Reunification Day Date: April 30
Reunification Day is celebrated in Vietnam.
Reunification Day or Victory Day or Liberation Day is the occasion when Saigon was captured by the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese troops on April 30,1967. This was the end of the Vietnam War. For the people living in exile it is remembered as the ’Fall of Saigon’. It is considered as a day of reflection by the exiled Vietnamese who were displaced in overseas communities. It also marked the reunification of Vietnam under the communist government. Black April is the name given to the week of April 30.
Reunification Day History
Senior General Van Tien Dung commanded the communist forces and they began their attack on April 29 on Saigon which was under General Nguyen Van Toan with heavy bombardment. By the next day many important points in the city had been captured by the Vietnam troops and their flag rose in the presidential palace. The city was named as Ho Chi Minh City. Preceding this all the American military and civilians in Saigon were evacuated. Thousands of Vietnam civilians were also evacuated with them. This resulted in ‘Operation Frequent Wind’ where the evacuation was carried out. Under this plan ships and helicopters were used to evacuate Americans and the Vietnamese. The main evacuation point was at Tan Son Nhut. By the evening about 4000 Vietnamese and 395 Americans were evacuated. Even at the end of March a lot of Americans started to leave the city. Flights were always fully booked. All through April evacuation was done at great speed.
South Vietnamese who wanted to leave the country made many arrangements. Payments were made in large amounts to obtain passports and exit visas and prices for seagoing vessels tripled. People were forced to sell their property at a very great loss or even abandon it.
The North Vietnamese troops marched towards Saigon and many of the major cities were captured by the end of March. They captured Hue on March 25 and Da Nang on 28th. South Vietnam did not manage to get any increase in the military aid from the United States thereby losing hopes for more American support. By April 27 more than 100,000 troops were in position around the city of Saigon. As more of South Vietnam was occupied by the North Vietnamese President Thieu was facing more opposition from the Senate.
Order was slowly restored in the country though communication with the outside world was cut. General Tran Van Tra was placed in charge of the city. About 200,000 South Vietnamese officers were sent to camps where torture and disease was widespread. One of the objectives of the new government was to reduce the population of the country. Within two years of the capture of Saigon more than one million people had left the country and the government wanted to increase this by another 500,000.
Reunification Day Traditions and Activities
Though the reunification of the nation actually occurred on July 2, 1976 although April 30 is known as Reunification Day. The anniversary is marked by festivals set around the date.
Other interesting posts:
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- Vietnam National Day
- Foundation Day of the Communist Party of Vietnam
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