All language subtitles for Turning Point The Vietnam War S01 E05_track3_[eng]

It's very much to their advantage

to have a negotiation
to get us the hell out

and-- and give us those prisoners.

That's right.

If they'll make that kind
of a deal, we'll make that

any time they're ready.

Well, we've got to get
enough time to get out.

We can't have it knocked over brutal--
to put it brutally, before the election.

That's right.

If a year or two years from now,

North Vietnam gobbles up South Vietnam,

we can have a viable foreign policy

if it looks as if it's the result

of South Vietnamese incompetence...

So we've got to find some formula...

that holds the thing together
a year or two,

after which, after a year, Mr. President,

Vietnam will be a backwater.

If we settle it, say, this October,
by January '74, no one will give a damn.

Our spirit was high then.

We lost a lot of people,
but not as much as the other side.

Kissinger was so... confident

that he could shove down our throat
that draft agreement.

But, the big contention issue was

the North Vietnamese troops
still remain in Vietnam.

I was able to tell my boss,
"Hey, man, that guy, he's--"

"He's full of something, okay?"

I reaffirm again that the whole people
of South Vietnam will resist again

any peace which demands
rendition of South Vietnam

and which will give South Vietnam
to the Communist aggressors.

There was at some point that, you know,
we could not negotiate anymore.

Nixon at that time basically said,

"If you guys don't sign,
we're going to go alone."

That means the end of help
and assistance to South Vietnam.

So we said to ourselves,
"Okay, the Americans promised to help us."

"We believe that the US
will be on our side to execute it."

They started bombing us on December 18th,

and in January 1973,
the Paris Peace Accords were signed.

And after the treaty was signed,

the whole, if you will, political climate
in the US has changed.

Nixon, at that time,
was consumed by Watergate.

As a-- a student of American government,

I understood
the executive's totally powerless now.

After being embroiled in the Watergate,
Nixon had no power.

Ambassador Martin thinks
that he can save South Vietnam,

in spite of all the odds.

I don't want to use the word "delusional,"

because he should have seen
the writing on the wall.

We searched and destroyed.
We were strongly determined to kill them.

That's how our spirit of intense fighting
spread further south.

We killed them along the withdrawal route.

They withdrew in chaos.

Our vehicles ran over them.

We drove ahead of them,
and no one shot anyone.

When they heard us honk, they scattered.

The Americans fought a war here

without success and went home.

They promised
if the Communists invaded again,

there'd be action taken.
But there's been no reaction.

Therefore, the least they can do
is to send us more support,

but they have not sent it.

What does this amount to?

Breaching promises, unfairness,
a lack of righteousness,

inhumane treatment
towards an ally that is suffering,

the shirking of responsibility
of a superpower.

With the evacuation, I think,

as far as the, um, performance
of the, um, Navy

was absolutely, totally superb.

I work for the American staff.

Yes, I know that.

But I must come in case-- just in case.

Can you help, uh, us?

I was standing in front
of the Presidential Palace in Saigon.

We saw the tanks from North Vietnam
moving into the palace.

It looked like a bad dream,
like a nightmare.

That palace is a symbol of freedom,

of the goodness
that we've been fighting for.

I photographed tanks
that entered the Independence Palace.

As it pertains to photography,

this image is now considered
a symbol of the 1975 victory.

When the tanks bulldozed through the gates

of the Independence Palace,

my heart was filled with extreme joy
but also full of immense pain.

Happiness that there was peace again,

but remember my comrades and my brothers

who sacrificed their lives
all over Saigon.

I will never forget it for a second,
even a minute.

I replied, "The South is liberated,
the South is liberated!"

Everyone was baffled. No one believed it.

The feeling was indescribable.

How do you feel if you win the match?

We rejoiced that day.

When Saigon fell, I assessed
100% that the Americans lost.

And this was the last battle.

We said that,
"Now the liberation soldiers

have returned to Saigon,
'Hồ Chí Minh City.'"

The American newspaper Time published
a large cover photo of Hồ Chí Minh

and a mark for Saigon
declaring "Hồ Chí Minh City."

Everything we hoped for,
everything we're fighting for,

disappeared in front of me.

After the "War of Peace,"
the reconstruction,

the Communist Party paid attention
and took care of my family and me.

We were given a house
and were able to build a metal roof.

Before, we could never
afford a metal roof.

We could not contain
the pain of millions of Vietnamese mothers

whose children died in Vietnam,

nor could America contain
the pain of 50,000 families.

So, we must understand the past
to build the future.

Even though we hear that a lot,
"Thank you for your service,"

you can't say that to them.

I'd really like to say,

"I'm sorry."