Reluctant MC of special Reunification Day broadcast from Saigon
Cao Thoa -
(VOVWORLD) - At 2 pm on April 30th, 1975, soon after tanks of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam entered the Independence Palace and liberated Saigon, Saigon Radio broadcast a special program in which Duong Van Minh, President of the Republic of Vietnam, announced his administration’s surrender.
 Tanks of the Vietnamese Liberation Army rumbled up to the main gate of Independence Palace on April 30, 1975. (File photo) |
The program was hosted by a reluctant MC, architect Nguyễn Hữu Thái. The recording of that broadcast is an important historical document. It said:
- “Normal life has resumed in Saigon. The city has been liberated as President Ho Chi Minh wished. We are ready to celebrate the big day. We would like to present Duong Van Minh and Vu Van Mau of the Saigon administration to make their surrender announcement."
- "I, General Duong Van Minh, President of the Saigon administration, call on forces of the Republic of Vietnam to lay down weapons and unconditionally surrender to the the Liberation Army of South Vietnam. I declare that the Saigon regime from the central to the local level completely dissolves."
That was a recording of the broadcast on April 30th, 1975, hosted by architect Nguyen Huu Thai.
At 11:30 am, tanks of the liberation army rumbled up to the main gate of Independence Palace. The flag of the National Liberation Front was hoisted on top of the Palace, marking the liberation of Saigon. Army vehicles carried cabinet members of the Saigon regime to the radio station to record and broadcast Duong Van Minh’s surrender. Architect Thai, who accompanied the convoy, unexpectedly became the host of the program. He recalls:
“We knew the liberation agenda and we had to broadcast Duong Van Minh’s surrender announcement so the local administration would stop fighting. Our voice also calmed people in Saigon. We hosted the radio program until 6 or 7 pm, when a radio broadcaster of Liberation Radio came to take over the microphone.”
Historian Nguyen Nha recorded the special program. “We recorded the broadcast, including Duong Van Minh’s official announcement and discussions of the historic moment. The recording is an important piece of history.”
The broadcast pacified the citizens of Saigon. The recording of that special radio broadcast was kept as a historical treasure by Nguyen Nha’s family, who later donated it to the National Archives Center.
Cao Thoa