Orange County commemorated the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon in April with floral wreaths and stories of perseverance at the Vietnam War Memorial in Westminster.

Wreaths from all cities across Southern California were sent to pay respect to those who were lost during the war.

In the county of Vietnam, they celebrate the anniversary as Liberation Day while in the U.S. it is known as Black April. After the fall of Saigon, the city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Korean American Justin Yun who’s a local photographer in Westminster came to the memorial.

“This is a big part of not only Westminster but also Southern California culture. I mean, we have one of the biggest Vietnamese communities outside of Vietnam, and I think this is a big deal because our country is intrinsically tied with Vietnam because of the war over there,” Yun said.

In Orange County over 189,000 Vietnamese Americans reside in the cities of Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley, and Santa Ana.

Linh Vo remembers the day that she and her family had to leave the war-torn country.

Vo’s dad, Canh Van Vo, was a two-star general in the war for the South Vietnamese. He eventually took his family, friends and neighbors to the docks to get on the boats to escape.

“It was late at night when my dad came home from work and that’s when he decided this is it we are not going to win this war we are leaving,” Vo said

Vo and her family were on the boat for several days before they made it to Guam.

“We were there for three months before we got sponsored and came to the United States,” Vo said.

She was 13 years old when she and her family came to the U.S., and arrived in Minnesota in 1975 and then moved to California a year later.

In Garden Grove, the Museum of the Republic of Vietnam honors the Vietnamese who fought in the war.

Anthony Doan, whose grandfather fought in the Vietnam War volunteers at the museum

Doan said, “I like to volunteer here because I want to say thank you to all of the people who fought for South Vietnam like my grandfather because they are the reason why I get the opportunity to start a new life in the United States.”

In the museum, rows of display cases showcase the uniforms of officers who fought in the war.

One display case honors Minh Duc Hoai Trinh, a writer and a war correspondent during the war.

The exhibit shows her photo ID’s and the letters she wrote during the war.

The Museum of the Republic of Vietnam holds the most artifacts from the war in California.

One of the most surpassing displays is one holding the uniform of Nguyen Ngoc Loan.

Loan is in one of the most infamous photos from the war, where he shot and killed Nguyen Van Lem in the street of Saigon.