Socialist Republic of Vietnam

American veterans have drafted an open letter to the people of Vietnam conveying congratulations on the 30th anniversary of the Southern Liberation Day (April 30).

The veterans have also recently begun a campaign to collect online signatures for the official letter annoucement on the occassion.

Chuck Searcy, Vice President of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and other American veterans have scripted the 30th anniversary message commerating the end of the war.

“As citizens of the United States of America - many American veterans wish to convey our highest regards and our congratulations to the people of Vietnam on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the end of the war, April 30, 1975,” said the letter.

Mr. Searcy said he hoped to collect thousands of signatures from American citizens and veterans including those involved in the Vietnam War.

The letter also expresses the sympathy of US citizens towards the war and victims of Agent Orange.

“We also wish to acknowledge that there are many on all sides who still suffer the consequences of the war, including the hundreds of American families and the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese families whose loved ones never have been found, the millions who attribute their medical problems and disabilities to America's use of Agent Orange in Viet Nam, and the children and adults in Viet Nam who still are exposed to the dangers, every day, of death or injury from unexploded ordnance, landmines, and residual effects of Agent Orange dioxin in remaining contamination sites,” said the letter.

(March 20, 2005, Vietnam News Agency)