Fall Of Saigon Remembered 

Some 50,000 Vietnamese refugees passed through Camp Pendleton in the months following the fall of Saigon. The size and duration of the crisis caused a shift in the way the United States approached resettlement, and paved the path for Burmese, East African and Iraqi refugees arriving in San Diego today.

Point Loma woman's Marine pilot husband went missing in 1969 when his plane was shot down

Midway Museum docent Vern Jumper talks about his experience as air traffic commander as thousands of American and Vietnamese were air lifted to the carrier during the fall of Saigon 40 years ago.

In Washington D.C., the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall is an emotional but healing sight for many who experienced one of the nation’s most unpopular wars. A traveling version of the wall that visits hometowns across the country is on the USS Midway in San Diego until Thursday at 5 p.m.

It’s been almost 40 years since U.S. Marine veterans John Valdez and Douglas Potratz were side-by-side in Vietnam, guarding the U.S. Embassy in the final days of the war.

The USS Midway was the longest-serving Navy aircraft carrier of the 20th Century. Now a museum on the San Diego Bay, the Midway is teaching visitors about it's role in the final days of the Vietnam War 40 years ago.

Midday Edition airs live from the USS Midway Museum at noon Friday as KPBS shares the stories of veterans and Vietnamese refugees who four decades ago witnessed the fall of Saigon.

Looking back at how American and foreign films depicted a divisive conflict