Memories of the Vietnam War’s end spark sorrow—and also hope for the future

While a tragic era ended, vibrant new Hmong communities also were born among hard-working refugees in the U.S.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2025—Marking the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end, news media around the world are sharing stories of the trauma. Here’s CBS News’ overview of that final day.

In sharing this video clip with other online publications, CBS News describes it this way:

As the North Vietnamese army closed in on Saigon fifty years ago, U.S. forces, personnel and South Vietnamese civilians struggled to evacuate to American ships offshore. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports on what became the largest helicopter evacuation in history, and talks with former service members who were on the ground and in the air during one of the most perilous operations of the Vietnam War.

But the Vietnam War’s end also was the bitter-sweet birth of vibrant American Hmong communities

THIS MONTH ALSO is an auspicious anniversary for the now-vibrant Hmong-American communities in the U.S.—since these allies of our U.S. armed forces also fled the war-torn region in 1975.

Our publishing house has been actively supportive of this community’s efforts to tell their story nationwide. So, this week, we invited MSU Bias Busters founder Joe Grimm to report on some of the MSU School of Journalism’s latest efforts to help raise awareness of Hmong Americans’ culture and distinctive story. In Joe’s story in our Front Edge Publishing website, he shares a short video of a Hmong-American woman describing their migration—plus links to get a helpful Bias Busters book about Hmong communities.