The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors recently marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and saluted the Vietnamese American community’s vital role in the local area and nation.
“We honor all the contributions that the Vietnamese American community makes to Fairfax County on an everyday basis,” Board Chairman Jeff McKay said when presenting a resolution at an April 22 meeting. “Anywhere you go in Fairfax County, you can see this.”
Adoption of the proclamation came a week before the 50th anniversary of the South Vietnamese government’s capitulation and the occupation of its capital Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) by North Vietnamese forces on April 29-30, 1975.
Saigon’s fall represented the final stage of a civil war that had raged for more than 20 years. After French colonial forces departed Vietnam in 1954 and a Communist government took power in the north, the U.S. government began bombing the country and sent hundreds of thousands of troops to support South Vietnam.
By the end of the war, over 3 million American military service members had served in Vietnam, and 58,220 were killed. Casualty estimates vary widely, ranging from more than 1 million to over 3 million Vietnamese fighters and civilians.
“Millions of Vietnamese lost their lives, and more than 58,000 Americans sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom,” said Uyen Dinh, an attorney and civic leader who represented Vietnamese American families at the board meeting.
As a child, Dinh fled Vietnam with her family half a century ago, to the day, she told supervisors.
Her family was not alone in fleeing. In the displacement that followed the North Vietnamese victory, the U.S. joined with Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia in taking in refugees.
“All of our families bear the scars of the Vietnamese War,” Dinh said.
Many settled in Northern Virginia, first in Arlington — establishing a thriving commercial hub in Clarendon — and then in the outer suburbs. Today, an estimated 70,000 Vietnamese-Americans call Northern Virginia home.
“We’re a richer community, a richer nation, in so many ways because we welcomed so many thousands of refugees from Vietnam,” Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said.
His colleague, Springfield District’s Pat Herrity, praised the Vietnamese American community as “such a great example of the American Dream: If you work hard, you can get ahead.”
In remarks, Dinh — a product of Fairfax County Public Schools as a graduate of Herndon High School — said immigrants and refugees from Vietnam benefited from high-quality educations in Northern Virginia and the economic opportunities provided in the region.
In return, the Vietnamese American community has taken its place contributing to American success, she said.
“The economic impact of Viet-American businesses means a thriving community, great food and prosperity for the county’s tax base, which allows for the best public education, parks and other vital county services,” she said.
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At the April 22 event, McKay noted that the audience also included American-born veterans of the Vietnam War and their families.
“We really appreciate you making the time to come out, as well,” he said.
Fairfax County is one of a number of Northern Virginia governments, including neighboring Falls Church, marking the 50th anniversary of Saigon’s fall and resulting arrival of refugees in the local area.
Earlier this year, the Falls Church City Council held a ceremony marking the honorary renaming of the 6600 and 6700 blocks of Wilson Blvd fronting the Eden Center retail-restaurant complex as “Saigon Blvd.”
McKay and Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez attended that ceremony, as the street near Seven Corners represents the dividing line between Falls Church on one side, Fairfax County on the other.
