1 00:03:08,021 --> 00:03:09,647 It's very much to their advantage 2 00:03:09,731 --> 00:03:11,816 to have a negotiation to get us the hell out 3 00:03:11,900 --> 00:03:13,401 and-- and give us those prisoners. 4 00:03:13,484 --> 00:03:14,569 That's right. 5 00:03:14,652 --> 00:03:17,363 {\an8}If they'll make that kind of a deal, we'll make that 6 00:03:17,447 --> 00:03:18,615 {\an8}any time they're ready. 7 00:03:18,698 --> 00:03:21,451 {\an8}Well, we've got to get enough time to get out. 8 00:03:21,534 --> 00:03:25,622 {\an8}We can't have it knocked over brutal-- to put it brutally, before the election. 9 00:03:25,705 --> 00:03:26,915 That's right. 10 00:04:20,134 --> 00:04:21,719 {\an8}If a year or two years from now, 11 00:04:21,803 --> 00:04:23,763 {\an8}North Vietnam gobbles up South Vietnam, 12 00:04:23,846 --> 00:04:25,682 {\an8}we can have a viable foreign policy 13 00:04:25,765 --> 00:04:28,184 {\an8}if it looks as if it's the result 14 00:04:28,268 --> 00:04:29,936 {\an8}of South Vietnamese incompetence… 15 00:04:30,728 --> 00:04:32,981 So we've got to find some formula… 16 00:04:34,899 --> 00:04:37,777 that holds the thing together a year or two, 17 00:04:37,860 --> 00:04:41,406 after which, after a year, Mr. President, 18 00:04:41,489 --> 00:04:43,449 Vietnam will be a backwater. 19 00:04:44,033 --> 00:04:49,205 If we settle it, say, this October, by January '74, no one will give a damn. 20 00:07:23,860 --> 00:07:28,698 {\an8}We lost a lot of people, but not as much as the other side. 21 00:09:41,831 --> 00:09:45,084 {\an8}Kissinger was so… confident 22 00:09:45,167 --> 00:09:50,006 {\an8}that he could shove down our throat that draft agreement. 23 00:09:51,549 --> 00:09:53,968 But, the big contention issue was 24 00:09:54,051 --> 00:09:57,805 the North Vietnamese troops still remain in Vietnam. 25 00:09:59,056 --> 00:10:01,434 I was able to tell my boss, "Hey, man, that guy, he's--" 26 00:10:01,517 --> 00:10:03,644 "He's full of something, okay?" 27 00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:11,777 I reaffirm again that the whole people of South Vietnam will resist again 28 00:10:12,278 --> 00:10:16,198 any peace which demands rendition of South Vietnam 29 00:10:16,282 --> 00:10:20,036 and which will give South Vietnam to the Communist aggressors. 30 00:12:54,356 --> 00:12:57,526 There was at some point that, you know, we could not negotiate anymore. 31 00:12:57,610 --> 00:12:59,779 Nixon at that time basically said, 32 00:12:59,862 --> 00:13:02,865 "If you guys don't sign, we're going to go alone." 33 00:13:03,365 --> 00:13:08,204 That means the end of help and assistance to South Vietnam. 34 00:13:09,497 --> 00:13:15,085 So we said to ourselves, "Okay, the Americans promised to help us." 35 00:13:15,795 --> 00:13:19,381 "We believe that the US will be on our side to execute it." 36 00:13:26,680 --> 00:13:29,809 {\an8}They started bombing us on December 18th, 37 00:13:29,892 --> 00:13:32,728 {\an8}and in January 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed. 38 00:20:12,085 --> 00:20:14,546 And after the treaty was signed, 39 00:20:15,047 --> 00:20:20,093 {\an8}the whole, if you will, political climate in the US has changed. 40 00:20:21,470 --> 00:20:24,181 Nixon, at that time, was consumed by Watergate. 41 00:22:26,803 --> 00:22:28,930 As a-- a student of American government, 42 00:22:29,014 --> 00:22:32,267 I understood the executive's totally powerless now. 43 00:22:33,101 --> 00:22:36,772 After being embroiled in the Watergate, Nixon had no power. 44 00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:34,991 Ambassador Martin thinks that he can save South Vietnam, 45 00:25:35,075 --> 00:25:37,118 in spite of all the odds. 46 00:25:38,078 --> 00:25:39,996 I don't want to use the word "delusional," 47 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:42,874 because he should have seen the writing on the wall. 48 00:37:53,729 --> 00:37:59,235 {\an8}We searched and destroyed. We were strongly determined to kill them. 49 00:37:59,318 --> 00:38:02,488 That's how our spirit of intense fighting spread further south. 50 00:38:02,571 --> 00:38:04,949 We killed them along the withdrawal route. 51 00:38:05,533 --> 00:38:08,744 They withdrew in chaos. 52 00:38:18,963 --> 00:38:20,965 Our vehicles ran over them. 53 00:38:21,048 --> 00:38:24,218 We drove ahead of them, and no one shot anyone. 54 00:38:24,302 --> 00:38:27,722 When they heard us honk, they scattered. 55 00:41:50,090 --> 00:41:52,009 {\an8}The Americans fought a war here 56 00:41:52,092 --> 00:41:54,261 {\an8}without success and went home. 57 00:41:55,888 --> 00:41:57,640 {\an8}They promised if the Communists invaded again, 58 00:41:57,723 --> 00:41:59,892 {\an8}there'd be action taken. But there's been no reaction. 59 00:42:00,601 --> 00:42:02,895 Therefore, the least they can do is to send us more support, 60 00:42:02,978 --> 00:42:04,355 but they have not sent it. 61 00:42:06,565 --> 00:42:08,359 What does this amount to? 62 00:42:08,442 --> 00:42:12,154 Breaching promises, unfairness, a lack of righteousness, 63 00:42:13,697 --> 00:42:17,493 inhumane treatment towards an ally that is suffering, 64 00:42:18,869 --> 00:42:21,664 the shirking of responsibility of a superpower. 65 00:56:52,575 --> 00:56:55,245 {\an8}With the evacuation, I think, 66 00:56:55,328 --> 00:56:59,874 {\an8}as far as the, um, performance of the, um, Navy 67 00:56:59,958 --> 00:57:02,293 {\an8}was absolutely, totally superb. 68 00:57:17,642 --> 00:57:19,477 I work for the American staff. 69 00:57:29,320 --> 00:57:30,363 Yes, I know that. 70 00:57:30,447 --> 00:57:33,324 But I must come in case-- just in case. 71 00:57:38,163 --> 00:57:39,539 Can you help, uh, us? 72 00:58:12,697 --> 00:58:16,576 I was standing in front of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. 73 00:58:16,659 --> 00:58:22,415 We saw the tanks from North Vietnam moving into the palace. 74 00:58:23,041 --> 00:58:25,919 It looked like a bad dream, like a nightmare. 75 00:58:27,212 --> 00:58:30,882 {\an8}That palace is a symbol of freedom, 76 00:58:30,965 --> 00:58:33,384 {\an8}of the goodness that we've been fighting for. 77 00:58:38,264 --> 00:58:40,975 {\an8}I photographed tanks that entered the Independence Palace. 78 00:58:44,437 --> 00:58:46,356 {\an8}As it pertains to photography, 79 00:58:46,439 --> 00:58:49,984 {\an8}this image is now considered a symbol of the 1975 victory. 80 00:58:54,364 --> 00:58:56,866 When the tanks bulldozed through the gates 81 00:58:56,950 --> 00:58:58,535 of the Independence Palace, 82 00:58:58,618 --> 00:59:04,249 {\an8}my heart was filled with extreme joy but also full of immense pain. 83 00:59:04,958 --> 00:59:08,461 {\an8}Happiness that there was peace again, 84 00:59:08,545 --> 00:59:12,465 but remember my comrades and my brothers 85 00:59:12,549 --> 00:59:16,469 who sacrificed their lives all over Saigon. 86 00:59:16,553 --> 00:59:19,806 I will never forget it for a second, even a minute. 87 00:59:32,610 --> 00:59:35,363 {\an8}I replied, "The South is liberated, the South is liberated!" 88 00:59:35,446 --> 00:59:37,907 {\an8}Everyone was baffled. No one believed it. 89 00:59:42,287 --> 00:59:45,582 {\an8}The feeling was indescribable. 90 00:59:48,126 --> 00:59:51,379 How do you feel if you win the match? 91 00:59:51,963 --> 00:59:54,549 {\an8}We rejoiced that day. 92 00:59:57,927 --> 01:00:02,181 When Saigon fell, I assessed 100% that the Americans lost. 93 01:00:02,265 --> 01:00:04,767 And this was the last battle. 94 01:00:06,686 --> 01:00:09,689 {\an8}We said that, "Now the liberation soldiers 95 01:00:10,648 --> 01:00:14,902 {\an8}have returned to Saigon, 'Hồ Chí Minh City.'" 96 01:00:16,529 --> 01:00:22,285 {\an8}The American newspaper Time published a large cover photo of Hồ Chí Minh 97 01:00:25,371 --> 01:00:29,542 {\an8}and a mark for Saigon declaring "Hồ Chí Minh City." 98 01:01:09,624 --> 01:01:12,835 Everything we hoped for, everything we're fighting for, 99 01:01:12,919 --> 01:01:14,879 disappeared in front of me. 100 01:08:06,415 --> 01:08:09,293 {\an8}After the "War of Peace," the reconstruction, 101 01:08:09,376 --> 01:08:12,922 {\an8}the Communist Party paid attention and took care of my family and me. 102 01:08:13,005 --> 01:08:17,676 We were given a house and were able to build a metal roof. 103 01:08:17,760 --> 01:08:21,847 Before, we could never afford a metal roof. 104 01:11:47,303 --> 01:11:50,556 We could not contain the pain of millions of Vietnamese mothers 105 01:11:50,639 --> 01:11:52,016 whose children died in Vietnam, 106 01:11:52,099 --> 01:11:56,854 {\an8}nor could America contain the pain of 50,000 families. 107 01:11:57,938 --> 01:12:04,028 So, we must understand the past to build the future. 108 01:19:01,153 --> 01:19:03,572 Even though we hear that a lot, "Thank you for your service," 109 01:19:03,655 --> 01:19:05,615 you can't say that to them. 110 01:19:05,699 --> 01:19:07,242 I'd really like to say, 111 01:19:08,493 --> 01:19:09,494 "I'm sorry."