BRATTLEBORO — To mark the 40th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, the Brattleboro Historical Society and Vermont PBS will present a free screening of the film The Last Days in Vietnam on Thursday, April 2 with a panel discussion to follow.
In April of 1975, the North Vietnamese Army was closing in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance was crumbling. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, 135,000 South Vietnamese managed to escape with help from a number of Americans who took matters into their own hands in a desperate effort to save as many people as possible.
The film, which will be shown in the Brattleboro Union High School Multipurpose Room on Thursday, April 2 at 6 p.m., was directed and produced by Rory Kennedy. It was nominated for an Academy Award for documentary feature.
The Last Days in Vietnam will also be broadcast on PBS on April 28 at 9 p.m. as part of the public television network's American Experience series.
The screening will include a panel discussion organized by Brattleboro Union High School social studies teacher Bill Holiday, a member of the Vermont PBS Community Council. The panel will include: Alan Carter, who worked in the United States Information Agency in Vietnam; Julia Forsythe, a nurse who served in Vietnam at the end of the war; and Dr. Arthur Westing, a scientist who studied the impact of chemical agents on the people and environment in Vietnam.
To reserve a seat, email Holiday at billholiday92@gmail.com.
For more information about the film, visit pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/lastdays/.