On March 29, 1973 the last U.S. combat troops departed South Vietnam, exactly two months after the signing of the Paris Peace Accords. This departure marked the end of eight years of direct U.S. military intervention in the Vietnam War.
The process of removing U.S. forces began years earlier under President Richard Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization. This strategy was put to gradually withdraw American ground troops while increasing the responsibility of the South Vietnamese forces (the ARVN) to defend their own country.
The goal was to provide the South Vietnamese with the training and modern weaponry necessary to maintain their independence while allowing the U.S. to exit a conflict that had become increasingly divisive at home. By the time the peace agreement was signed in January 1973, the number of U.S. troops in the region had already been reduced from their 1969 peak of over 540,000.
The official end was the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The agreement established a ceasefire and required the United States to withdraw all remaining military within 60 days. In exchange, North Vietnam agreed to release all American prisoners of war, POWs.
As the final combat troops boarded planes on March 29, Hanoi released the last of the 591 acknowledged American POWs.
While the agreement technically recognized Vietnam’s sovereignty and called for a ceasefire, the agreement wasn’t all clear. Both sides began violating the vague terms almost immediately.
The U.S. managed to regain its POWs and claim “peace with honor,” but that was short. Despite Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, open warfare returned to the region by the end of the year.
During the eight years of direct involvement, more than 58,000 Americans lost their lives. For the Vietnamese, the toll was even higher, with millions of soldiers and civilians killed.
By 1975, North Vietnamese forces launched a final offensive against the South Vietnamese army. In April 1975, Saigon fell, the remaining U.S. advisers fled, and the American era in Vietnam officially ended.
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