Video: 'President Richard Nixon Address to the Nation On Vietnam and Domestic Problems, March 29, 1973'

(Thursday, March 29, 1973, 9:01 p.m. EST; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — “For the first time in 12 years, no American military forces are in Vietnam,” President Richard Nixon declared tonight during a national address on television and radio, ending the United States’ direct military involvement in a war that didn’t officially end until 1975.

Although some advisers and others remained, the last American combat troops departed from South Vietnam today, with U.S. Army General Frederick C. Weyand and South Vietnam’s General Cao Van Viên, chief of the general staff, presiding over the farewell ceremony with a review of departing U.S. soldiers at the Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

Video: 'U.S. Withdraws From Vietnam | March 29 1973'

General Weyand said “Our mission has been accomplished,” and General Cao told the departing troops, “We are going to do everything we can to see that your great sacrifices were not in vain.”

Meantime, the last group of United States POWs from the military left Vietnam today, with 67 being turned over to U.S. authorities. The 589th and last prisoner to board the final airplane out was U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Alfred H. Agnew.

Video: '29th March 1973: The last regular American troops withdraw from South Vietnam'

On Apr. 1, 1973, Captain Robert Thomas White of the U.S. Army and two civilians would be set free.

The last American civilians didn’t leave South Vietnam until they were evacuated in Operation Frequent Wind during the North Vietnamese takeover of Saigon two years later.