April 30 marks 45 years since communist troops entered the city of Saigon, reuniting North and South Vietnam. Eye witness accounts from that day paint a picture of the scenes in what became Ho Chi Minh City, as Vietnam finally found peace after three decades
When I think back to Vietnam in April 2019, Reunification Day opened with a bang across the country. For a week prior, Saigon’s District 1 was abuzz with activity. Stages and booths lined the promenade in front of the Rex Hotel as far as the eye could see from the hotel’s rooftop bar, filled with the echoes of five o’clock follies tinkling in the background.
In the week following 30 April 2019, I travelled up to Hanoi. There, the ring road surrounding Ho Tay Lake had closed down to become a circular amusement arcade for pedestrians. To the north, Nguyễn Thanh Châu joined a tank convoy travelling through the Plain of Reeds and the Mekong Delta’s mangrove forests. On location at the Ba Rem Canal crossing, Chau painted the convoy waiting for further orders. Another painting of his, dominated by the purple hues of a setting sun, shows the convoy of Soviet-built T-54 tanks marching through the outskirts of Saigon, forming part of the final attack on Saigon that would capture the city and end the war.
Veteran journalist and North Vietnamese war artist Phạm Thanh Tâm joined the attack on Saigon from the northeast. That Saigon would fall in the coming days was an unbelievable notion to some, as Koester recounted the prediction of a Swedish journalist there at the time: «‘That might take a long time,’ he said. ‘Saigon is a long ways from being captured. Just because you are here now to film it, the 30 years’ war will not be over.’» The sounds of detonations on the horizon of an American ammunition depot exploding begged to differ.
This article was written by JAMES SPRINGER
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