Tomorrow I will be posting my recollections of the Fall of Saigon–an event that I covered for the Chicago Tribune 44 years ago. I invite you to join me for this series of four posts that will run until May 2.

As many of you may know, the war in Vietnam came to an ignominious end during a 24-hour period between April 29 and April 30, 1975, when thousands of Americans and Vietnamese scrambled frantically aboard American helicopters as Communist North Vietnamese troops overran the city.

It was a chaotic day I will never forget and one that all Americans shouldn’t either.