On March 29, 1973, the last American combat soldiers boarded planes in Vietnam and flew home. There were no big celebrations. There were no parades. After nearly twenty years of involvement. The United States was leaving a war that had divided the country like nothing since the Civil War. The Vietnam War began slowly. In the 1950s, the U. S. sent a small number of advisors to help South Vietnam fight against North Vietnam. By the mid-1960s. Hundreds of thousands of American soldiers were fighting in the jungles and rice paddies of Southeast Asia. Back home, millions of Americans protested against the war. They marched in the streets, held rallies, and demanded that the government bring the troops home. The war had cost over 58,000 American lives and millions of Vietnamese lives. When the last soldiers finally left, many Americans felt relieved but also confused. The war had not been won. South Vietnam would fall to the North just two years later. For the soldiers who served, coming home was often painful. Many Americans blamed them for a war they had not chosen. It took years before the country properly honored their sacrifice. In 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built in Washington, D. C. -- a long black wall with every lost soldier's name carved into it.