Hoang Van Cuong's photos

These photos were taken by Cuong on April 30, 1975 -- the day that North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops entered Saigon and the war ended. Most American journalists departed with the U.S. Embassy staff by helicopter and Cuong was one of the few journalists working for UPI to stay behind and document this sad event in the history of South Vietnam. These images are very difficult for American and South Vietnamese war veterans to view.

North Vietnamese soldiers sing on a street corner in downtown Saigon while others man an antiaircraft gun in anticipation of an air raid by the (south) Vietnamese Air Force. UPI Photo by Hoang Van Cuong, 1975.

Hoang Van Cuong (center) with North Vietnamese Army officers just after the fall of Saigon. He is smiling in this photo, but he was eventually imprisoned for years in a "re-education" camp for South Vietnamese who had worked with Americans. Note the European (Russian?) officer in the background. The war in Vietnam was a proxy conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the Cold war, much like Korea. Photo is copyright, Hoang Van Cuong, 1975.

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All photos on this page are copyright, UPI and Hoang Van Cuong, 1975.