‘Bombs and bullets were like rain’: 50 years on from the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam war

Troops from North Vietnam celebrate their victory outside Independence Palace in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, on 30 April 1975. Photograph: Yves Billy/AP

The day that Saigon fell, Xuan Phuong, a war correspondent, could only hear shouting and commotion. It was 30 April 1975, and helicopters were frantically lifting personnel and civilians from the US embassy.

Phuong, who had travelled down from the north, was initially held back by troops who said fighting was still continuing. When she was finally able to reach the centre of the city the following day, 1 May, she found chaos. Clothes and luggage were scattered and discarded along the streets. Buildings were being looted.