324. Fall of Saigon: The Nightmare Begins

It's 1975, and in the final act of the Vietnam War, the U.S. have ordered all remaining civilian and military personnel to be withdrawn from South Vietnam. The communist Viet Cong are closing in on the city of Saigon, the hub of America’s presence, as choppers evacuate the 6000 Americans left in the city. Thousands of Vietnamese storm the U.S. embassy, as Saigon descends into chaos. Join Tom and Dominic as they explore the horror and devastation left in the wake of America’s intervention in Vietnam.
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Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook @dcsandbrook

[@romulus3345]

Moral of the story: Never trust politicians, especially American politicians.

[@carlossaraiva8213]

Absolutely if the politicians are republicans

[@tehonlyFreeman]

Think Tom really enjoyed pronouncing that town name 😂

[@bigterrapin5472]

Why i came to the youtube comments 😂

[@ropeburnsrussell]

It's near shagville

[@wer8990]

brilliant narrating, as always!

[@Bultras12-CA]

So bad! A fews people's mistakes cost the lives of milions', and most people in North America have never heard of it. ..

[@kirstenscott516]

Rather forgotten is that UK narrowly avoided involvement. HMS Lowestoft on passage Hong Kong to Singapore was diverted to evacuate UK & Commonwealth nationals from S. Vietnam. Fortunately sense prevailed (memories of Amethyst incident perhaps?), & orders changed to stand-by off 12 mile limit. Later joined by HMS Achilles & RFA Green Rover.

[@hatjodelka]

I believe that Harold Wilson vetoed our getting embroiled in the Vietnam War. Australia wasn't so lucky.

[@kirstenscott516]

@@hatjodelka Harold Wilson avoiding Vietnam (no veto, he just declined to get involved) was back in mid-1960s. No relevance to any evacuation of British & Commonwealth citizens during fall of S. Vietnam in April 1975.

[@hatjodelka]

@@kirstenscott516 Veto was not the right word, but when government papers are released after decades I love to ferret about in the details. There was a lot of pressure on Wilson at home and abroad (particularly from Australia, who did get involved). Also I'm old, I remember events of the 1960s , often better than I remember last week!

[@davidevans3227]

should do some programmes leading up to this pls.. confusing

[@Mute_Nostril_Agony]

I agree. Unless there is a series from long ago about the Vietnam war, this episode is a bit lonely

[@maxjelley4055]

@@Mute_Nostril_Agony Agreed, this deserved a four-parter at least but there is an early episode on vietnam and a couple series on the U.S. presidency at the time. those explain kissinger, Nixon, watergate etc. I believe they're on youtube but defo on spotify.

[@michaelandrewsalomonenewje4107]

I have never seen how we (USA) could have “won”; have you?

[@shamsam4]

And his mama too.

[@richarddugan683]

Guys! You can't just transliterate written Vietnamese into English! Or I guess you can, and ha ha ha all very amusing for the cheap laugh, but for example the Vietnamese name Phuc Dat Bich would actually be pronounced Fu Da Bi despite what a native speaker of English might imagine at first glance.

[@davidcoleman2796]

I flew from Bangkok to Saigon and loved it . There is no better place to be a single man . Well maybe Pattaya. 😂 .

[@lemartin3827]

Grim