:56,118 --> 01:23:59,167
and even my son, who was nine
years old when I first took him,

1259
01:23:59,288 --> 01:24:02,258
and you see over 58,000 names,

1260
01:24:02,374 --> 01:24:07,631
and you know that unwritten
behind or beside each name,

1261
01:24:07,755 --> 01:24:11,805
there's a mother or a father
or a wife or a daughter

1262
01:24:11,967 --> 01:24:15,972
whose lives
were forever shattered

1263
01:24:16,138 --> 01:24:18,766
by that damn war.

1264
01:24:23,187 --> 01:24:27,693
I've been to
the wall, more than once.

1265
01:24:27,816 --> 01:24:29,659
When I look back
at the war and, you know,

1266
01:24:29,818 --> 01:24:31,786
think of the horrible things,
you know,

1267
01:24:31,904 --> 01:24:35,283
we said to, you know,
vets who were returning,

1268
01:24:35,407 --> 01:24:39,162
you know, calling them
"baby killers" and worse,

1269
01:24:39,286 --> 01:24:45,089
I, you know...
I feel very sad about that.

1270
01:24:45,209 --> 01:24:48,839
I can only say that,
you know, we were kids, too,

1271
01:24:49,004 --> 01:24:51,302
you know, just like they were.

1272
01:24:51,423 --> 01:24:54,142
It grieves me,
it grieves me today.

1273
01:24:54,260 --> 01:24:57,764
It pains me to think
of the things that I said

1274
01:24:57,888 --> 01:24:59,356
and that we said.

1275
01:24:59,473 --> 01:25:02,852
And I'm sorry.

1276
01:25:05,229 --> 01:25:07,277
I'm sorry.

1277
01:25:18,367 --> 01:25:20,085
I didn't want to go.

1278
01:25:21,495 --> 01:25:28,094
And it was
a beautiful summer morning.

1279
01:25:28,210 --> 01:25:33,512
Went to the Lincoln Memorial
first.

1280
01:25:33,632 --> 01:25:37,853
A comforting place to be.

1281
01:25:37,970 --> 01:25:39,972
And...

1282
01:25:40,097 --> 01:25:45,024
And then crossed the street and
walked in towards the entrance.

1283
01:25:45,144 --> 01:25:48,489
And, as you know, at first,
you can't really see the wall,

1284
01:25:48,605 --> 01:25:52,200
and you're coming down
into the grassy hill.

1285
01:25:52,318 --> 01:25:57,119
And when I caught sight of it,

1286
01:25:57,239 --> 01:26:00,288
I literally lost my breath.

1287
01:26:01,452 --> 01:26:04,080
Of course, I wept.

1288
01:26:06,248 --> 01:26:10,594
I had help getting lifted up
so I could touch it.

1289
01:26:10,711 --> 01:26:13,305
I found my brother's name.

1290
01:26:17,509 --> 01:26:19,477
I looked at my brother's name

1291
01:26:19,595 --> 01:26:23,771
in the company
of all those other people.

1292
01:26:25,934 --> 01:26:28,528
There was sadness.

1293
01:26:28,645 --> 01:26:33,116
But now he wasn't alone, either.

1294
01:26:33,233 --> 01:26:36,703
He was in the company of people.

1295
01:26:36,820 --> 01:26:39,414
And he was there

1296
01:26:39,531 --> 01:26:43,877
for people to know
and to think about.

1297
01:26:43,994 --> 01:26:45,621
And he wasn't forgotten.

1298
01:26:45,788 --> 01:26:47,506
And he wasn't lost.

1299
01:26:47,623 --> 01:26:51,924
It was incredibly healing
and freeing for me.

1300
01:26:59,843 --> 01:27:01,923
As I was walking towards it
from the reflecting pool,

1301
01:27:02,012 --> 01:27:04,811
there were so many names
on those walls.

1302
01:27:04,932 --> 01:27:08,812
And all of a sudden,
my throat swole up,

1303
01:27:08,977 --> 01:27:10,775
and I thought, "I can't do this.

1304
01:27:10,896 --> 01:27:12,990
I can't do this right now."

1305
01:27:13,107 --> 01:27:16,236
And I collapsed.

1306
01:27:19,655 --> 01:27:23,705
And all the tears
I'd been holding back...

1307
01:27:25,828 --> 01:27:27,751
I didn't cry, I sobbed.

1308
01:27:27,871 --> 01:27:31,751
I was on my knees, sobbing.

1309
01:27:31,875 --> 01:27:35,345
I couldn't stop,
I couldn't get my breath.

1310
01:27:38,173 --> 01:27:43,145
And I was so grateful to God
that it was there.

1311
01:27:43,262 --> 01:27:46,061
I thought,

1312
01:27:46,181 --> 01:27:48,855
"This is going to save lives.

1313
01:27:49,017 --> 01:27:51,861
This is going to save lives."

1314
01:28:35,063 --> 01:28:37,361
I was struck by its beauty

1315
01:28:37,483 --> 01:28:40,362
and how at peace
Vietnam looked from the air.

1316
01:28:40,486 --> 01:28:43,080
I had a sense of anticipation
in my body.

1317
01:28:43,197 --> 01:28:45,416
I had worked hard
for many months with others

1318
01:28:45,532 --> 01:28:50,003
to organize this trip
and to negotiate our arrival

1319
01:28:50,120 --> 01:28:51,222
with the Vietnamese government.

1320
01:28:51,246 --> 01:28:52,247
How do you do?

1321
01:28:52,414 --> 01:28:53,506
Toi ten Tom Vallely.

1322
01:28:53,624 --> 01:28:56,343
I came back to
Vietnam as a veteran

1323
01:28:56,460 --> 01:28:58,588
to learn from history,

1324
01:28:58,712 --> 01:29:01,591
and to see
how the place had changed.

1325
01:29:03,717 --> 01:29:05,765
There had only been
200 Americans

1326
01:29:05,886 --> 01:29:07,433
that had been to Vietnam
since 1975,

1327
01:29:07,554 --> 01:29:09,114
and most of them
had been correspondents

1328
01:29:09,181 --> 01:29:10,728
and had been in the South.

1329
01:29:13,393 --> 01:29:16,272
Many of the kids,
you'd walk down the street,

1330
01:29:16,396 --> 01:29:18,069
and they'd go,
"Lien Xo, lien Xo,"

1331
01:29:18,190 --> 01:29:19,567
which means "Russian."

1332
01:29:19,691 --> 01:29:21,034
And you'd go, “No lien Xo,

1333
01:29:21,151 --> 01:29:23,620
toi la nguoi My"...
"I'm an American."

1334
01:29:23,737 --> 01:29:26,286
And their face would light up,
and they'd go, "American!"

1335
01:29:26,406 --> 01:29:28,283
And it would spread
like wildfire

1336
01:29:28,408 --> 01:29:30,285
through the schoolyard,
or the street

1337
01:29:30,452 --> 01:29:32,295
that Americans were here.

1338
01:29:32,412 --> 01:29:34,790
And they'd come out and
they'd be very, very friendly.

1339
01:29:38,585 --> 01:29:39,632
Good bye.

1340
01:29:39,795 --> 01:29:42,264
Goodbye!
Goodbye!

1341
01:29:47,302 --> 01:29:52,149
Tom Vallely had served
with the Marines in Vietnam.

1342
01:29:52,307 --> 01:29:57,859
16 years later,
the country drew him back.

1343
01:29:57,980 --> 01:30:00,449
He founded the Vietnam Program

1344
01:30:00,566 --> 01:30:02,819
of the Kennedy School
at Harvard,

1345
01:30:02,985 --> 01:30:09,163
and helped educate some of
the country's future leaders.

1346
01:30:09,283 --> 01:30:12,332
I got very, very involved
in the reconnecting

1347
01:30:12,452 --> 01:30:14,625
between the United States
and Vietnam,

1348
01:30:14,746 --> 01:30:17,374
and how that reconnection
takes place,

1349
01:30:17,499 --> 01:30:22,505
I spent a decade of my life
putting those pieces together.

1350
01:30:22,629 --> 01:30:24,802
Although the United States

1351
01:30:24,923 --> 01:30:28,052
did not have diplomatic
relations with Vietnam,

1352
01:30:28,176 --> 01:30:32,022
veterans had begun
coming back on their own,

1353
01:30:32,180 --> 01:30:37,186
revisiting places
where they had fought...

1354
01:30:38,353 --> 01:30:41,402
meeting old foes...

1355
01:30:43,525 --> 01:30:47,246
planting trees
and building schools,

1356
01:30:47,362 --> 01:30:51,367
trying to put the war
behind them.

1357
01:30:52,951 --> 01:30:55,875
Vallely worked closely
with other veterans,

1358
01:30:56,038 --> 01:30:59,542
including three
United States senators,

1359
01:30:59,666 --> 01:31:03,296
who became among the most
influential American advocates

1360
01:31:03,420 --> 01:31:06,048
for normalizing relations:

1361
01:31:06,214 --> 01:31:08,888
John McCain from Arizona,

1362
01:31:09,009 --> 01:31:13,765
who had endured six years
as a prisoner of war;

1363
01:31:13,889 --> 01:31:16,893
John Kerry from Massachusetts,

1364
01:31:17,059 --> 01:31:20,404
the ex-commander
of a Swift Boat;

1365
01:31:20,562 --> 01:31:23,611
and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska,

1366
01:31:23,732 --> 01:31:27,202
a former Navy SEAL:

1367
01:31:27,319 --> 01:31:30,448
Their task would not be easy.

1368
01:31:30,572 --> 01:31:33,826
Hanoi insisted
the United States make good

1369
01:31:33,950 --> 01:31:38,456
on a promise to provide funds
for reconstruction.

1370
01:31:38,580 --> 01:31:41,550
For its part,
the United States demanded

1371
01:31:41,667 --> 01:31:43,294
a complete accounting

1372
01:31:43,418 --> 01:31:46,547
of the 2,500 Americans
whose remains

1373
01:31:46,672 --> 01:31:49,221
had never been recovered.

1374
01:31:49,341 --> 01:31:54,723
Hanoi, which had more than
300,000 missing of its own,

1375
01:31:54,846 --> 01:31:59,397
refused to cooperate.

1376
01:31:59,518 --> 01:32:04,274
But events both within Vietnam
and far beyond its borders

1377
01:32:04,439 --> 01:32:08,694
slowly moved things along.

1378
01:32:36,388 --> 01:32:41,690
Le Duan died in 1986.

1379
01:32:41,810 --> 01:32:46,111
His successors adopted
what they called doi moi,

1380
01:32:46,231 --> 01:32:49,826
a more pragmatic reformist
economic policy.

1381
01:32:52,404 --> 01:32:56,500
As the Cold War ended,
Soviet aid disappeared,

1382
01:32:56,658 --> 01:33:01,664
and Hanoi finally began
to help U.S. military teams

1383
01:33:01,788 --> 01:33:05,509
search for American remains.

1384
01:33:05,625 --> 01:33:10,176
The architects of normalization

1385
01:33:10,297 --> 01:33:12,470
are the Vietnamese.

1386
01:33:12,591 --> 01:33:15,515
It's not the Americans.

1387
01:33:15,677 --> 01:33:17,850
And the normalization of Vietnam

1388
01:33:18,013 --> 01:33:23,019
is a strategy of the
Vietnamese Communist Party

1389
01:33:23,143 --> 01:33:25,362
to join the world.

1390
01:33:25,520 --> 01:33:26,988
They want to join the world.

1391
01:33:27,105 --> 01:33:30,234
And the United States makes it
hard for them to join the world.

1392
01:33:30,358 --> 01:33:33,202
So John McCain insists,

1393
01:33:33,361 --> 01:33:35,204
"Yeah, you want
to have normalization?

1394
01:33:35,322 --> 01:33:38,542
All your prisoners need to be
out of re-education camp."

1395
01:33:38,700 --> 01:33:41,044
"You want normalization?"

1396
01:33:41,203 --> 01:33:44,207
John Kerry... "1 need all the
information about the missing."

1397
01:33:46,249 --> 01:33:48,798
In 1994,

1398
01:33:48,919 --> 01:33:51,718
after the Vietnamese
met the Americans' demands,

1399
01:33:51,880 --> 01:33:56,056
the United States
lifted its trade embargo.

1400
01:33:56,218 --> 01:34:00,724
Full normalization
came the following year.

1401
01:34:00,889 --> 01:34:04,189
The new American ambassador
was Pete Peterson,

1402
01:34:04,309 --> 01:34:09,406
who had spent six years
in Hanoi as a P.O.W.

1403
01:34:11,900 --> 01:34:13,994
In November of 2000,

1404
01:34:14,110 --> 01:34:17,284
President Bill Clinton
traveled to Vietnam,

1405
01:34:17,405 --> 01:34:21,285
the first American president
to visit that country

1406
01:34:21,409 --> 01:34:24,959
since Richard Nixon reviewed
U.S. troops there

1407
01:34:25,080 --> 01:34:27,959
31 years earlier.

1408
01:34:29,918 --> 01:34:31,761
Now we can say something

1409
01:34:31,920 --> 01:34:33,593
that was once unimaginable:

1410
01:34:33,713 --> 01:34:37,763
Today, Vietnam and the
United States are partners.

1411
01:34:37,884 --> 01:34:42,481
We have shown
that hearts can change,

1412
01:34:42,597 --> 01:34:44,270
and that a different future
is possible

1413
01:34:44,391 --> 01:34:48,271
when we refuse
to be prisoners of the past.

1414
01:35:53,418 --> 01:35:56,171
I went back to Vietnam.

1415
01:35:56,338 --> 01:36:00,013
I got in touch with
a provincial vets organization.

1416
01:36:04,346 --> 01:36:06,690
This is a huge organization
of Vietnamese vets,

1417
01:36:06,806 --> 01:36:10,185
all former enemies.

1418
01:36:10,310 --> 01:36:11,732
All former enemies.

1419
01:36:11,853 --> 01:36:14,572
But now,
mellowed quite a bit, like me.

1420
01:36:14,689 --> 01:36:17,158
You know, they're guys my age,
grandpas.

1421
01:36:17,275 --> 01:36:23,157
And after we got past the
initial checking each other out,

1422
01:36:23,281 --> 01:36:26,706
and is this a political thing
or not,

1423
01:36:26,826 --> 01:36:34,552
they could not have been
more gracious and more loving.

1424
01:36:34,668 --> 01:36:39,595
They took me under their wing
like a brother soldier.

1425
01:36:39,714 --> 01:36:45,312
We exchanged painful memories,
stories.

1426
01:36:48,431 --> 01:36:52,527
And I did a little ceremony
honoring the guys I'd lost,

1427
01:36:52,644 --> 01:36:56,069
honoring the Vietnamese enemies
that we'd killed.

1428
01:36:56,189 --> 01:37:00,069
And just telling them, you know,
they could be at peace now.

1429
01:37:05,573 --> 01:37:09,419
It was a wonderful,
wonderful trip.

1430
01:37:11,538 --> 01:37:13,256
You know, you don't...

1431
01:37:13,373 --> 01:37:15,967
You don't get closure,
but you get some peace.

1432
01:37:16,084 --> 01:37:18,428
You get some peace...
got some peace.

1433
01:37:28,596 --> 01:37:33,352
In Vietnam, the
land has largely healed.

1434
01:37:33,476 --> 01:37:37,197
Old animosities
have mostly been buried.

1435
01:37:39,315 --> 01:37:41,989
But ghosts remain.

1436
01:37:44,654 --> 01:37:46,076
Americans and Vietnamese

1437
01:37:46,197 --> 01:37:48,291
work together to clean up places

1438
01:37:48,450 --> 01:37:51,750
where Agent Orange
has poisoned the earth.

1439
01:37:51,870 --> 01:37:56,125
Unexploded ordnance,
half-hidden in the ground,

1440
01:37:56,249 --> 01:38:00,425
still takes lives each year.

1441
01:38:00,545 --> 01:38:04,300
Aged mothers and fathers
from northern Vietnam

1442
01:38:04,466 --> 01:38:06,685
still roam the south,

1443
01:38:06,801 --> 01:38:07,973
seeking to discover

1444
01:38:08,094 --> 01:38:10,597
what happened
to their sons and daughters.

1445
01:40:07,755 --> 01:40:12,101
As we finally came
lurching out of Vietnam...

1446
01:40:13,469 --> 01:40:18,646
We were beginning
to doubt ourselves.

1447
01:40:18,766 --> 01:40:23,363
And, uh, that's a foreign
feeling for an American.

1448
01:40:23,479 --> 01:40:27,450
We, we seldom doubt ourselves.

1449
01:40:27,567 --> 01:40:32,539
This turned out to be the most
bitter, the most divisive...

1450
01:40:32,655 --> 01:40:35,374
or second-most bitter
and second-most divisive...

1451
01:40:35,491 --> 01:40:38,040
war in our entire history.

1452
01:40:38,161 --> 01:40:42,632
And we still hurt because of it.

1453
01:40:44,918 --> 01:40:48,718
We have feelings of guilt
about Vietnam.

1454
01:40:50,840 --> 01:40:54,265
More than four
decades after the war ended,

1455
01:40:54,385 --> 01:40:57,639
the divisions it created
between Americans

1456
01:40:57,764 --> 01:41:01,143
have not yet wholly healed.

1457
01:41:01,267 --> 01:41:05,443
Lessons were learned
and then forgotten;

1458
01:41:05,563 --> 01:41:10,444
divides were bridged
and then widened;

1459
01:41:10,568 --> 01:41:16,701
old secrets were revealed and
new secrets were locked away.

1460
01:41:16,824 --> 01:41:20,954
The Vietnam War was a tragedy,

1461
01:41:21,079 --> 01:41:24,959
immeasurable and irredeemable.

1462
01:41:28,002 --> 01:41:31,347
But meaning can be found
in the individual stories

1463
01:41:31,506 --> 01:41:33,850
of those who lived through it,

1464
01:41:33,967 --> 01:41:37,062
stories of courage
and comradeship

1465
01:41:37,178 --> 01:41:39,146
and perseverance,

1466
01:41:39,264 --> 01:41:42,643
of understanding and forgiveness

1467
01:41:42,767 --> 01:41:47,614
and, ultimately, reconciliation.

1468
01:41:52,068 --> 01:41:55,493
"They shared
the weight of memory.

1469
01:41:55,613 --> 01:41:58,867
"They took up what others
could no longer bear.

1470
01:41:58,992 --> 01:42:02,622
"Often, they carried each other,
the wounded or weak.

1471
01:42:02,745 --> 01:42:06,545
"They carried infections.

1472
01:42:06,666 --> 01:42:08,760
"They carried chess sets,

1473
01:42:08,876 --> 01:42:11,299
"basketballs,

1474
01:42:11,421 --> 01:42:14,891
"Vietnamese-English
dictionaries,

1475
01:42:15,008 --> 01:42:21,562
"insignia of rank,
Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts,

1476
01:42:21,723 --> 01:42:28,356
"plastic cards imprinted
with the Code of Conduct.

1477
01:42:28,479 --> 01:42:31,403
"They carried diseases,

1478
01:42:31,566 --> 01:42:34,866
"among them malaria
and dysentery.

1479
01:42:34,986 --> 01:42:41,335
"They carried lice and ringworm
and leeches,

1480
01:42:41,451 --> 01:42:47,458
"paddy algae
and various rots and molds.

1481
01:42:47,582 --> 01:42:54,010
"They carried the land
itself... Vietnam,

1482
01:42:54,130 --> 01:42:57,930
"the place, the soil...

1483
01:42:58,092 --> 01:43:00,436
"a powdery orange-red dust

1484
01:43:00,595 --> 01:43:07,069
"that covered their boots
and fatigues and faces.

1485
01:43:07,185 --> 01:43:10,439
"They carried the sky.

1486
01:43:10,605 --> 01:43:13,449
"The whole atmosphere,

1487
01:43:13,608 --> 01:43:16,282
"they carried it...

1488
01:43:16,402 --> 01:43:20,157
"the humidity, the monsoons,

1489
01:43:20,281 --> 01:43:24,411
"the stink of fungus and decay,
all of it.

1490
01:43:24,535 --> 01:43:26,629
"They carried gravity.

1491
01:43:26,788 --> 01:43:29,507
"They moved like mules.

1492
01:43:29,624 --> 01:43:32,218
"By daylight,
they took sniper fire;

1493
01:43:32,335 --> 01:43:34,133
"at night, they were mortared.

1494
01:43:34,253 --> 01:43:37,723
"They crawled into tunnels
and walked point

1495
01:43:37,840 --> 01:43:40,138
"and advanced under fire.

1496
01:43:40,301 --> 01:43:43,145
"But it was not battle,

1497
01:43:43,262 --> 01:43:46,141
"it was just the endless march,

1498
01:43:46,307 --> 01:43:49,231
"village to village.

1499
01:43:49,352 --> 01:43:53,732
"They marched for the sake
of the march.

1500
01:43:53,856 --> 01:43:57,577
"They plodded along slowly,
dumbly,

1501
01:43:57,693 --> 01:44:01,789
"leaning forward
against the heat, unthinking,

1502
01:44:01,906 --> 01:44:05,501
"all blood and bone,
simple grunts,

1503
01:44:05,618 --> 01:44:07,996
"soldiering with their legs,

1504
01:44:08,162 --> 01:44:10,585
"toiling up the hills
and down into the paddies

1505
01:44:10,706 --> 01:44:15,462
"and across the rivers and up
again and down, just humping,

1506
01:44:15,586 --> 01:44:21,264
"one step and then the next
and then another.

1507
01:44:21,384 --> 01:44:22,931
"They made their legs move.

1508
01:44:25,054 --> 01:44:26,897
They endured."