The forgotten heroes of Tank 390, 50 years after Saigon's fall

Malay Mail

28-04-2025

HAI DUONG, April 29 — When they crashed through the gates of Saigon's presidential palace to end Vietnam's war, the young crew of communist Tank 390 shaped the course of history — but 50 years on they are modest about their role in a pivotal chapter of the Cold War.
After years of fighting that ended on April 30, 1975, the United States and Vietnam have rebuilt ties to become strong trade partners, although relations now stand at a rocky juncture in the wake of President Donald Trump's tariffs and foreign aid cuts that could jeopardise war legacy programmes.
That day, Tank 390 entered central Saigon — then the heart of the US-backed southern regime — during a lightning-fast offensive by North Vietnam's communist forces in which the crew crossed through heavy fire and lost contact with their commanders.
(From left) Le Van Phuong, Vu Dang Toan, Nguyen Van Tap and Ngo Sy Nguyen, the four-man crew of Tank 390, the first to crash through the gates of Saigon's presidential palace on April 30, 1975, pose next to a tank of the same type on display at the palace in Ho Chi Minh City on April 28, 2005. — AFP pic
'At that very moment, I considered the Independence Palace just another station of the enemy, a position that we must eliminate,' Nguyen Van Tap told AFP amid the pomelo, kumquat and longan trees of his immaculately tended front yard in Hai Duong province, 70 kilometres (43 miles) from Hanoi.
With no enemy fire as he stormed the gates, Tap decided to leave the safety of his Chinese-made T59 tank and head towards the imposing headquarters of the US-backed administration, now known as Independence Palace.
But just a few steps from the entrance he stopped in alarm.
Nguyen Van Tap, former driver of Tank 390, speaking during an interview at his home in Vietnam's northern Hai Duong province March 10, 2025. — AFP pic
'I suddenly thought: 'Oh my god, what if they steal my vehicle?',' he said.
Tap rushed back to his position behind the wheel, while his commander, Vu Dang Toan, escorted South Vietnam's final president Duong Van Minh out to a radio station to surrender to the communists.
'I never thought we would be the ones to make history,' Tap, now a 75-year-old retired farmer, told AFP with a big smile.
This photo taken on April 16, 2025 at the Armoured Forces Museum in Hanoi shows the turret of Tank 390, the first to crash through the gates of Saigon's presidential palace on April 30, 1975. — AFP pic
'No need to show off'
For two decades after the war, Vietnam's official account of the victory said that Tank 843 — a Soviet-made T54 — had broken down the gates of the palace.
The story of Tank 390's four-man crew, one of whom died in 2016, only came to light when French photographer Francoise Demulder, who witnessed the fall of Saigon, came back to Vietnam to find the men in her photos.
Captain Toan, now 78, had kept quiet about his crew's role. Even his family and neighbours had no idea the veteran, who for many years made tofu to make ends meet, was the one who gave the crucial order.
He told AFP he felt he was just doing his duty, and there was no call for boasting.
Vu Dang Toan, former commander of the tank 390, speaks under a portrait of Ho Chi Minh during an interview at his home in Vietnam's northern Hai Duong province March 10, 2025. — AFP pic
'There's no need to show off,' Toan said, looking up at old photos of himself with the legendary tank, hanging on his wall.
'We were soldiers... accomplishing our task of fighting (the enemy),' said Toan, whose living room also shows off a portrait of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.
'Many of our comrades lost their lives,' he added.
Both tanks are now in military museums in Hanoi, preserved as national treasures and emblems of the day the US-backed South finally gave up the fight and fell under a unified northern communist government.
A Vietcong tank takes up a position in front of the presidential palace of the US-backed Southern Vietnamese regime in Saigon April 30, 1975 on the day that the city fell to communist troops. — AFP pic
Mission completed
In 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from colonial power France. The move however slid the country into 30 years of war, first with the French, then the Americans.
After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and also fought intermittent border wars with neighbouring China until 1988.
It was in 1986 that the country, terribly poor due to decades of fighting, opened its centrally planned economy to the world.
Ngo Sy Nguyen, former first gunner of Tank 390, holds a photograph of himself with other members of the tank that crashed through the gates of Saigon's presidential palace on April 30, 1975, during an interview at his home in Hanoi March 11, 2025. — AFP pic
In more recent years, it has achieved stellar growth, while opting for a policy of 'bamboo diplomacy', befriending all nations, including those who tried to dominate it during years of bloodshed.
'We completed the mission,' said Ngo Sy Nguyen, Tank 390's first gunner, also part of the historic crew.
'I am so thankful for the honour that history granted us,' Nguyen told AFP from his three-storey house down a tiny, crowded Hanoi street.
'We are proud to be tankmen.' — AFP