Saigon, South Vietnam, May 10, 1968: Refugees flee burning buildings near Tan Son Nhut air base. Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces started shelling more than 120 provincial capitals, towns and allied military installations across South Vietnam and battled government and U.S. troops inside the capital, Saigon, May 5. The follow-up punch to the Communist Tet offensive of Jan. 31 would last several days and displace thousands of refugees inside the city and across South Vietnam.

The refugees from other parts of the city, mostly women and children, would pour into the center of Saigon and by May 9 Vietnamese authorities estimated that some 46,000 refugees had come into central Saigon.

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