However, fighting would continue between the two halves of Vietnam until April 30th, 1975. The capital city of Saigon was now captured and renamed Ho Chi Minh City after their ruler who had died in 1969. Vietnam finally became whole again in 1976, named the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Trade and diplomatic relations would not resume between the US and Vietnam, however, until the 1990s. The war had ended. Regardless, there was much damage that needed to be repaired.
As a result of over 2 decades of seemingly endless fighting, Vietnam and the US were both left in devastation. More than 2 million Vietnamese had been killed, 3 million wounded and 12 million refugees. As an already impoverished country, the war had caused a large tole on their economy that would take decades to repair. The US also suffered the consequences of the war, despite being one of the leading countries in the world. Because they had invested over 120 billion dollars into the war, inflation rose and the nation was divided as well. Soldiers returning home received much criticism from both supporters and haters. Those who once encouraged them now saw them as a failure for having lost the war. Others who had doubted them all along viewed them as murderers who killed innocent civilians. Either way, the soldiers received much backlash for their actions.
Many people also suffered health issues due to the use of the deadly herbicide Agent Orange. Over 20 million gallons of herbicides had been sprayed along the land, though Agent Orange was the most common and toxic among them. Agent Orange contained a chemical dioxin that caused cancer, birth defects, rashes and psychological and neurological problems among Vietnamese people and veterans. Though that was one cause for illnesses, 500,000 veterans also developed post-traumatic stress disorder, thoughts of suicide, alcohol-drinking, drug addiction and divorce. The war cost 200 billion dollars in US dollars. Within all countries involved, there was a total of 1.3 million military deaths and 1 million civilian deaths. The bombing, being one of the most important aspects of the war, resulted in more raids than during WWII in Germany, Italy and Japan combined. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was revealed in Washington D.C. with 57,939 American men and women dead or missing in the war. Later additions finally totaled 58,200 names inscribed on the memorial. President Barack Obama signed a proclamation entitled the Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War on May 25th, 2012. This will continue until November 11th, 2025, marking the 50th year since the war had ceased. He quoted that it will “honor and give thanks to a generation of proud Americans who saw our country through one of the most challenging missions we have ever faced.” Starting as a dispute between the Northern and Southern regions of Vietnam and escalating to involve the US, China, Soviet Union, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and New Zealand, the war devastated millions of families across the world, including my own. Because of the Vietnam War, many were forced to leave the country in hopes of starting over. Fortunately, my family was able to escape Vietnam when the North took over, though it was not an easy process.
To gather more insight on what this transition was truly like, I interviewed my grandmother who had successfully escaped to the US and has lived here ever since. Here are her responses to the questions I had prompted.