It is 40 years since the end of the Vietnam war and a chance to reflect on the experiences of those affected by it. Find out how to share your story

This month marks 40 years since the end of the Vietnam war, a conflict that still looms large in communal memory and for the millions of people in Vietnam, the US and beyond who were affected by it.

After a decade of drawn-out and torturous combat, the war left Vietnam in ruins; an estimated 3 million Vietnamese people were killed, including 2 million civilians. Millions more were left displaced at the end of the conflict and the country’s farmland devastated by exposure to 43m litres of Agent Orange, the defoliant used by the US military to destroy enemy jungle cover.

By the time US soldiers left, 2.7 million Americans had served in Vietnam. The conflict created unrest back home with many US citizens joining the anti-war movement and hundreds of thousands taking part in demonstrations.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Protesters against the Vietnam war marching in Washington DC in November 1969. Photograph: JP Laffont/Sygma/Corbis

Were you one of these people or was a family member? As the world remembers the events of 40 years ago, we’d like to hear your perspectives, whether you are Vietnamese, American or from one of the many other countries involved in the conflict.

What are your memories of the Vietnam war? How were you or your family affected?

You can share your story using the GuardianWitness button at the top of this article or on this assignment page, where you’ll be able to see other’s stories.



Do you have letters, photographs or keepsakes from any relatives or friends who were involved?

What effect did the political split between north and south have on your family and friendships? Did you or your family leave Vietnam because of the conflict? Share your experiences.

What was the impact of the war on your or their lives?



Please use the description box to tell us as much detail about your submission as possible; we’d like to know about the person and their relationship to you, and also how the item came into your possession. You can also use this space to transcribe an excerpt of a diary entry or letter that may be difficult to decipher, though do send us a photograph of it too. We will feature a selection of your stories in our coverage on theguardian.com and possibly in our newspaper.

Here are some of our readers’ contributions so far:

My grandfather's funeral, Ho Chi Minh City, 1968 My grandfather, Roger Felix Pirard, was a French colonial businessman who ended up in Saigon in the sixties. He was part of a group of Frenchmen who were cozy with the South Vietnamese regime. He died of throat cancer and was buried in this ceremony. My father, a journalist, got a friend who was in Saigon, to take photos of the funeral. I've never visited, but it's on my list.

Forrest Gump moment I was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd class stationed at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. They asked some wounded vets to attend the signing of the New GI Bill on Aug 31. 1967. Corpsman always come with the Marines when they leave the hospital and I was pushing a wheel chair and wound up in the front row. I got one of the pens LBJ is handing out. One year later I was in Vietnam with the 2nd Bn ,1st Marines 1st Marine Division. I

Donations for a Peace March, 1972 In Harvard Square, 1972. Across the street, an SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) poster promoted a confrontational march on Washington on April 29. This sign in front of the Coop (Harvard Cooperative Society) promoted a "Peace Day" march in New York City on April 22, a week sooner. It was sponsored by the Greater Boston Peace Action Committee. This activist was collecting donations for the 400-mile round-trip bus ride from Cambridge to Manhattan.

You can share your photos and stories of the Vietnam war by clicking on the blue ‘Contribute’ button on this article. You can also use the GuardianWitness smartphone app or the Guardian app and search for ‘GuardianWitness assignments’.

We will use the most interesting contributions in our reporting.

