Vietnamese refugees evacuated by helicopter arrive on board the USS Midway ahead of the fall of Saigon on April 29, 1975. The Vietnam War came to an end on April 30, 1975, when North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. The fall of the city marked the end of the South Vietnamese government and decades of conflict.

The Vietnam War greatly impacted U.S. society from the passage of the War Powers Resolution that restricts the president's ability to send troops into extended combat without

The North Vietnamese came south in a wave. It was unbelievable how quickly things happened," recalled Maj. James Kean, an American embassy Marine commander who was present at the fall of Saigon.