The Falls Church City Council marked the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon last week with a celebration of the city’s Vietnamese-American community.
“Thank you for being part of Falls Church,” Mayor Letty Hardi said at Monday’s Council meeting, attended by several dozen community representatives.
Council members adopted a resolution noting the anniversary and honoring Vietnamese immigrants who made the city and its surroundings their home.
“It’s good to remember that hardships like the fall of Saigon [bring] new beginnings, and strong, vibrant communities grow from that hardship,” Hardi said.
Last Wednesday marked the 50th anniversary of the capitulation of the South Vietnamese government and the occupation of its capital Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) by North Vietnamese forces on April 30, 1975.
Saigon’s fall represented the final stage of a civil war that had raged for more than 20 years. In the displacement that followed the North Vietnamese victory, the United States joined with Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Australia in taking in refugees.
An estimated 70,000 settled in Northern Virginia, first in Arlington — establishing a thriving commercial area in Clarendon — and then elsewhere. The Eden Center in Falls Church has become a region-wide hub for Vietnamese-American culture.
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 as “Saigon Blvd.”
Falls Church was not alone in the region in marking the anniversary and the contributions of Vietnamese Americans.
The Arlington County government plans to erect historic markers noting the importance of the Vietnamese-American community in Clarendon, which from the 1970s to 1990s earned the nickname “Little Saigon” for the proliferation of Vietnamese businesses.
Rents in the corridor grew after the arrival of Metro service in Clarendon, and many of the businesses moved to the Eden Center or further out into the suburbs. A few, such as Nam Viet restaurant, have remained.
Fairfax County supervisors on April 22 also marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and saluted the Vietnamese-American community’s contributions to the local area and nation.
“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 of Supervisors’ meeting.
As a child, Dinh fled Vietnam with her family. It occurred 50 years, to the day, of the April 22 gathering, she told supervisors.
“All of our families bear the scars of the Vietnam War,” Dinh said.
Fairfax Board Chair Jeff 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.
