The fall of Saigon
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Hubert van Es

This is the photo that epitomises more than any other the end of the Vietnam War. It was taken by 
Hubert van Es when he was working for United Press International.

It was April, 1975 and Saigon was surrounded by the North Vietnamese. The final evacuation had 
begun and thousands of Vietnamese and America citizens were being flown from Tan Son Nhut airbase 
to US bases on Guam and Okinawa.

The Dutch photographer stayed on, and on 29th April when many US Embassy staff and press 
journalists and photographers were evacuated in Chinook helicopters from the roof of the US 
Embassy to Navy ships off the coast, he took this photo from the balcony of the Peninsula Hotel.

Hubert van Es, when speaking about his famous photo said:

“Thirty years ago I was fortunate enough to take a photograph that has become perhaps the most 
recognizable image of the fall of Saigon—you know it, the one that is always described as showing 
an American helicopter evacuating people from the roof of the United States Embassy. Well, like 
so many things about the Vietnam War, it’s not exactly what it seems. In fact, the photo is not 
of the embassy at all; the helicopter was actually on the roof of an apartment building in 
downtown Saigon where senior Central Intelligence Agency employees were housed.”

The photo has appeared in hundreds of newspapers, magazines, books and websites across the world, 
and the now famous scene even featured in the popular stage show “Miss Saigon” which ran for ten 
years on Broadway and in the West End in London and many theatres across the world.