The Forest Service mascot Smokey Bear died at age 26.
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The ARVN surrendered in the Battle of Long Xuyên, An Giang, the last South Vietnamese soldiers to do so.
Heavily criticized throughout the American period of involvement in the war, the ARVN had been engaged in fighting prior to largescale US involvement and while its conscript troops often did lack motivation, it's best units were good. The final fighting in 1972 demonstrated both qualities, with the ARVN coming apart in the northernmost section of South Vietnam, but putting up a stout fight outside of and in Saigon. Frankly, the American Army had enormously declined in quality during the war and by the time the US withdrew in 1972 it was largely an ineffective fighting force.
Henry Kissinger wrote a memo:
25 year old Smokey the Bear, a black bear at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., was retired from service as a living symbol of fire prevention.
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