Today is the 32nd anniversary of the North's triumph over the 'Western-supported' South Vietnamese government, so graphically memoried by the smashing down of the palace gates in Saigon by the VPA tanks. They had gone for a swift and audacious capture of the capital and ended the day with the end of a long and disgusting war.
And this image, taken by Hubert Van Es, summed it all up. Thousands of Americans and South Vietnamese evacuated the Saigon during the weeks and months before the inevitable defeat. And that CIA helicopter...
When I think about 1975, I think HSC, basketball, getting my license, meeting Hillary, end-of-year speeches, and getting through those damn exams. I think of all my friends, drive-ins, endless card nights, Glen Maggie. Music from Jethro Tull to Minnie Ripperton and lots of Eagles. Blackwater by the Doobies was one of our songs....
Other people were thinking about the end of a tragic struggle; about the re-unification of families and country. People were charging across the Saigon River while I was enjoying my 18th birthday.
I do have memories of the war, of terrible images on the TV. Returned serviceman, reports about Agent Orange. I remember a few years earlier walking in on a conversation between Dad and Dick Aberley...'if we don't stop them here, Communism will just keep spreading,' Dick was saying - reciting the standard American diatribe. Not sure what Dad thought - he seldom spoke of this war and never of the war he was a part of. Maybe that's partly why I didn't have my own position, my own real understanding.
But things were happening all around us - I'm sure.
And today, I admit to not trying to scratch the surface too deeply. Look, I'm sure that there must be resentment and problems between North and South, about the methods and truths of a communist state. (I'm told that many of the old cyclo drivers were proably officers on the wrong side.)
But what I see are proud people that are overtly happy - and very family.
I guess 'Independence Days' are celebrated all over the world in so many countries in so many ways. Interesting that we didn't see any fireworks, hear any beating drums or see marching girls. Kinda different to the Fourth of July. Funny that.
Maybe it's just that the happiness that comes from independence sits comfortably with the Vietnamese people.
2 comments:
Glen is a good English student. One insightful account from his mid-semester essay on the topic of historic wars in the present context saw him weaving personal history with conflict in Vietnam, bringing interesting and thoughtful meanings to ideas independence. If only he'd stop flirting with the girls in the front row he'd perhaps achieve more. Its not like he's going to marry them, but English skills are for life! Priorities, boy! Nonetheless, I see great potential. Well done, Glen. 7.5/10
Dear Ms Reinsch. Thank you for your kind guidance in this area. I hope to improve on this mark in the near future and will do whatever is necessary. I admit to glancing at the girls in the front, but only because they sit between me and my educator. And to think that a high school romance could ever result in marriage!
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