It’s been 40 years since the fall of Saigon and the official end of the Vietnam War. But for many Vietnamese, the wounds have yet to heal. The Heat looks back at the U.S. evacuation as well as Vietnam’s recovery and reconciliation.

The date was April 30, 1975 when North Vietnamese troops and tanks rolled across the streets of Saigon with President Duong Van Minh surrendering.
The fall of Saigon, now named Ho Chi Minh City, brought an end to a war that had consumed Vietnam.

Nearly four million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans were killed in the war.

The new government estimated the bombing destroyed two-thirds of the villages in the south leaving ten million refugees, more than a million war widows and some 880,000 orphans.
The Heat discussed the war with these experts:

• Jim Laurie is the only American television correspondent to witness the fall of Saigon and currently a senior consultant with CCTV America.
• Viet Thanh Nguyen was just four years old when he and his family fled South Vietnam in 1975 and he’s the author of the book, “The Sympathizer.”

The Heat continued its discussion on the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War with Peter Kuznick. He’s a professor of history at American University here in Washington DC and the co-author of a documentary series and book called “The Untold History of the United States.”