The last Americans to leave south Vietnam were evacuated by helicopter from the U.S . Embassy.
In the morning hours of April 30, 1975, the last American soldiers left in South Vietnam were evacuated by a CH - 46 Sea Knight helicopter from the flat roof the US embassy building in Saigon.
The eleven marines with their M- 16 rifles piled into the helicopter as soon as it landed on the roof, the last man scrambling aboard with the embassy's neatly folded American flag, packed in a paper bag.
The packed CH- 46 Sea Knight helicopter rose from the roof, and headed off to sea where American battle ships waited to receive the last troops.