A War, Illustrated

South Vietnamese soldiers crossing a river, 1964                         Horst Faas/AP

It was on April 30, 1975, that the North Vietnamese army took over Saigon (which they renamed Ho Chi Minh City), marking the undeniable end of our "conflict" in that Southeast Asian country (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2015/04/apocalypse-then.html). The day before, Americans and a few fortunate others had been evacuated by helicopter in a tragic scene of chaos, panic, grief ~ and humiliation. Photographers had been given free reign during that war, and every day, newspapers and magazines included pictures of soldiers, civilians, bloodshed, and destruction. Many of those were taken by the photographers, both American and Vietnamese, of the Associated Press. An exhibit in London of AP photographs from that time and place marks the 40-year anniversary of the fall of Saigon (N.B., some of these photos are very disturbing and are certainly not for young children): http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-32483307
   more photos (same warning): http://www.nydailynews.com/news/vietnam-real-war-marks-conflict-50-year-anniversary-gallery-1.1474566