Today in History: March 29, US combat troops leave Vietnam

Today marks the anniversary of a momentous event in United States history — the withdrawal of US combat troops from Vietnam.

On March 29th, 1973, the last of the American combat troops departed from South Vietnam, ending a decade-long war that had cost the lives of more than 58,000 US servicemen and women.

The Vietnam War began in November 1955 with the deployment of US military advisors to South Vietnam. Over the course of the next eight years, the US steadily increased its involvement, culminating in the deployment of US combat troops in 1965.

For the next eight years, US forces fought alongside South Vietnamese forces in an effort to repel the communist forces of North Vietnam. But despite their best efforts, the US was unable to turn the tide of the war.

By 1972, the US had begun to scale back its involvement in the conflict. US President Richard Nixon had proposed a peace plan that called for the withdrawal of US troops and the creation of a coalition government in Vietnam.

On March 29th, 1973, the last of the American combat troops departed from South Vietnam. With their departure, the United States involvement in the Vietnam War officially ended.

The withdrawal of US troops marked the beginning of the end of the war. In April of 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and the country was unified under communist rule.

Today, the Vietnam War is remembered as one of the most divisive conflicts in American history. It was a war that cost the lives of thousands of US servicemen and women and resulted in the displacement of millions of Vietnamese people.

But the withdrawal of US combat troops from Vietnam on this day in 1973 also marked the beginning of a new era in US-Vietnamese relations.

The war may be over, but the legacy of Vietnam lives on.