Surviving the fall of Saigon in 1975

When South Vietnam fell to communist forces in 1975, most could not escape.

In the last days, the United States airlifted its remaining personnel and some high-ranking Vietnamese officials - but millions were left behind to await their fate. In 2021 Alex Last spoke to one South Vietnamese veteran who remained in Saigon as North Vietnamese forces took the city.

Dr Tran Xuan Dung served as a doctor in the South Vietnamese Marines. He would spend three years imprisoned in a "re-education" camp before fleeing with his family in 1978.

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(Photo: Captured South Vietnamese soldiers outside the Presidential Palace in Saigon. Credit: ADN-Bildarchiv/ullstein bild via Getty Images)