“The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago on April 30, 1975, with the departure of the last American helicopter in Saigon and the arrival of North Vietnamese tanks in the city. The more than decade-long conflict was a defining event for America’s baby boomer generation. Support for the war, and opposition to it, cleaved society. It fostered a mistrust in government that persists to this day. Its legacy reshaped the U.S. military, which tried to shake off the “Vietnam syndrome,” a fear of being dragged into unpopular, slowly escalating conflicts. Hoping to avoid open-ended military interventions, politicians and military planners adopted “no more Vietnams” as a mantra. And the warchanged American journalism, giving rise to a greater skepticism of official pronouncements from the White House and the Pentagon, and making relations between military leaders and reporters far frostier.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2025/vietnam-vietnam-war-50th-anniversary-fall-of-saigon/

It defined a generation, now called the Baby Boomers…my generation. It was a time of deep divisions among Americans.