Technically, the Vietnam War came to an end 50 years ago on April 30, 1975 when the communist North Vietnamese seized Saigon under American-supported South Vietnam. For American and Vietnamese people living on the ground, the war did not feel as though it was ending. The U.S. leaving Vietnam set off unrest and long-lasting psychological consequences.
Through interviews with U.S. veterans, Vietnamese survivors, recordings of U.S. presidents evaluating the state of play, and never-before-seen CBS News footage, the Vietnam War, a documentary series out on Netflix, focuses on the human costs of what was America's longest war at the time (1955-1975). More than a million Vietnamese dead as well as an estimated 58,220 Americans.
American presidents repeatedly claimed they were merely trying to stop the communists from seizing South Vietnam, contending that if they did, Asian democracy would not have any chance. But the road map for winning the war grew less obvious as the conflict dragged on.
"There wasn't a clear enemy," filmmaker Brian Knappenberger tells TIME. "Were they there to halt communism? Were they meant to win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people? Many of the veterans we speak with tell us they frequently felt as though their survival was their only goal.
Turning Point looks at some of the most horrific events of the Vietnam War and how their effects are still felt today over five episodes.
One could find plenty of marijuana. They managed to obtain opium in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The show features video of Ed Rabel, a CBS News correspondent covering a congressional probe revealing 10–15% of all American troops were heroin users.
"A lot of veterans we questioned turned to heavy drug use to sort of deal with the daily life of war and what they were seeing," notes Knappenberger. "They returned home carrying those addictions, some of which almost never healed years following the war. It wrecked the life of many people as well as those of their families.
"I started to smoke marijuana every day all day to mask, hide the pain and the fear," U.S. Army veteran Dennis Clark Brazil notes in the document.
Another U.S. Army veteran, Eldson J. McGhee claims he developed heroin addiction when doctors stopped giving him morphine for an injury. "It totally turned my life upside down.