Episode 141: The Mayaguez Incident - The Last American Casualties in Vietnam, Part I

The last US combat units left South Vietnam on March 29, 1973. The last US embassy personnel were dramatically evacuated on April 30, 1975, the same day that the People's Army of Vietnam entered Saigon, signally the defeat of South Vietnam and the reunification of the country by the Northern communists.

But those considered the final American casualties of the Vietnam War died the following month in neighboring Cambodia fighting soldiers loyal to the Khmer Rouge, not the government in Hanoi. This final unlikely battle was fought over a commercial container ship during the early chaotic days of significant political change in Southeast Asia.