The last US combat troops left Vietnam

On March 29, 1973, the last US combat troops departed South Vietnam, two months after the Paris Peace Accords formally ended America’s direct military role in the war. As the final units withdrew, North Vietnam released many of the remaining American prisoners of war it had held in the North.

The pullout closed a chapter that had stretched across more than a decade and cost tens of thousands of American lives. It did not, however, end the conflict itself: the war between North and South Vietnam ground on until Saigon fell in 1975.

A small footprint stayed behind, including Marines guarding US installations and Defense Department civilians. But the combat mission was over, and the date became a fixed marker in American memory, later commemorated as a day to recognize the veterans who had served and come home.