DELMARVA - 50 years ago, on April 30, 1975, the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, fell to North Vietnamese forces, marking the end of the Vietnam War. It is a day known to many as Black April. For Vietnam veterans on Delmarva, the date brings a wave of emotions and memories from a time that changed their lives and the nation forever..
Though American combat troops had been withdrawn in 1973 following the Paris Peace Accords, American military personnel and contractors remained in South Vietnam.
As the North Vietnamese army moved closer to Saigon late in April 1975, chaos unfolded. The desperate evacuation from the U.S. embassy roof became a lasting image of America's departure.
For Tom Wicker, who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969, the memories remain vivid. His garage in Long Neck is filled with memorabilia that reminds him daily of the war and the day Saigon fell.
“I was hurt,” Wicker said. “Because what we kind of protected and what we were kind of fighting for is now being pushed to these guy, the Vietnamese.”
Dave Curnock, who now lives in Milford, had already finished his deployment by 1975 and was stationed at Dover Air Force Base. Watching events unfold from afar, he recalled his feelings that day.
“I felt bad for the South Vietnamese,” he said. “You know full well that the North Vietnamese were going to take over South Vietnam. You had Russians helping them, you had Chinese helping them."
Georgetown's Harvey Walls had just graduated from Sussex Central High School in 1971 when he volunteered to serve in the army.
“I remember calling home from Fort Monmouth and telling Dad I just got my orders for Vietnam,” Walls said. “He said, ‘Is there anything we can do to get you out of it?’ I said, ‘I don’t know why I volunteered.’ And he said, ‘Well, your mother’s really going to like that one.’”
Wicker remembers arriving in Vietnam to a grim welcome.
“We were walking off the plane, and other troops going home were yelling, ‘Hey, are you going to die, sucker?’” he recalled.
Despite different roles and timelines in the war, many Vietnam veterans shared one thing when they returned: a lack of support and respect.
“They told us on the plane before we got off to go straight to a thrift store inside the airport,” Curnock said. “Get out of your military uniform as fast as you can.”
Walls recalled joining a Veterans of Foreign Wars post after coming home.
“I sat at the bar, and some guy yelled over, ‘Hey, you guys are baby killers,’” he said. “I just bought a round for everyone in the bar and I left. That’s the welcome we got when we came back. Zero.”
The U.S. normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995. NBC News is reporting on Wednesday that American embassy staff attended the communist nation's celebration of the day.