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How the YCL helped win the Vietnam War
PETER FROST has some personal memories of a celebration 45 years ago, when the Young Communist League donated blood and hundreds of bicycles to support the Vietnamese people's war against the US and help them reach victory

FORTY-FIVE years ago my wife Ann, me and most of our mates were celebrating for the whole of May. We were delighted that the Vietnamese had finally won their war of independence and kicked the Yanks out of their country.

On the very last day of April 1975 we had watched as the last US troops were being lifted off of the roof of the CIA building in Saigon. Quisling Vietnamese who had worked for them were fighting their old bosses for a place on the helicopters. Thousands of Vietnamese and Koreans were locked out of the compound. Delays in the evacuation cost thousands of lives.

The Vietnamese People’s Army had anti-aircraft guns and were tracking the helicopters but they held their fire – just glad the Yanks had finally been given their marching orders.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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