This Day in History

March 29, 1973: Last U.S. Troops Depart South Vietnam

Time Periods: 1961
Themes: Imperialism, US Foreign Policy, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements
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Last Troops in South Vietnam 1973

U.S. flag is furled at a ceremony marking official deactivation of the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam in Saigon. Source: Charles Harrity, AP

On March 29, 1973 the last U.S. combat troops left South Vietnam, ending direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

Military advisers to the South Vietnamese Army remained, as did Marines protecting U.S. installations, and thousands of Defense Department civilians.

Related Resources
Rethinking the Vietnam War | Zinn Education Project
Teaching Activities (Free)

Rethinking the Teaching of the Vietnam War

Teaching Activity. By Bill Bigelow. Rethinking Schools. 8 pages.
A role play on the history of the Vietnam War that is left out of traditional textbooks.

Rethinking What We Know About the Vietnam War (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Activities (Free)

Rethinking What We Know About the Vietnam War

Teaching Activity. Zinn Education Project. 21 pages.
Two lessons to introduce key facts about the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers, documents that provide essential history that is often ignored by textbooks.

Books: Non-Fiction

Teaching the Vietnam War: A Critical Examination of School Texts and an Interpretive Comparative History Utilizing the Pentagon Papers and Other Documents

Book — Non-fiction. By William Griffen and John Marciano. 1979. 83 pages.
Critique of the frameworks of U.S. history texts and engaging alternative history of the war.

Teaching the Vietnam War: Beyond the Headlines (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Activities (Free)

Teaching the Vietnam War: Beyond the Headlines

Teaching Activity. By the Zinn Education Project. 100 pages.
Eight lessons about the Vietnam War, Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers, and whistleblowing.

Teaching Guides

Vietnam and Beyond: The Historic Resistance

Teaching Activity. By Mike Benbow and Robin Pickering. 17 pages.
Questions and teaching ideas for Chapter 18 of Voices of a People’s History of the United States on opposition to the Vietnam War.