The humiliating April 29, 1975, image of U.S. helicopters evacuating Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon rooftops as North Vietnamese troops overran South Vietnam to win the Vietnam War was a political-military disaster damaging America’s global prestige. Two weeks later, the U.S. endured another humiliation in Southeast Asia.
North Vietnam racked up fewer aerial victories than it claimed
As his country crumbled, a South Vietnamese pilot attempting a high-risk landing on the Midway depended on the ship’s quick-thinking crew to save his family from disaster
In September 1964, Neil Hansen began his adventure as a pilot with Air America—the CIA’s secret airline—working clandestine operations in Southeast Asia.
He died saving fellow airmen on a secret mission. And fellow airmen campaigned to get him an MOH delayed for decades.
In May 1969, U.S. soldiers paid a heavy price in America’s last great combat assault of the war. Was it worth it?
Seriously wounded Army infantryman Doug Greenlaw now leads the Purple Heart organization, dedicated to all who spilled blood for their country.
The road and railway bridge at Thanh Hoa south of Hanoi spanned the Ma River and was a vital link in the movement of communist troops and supplies. For the better part of a decade, U.S. Navy, Marine and Air Force aviators braved the flak-filled skies over North Vietnam on missions to destroy the 56-foot-wide bridge, christened the “Dragon’s Jaw” by locals, and sever that link.
South Vietnam’s treatment of its largest minority after a 1964 uprising weakened an alliance crucial to defeating the communists
In February 1968, eight Marines volunteered for a suicide mission
Combat leadership earned officer South Vietnam’s top honor
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