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VIETNAM WAR

1955 – 1975

When the North Vietnamese captured Saigon in April 1975, Vicky Ung was only twenty-three years old when she escaped the city with her four-year-old daughter.

“Her mother bought rat poison," she recalled. "Better that than to be tortured to death.”

Intensified by the ensuing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Vietnam War was nominally fought between communist-backed North Vietnam and South Vietnam. More than three million people were killed in the Vietnam War, and Vietnamese civilians made up more than half of the dead. The United States eventually sponsored the evacuation of approximately 125,000 refugees. Despite finding new homes, many immigrants like Vicky Ung still feel the loss of their country today. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Appy, C. G. (2018, March 26). Opinion | what was the Vietnam War about? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/26/opinion/what-was-the-vietnam-war-about.html.

Gammage, J. (2021, September 05). ‘War has no mercy’: Vietnamese here know what Afghan arrivals are facing. The Philadelphia Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/life/saigon-vietnam-kabul-afghanistan-refugees-resettlement-escape-20210905.html

PBS ViewFinder. My Vietnam War Story –Civilians and Refugees. Length: 0:26:51. https://www.pbs.org/video/viewfinder-my-vietnam-war-story-civilians-and-refugees-mdxr5l/

The Vietnam War: The pictures that moved that most. Time Magazine. https://time.com/vietnam-photos/.

Vietnam War. Naval History and Heritage Command. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/vietnam-war0.html.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

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Rise of Ho Chi Minh

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Vietnam War

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Immigration and Nationality Act

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Cambodian-Vietnamese War

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The Boat People

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Sino-Vietnamese War

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COVID-19 Anti-Asian Sentiment

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