It was yet another illustration of the contrasts between normal times and coronavirus times.
At an annual Westminster ceremony that usually brings hundreds from around Southern California, only a couple of dozen people showed up Thursday, April 30. Though small in number, they came to commemorate Black April, the anniversary of the the fall of Saigon.
Kien and Minh Dang say a prayer at a Vietnam War Memorial at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Ivy Nguyen pays her respects at a monument to South Vietnamese officers at the Vietnam War Memorial at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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David Nguyen plays a song on the clarinet at the Vietnam War Memorial at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hoa Ngoc Vo, with the Vietnamese Community of Southern California, gets help from Conrad Gomez, with Vietnam Veterans of America, placing a wreath at the Vietnam War Memorial at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A woman places flowers on bricks that remember the unknown soldiers of the Vietnam War at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Hoa Ngoc Vo and Conrad Gomez place a wreath from the Vietnamese Community of Southern California at the Vietnam War Memorial at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, CA on Thursday, April 30, 2020. April marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in 1975. The date is remembered yearly with an event that draws hundreds to the park but this year COVID-19 (coronavirus) and social distancing restrictions reduced it to a simple wreath laying. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Some women wore traditional, colorful dresses. Some men wore military uniforms. Most everybody wore face masks.
On April 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese captured Saigon, capital of South Vietnam. The victory ended a decades-long civil war in which millions died, including 58,000 Americans.
While celebrated in Vietnam as Reunification Day, April 30 is somberly remembered by refugees forced to flee their homeland. Almost 200,000 eventually settled in Orange County.
Last week, the city made the unsurprising announcement that the lively event it has hosted for the past 16 years would not take place due to stay-at-home precautions. Instead, a wreath would be placed at the Vietnamese-American War Memorial in Little Saigon at 10 a.m.
But even that small gesture went unheralded, as the wreath appeared well before schedule. With no political speeches and military bands, the moment unfolded in virtual silence.
Thai Pham, 75, who served in the South Vietnamese military, has paid tribute to Black April since Westminster’s ceremony debuted in 2004. However low-key this year’s event, he wanted to attend.
“It’s an important day to appreciate our freedom,” Pham said.
