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AP Reflects on Reporting Saigon’s Fall 50 Years After Vietnam War’s End

Journalists who stayed in Saigon during its fall recall their final dispatches, encounters with North Vietnamese soldiers, and the closure of AP’s Vietnam bureau.

Page 1 of 25 of The Associated Press Short Guide to News Coverage in Vietnam for staffers and stringers covering the Vietnam War, composed in January 1963 by AP Saigon Bureau Chief Malcolm Browne (1931-2012). The 25-page primer, originally written for Horst Faas and Peter Arnett, provides detailed guidance on all aspects of war coverage, including how to move with troops, how to discern accurate information from propaganda and, most importantly, how to stay safe. After Browne left AP, the manual followed him to the ABC bureau in Saigon. (AP Photo/AP Corporate Archives)
The cover (page i of 25) of The Associated Press Short Guide to News Coverage in Vietnam for staffers and stringers covering the Vietnam War, composed in January 1963 by AP Saigon Bureau Chief Malcolm Browne (1931-2012). The 25-page primer, originally written for Horst Faas and Peter Arnett, provides detailed guidance on all aspects of war coverage, including how to move with troops, how to discern accurate information from propaganda and, most importantly, how to stay safe. After Browne left AP, the manual followed him to the ABC bureau in Saigon. (AP Photo/AP Corporate Archives)
Soldiers of the Americal Divison ride on armored personnel carriers toward Lang Vel Special Forces camp, half a mile from the Laotian border during the Vietnam War, 1971. The Americans had to clear Route 9 to the Laotian border for Operation Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion into Laos. Photo from one of the last rolls of film before photographer Henri Huet was killed with three other photojournalists covering the operation. (AP Photo/Henri Huet)
FILE- An amphibious tracked vehicle with a load of fully-armed Marines approaches a river southwest of Danang, South Vietnam, Aug. 22, 1969. (AP Photo/Horst Faas, File)

Overview

  • The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 marked the end of the Vietnam War and led to the renaming of the city to Ho Chi Minh City.
  • AP journalists Peter Arnett, George Esper, and Matt Franjola chose to remain in Saigon to document its final hours, despite the risks.
  • The last U.S. Marines evacuated the embassy roof by helicopter, and AP’s news wire was cut shortly after, halting final dispatches.
  • Two North Vietnamese soldiers entered the AP office, where reporters shared Coke and cake while discussing the soldiers’ march into the city.
  • AP’s Vietnam bureau, closed after the fall, was not reestablished until 1993, but its Vietnam War coverage earned five Pulitzers between 1964 and 1966.