War that ended 30 years ago still missing in most school curricula

Vietnam's lost lessons

Friday, April 29, 2005
By Michael A. Fuoco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Perhaps fittingly for a war as controversial as that in Vietnam, the last iconic images from the bitter conflict show the chaos, fear and confusion as helicopters evacuate Americans and South Vietnamese from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy and other locations in Saigon.

Four hours after the last evacuees were lifted to safety offshore, the South Vietnamese government announced its unconditional surrender to the Viet Cong. The long, costly war had ended.