Whereas members of the Armed Forces of the United States began serving in an advisory role to the Government of South Vietnam in 1955; Whereas, in 1965, ground combat units of the Armed Forces of the United States arrived in the Republic of Vietnam to join approximately 23,000 personnel of the Armed Forces who were already present there; Whereas, by 1969, the number of such troops reached a peak of approximately 549,500, including members of the Armed Forces in the region who were supporting the combat operations; Whereas, on January 27, 1973, the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet-Nam (commonly known as the Paris Peace Accords ) was signed, which required the release of all prisoners of war of the United States held in North Vietnam and the withdrawal of all Armed Forces of the United States from South Vietnam; Whereas, on March 29, 1973, the Armed Forces of the United States completed the withdrawal of combat units and combat support units from South Vietnam; Whereas, on April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, effectively placing South Vietnam under Communist control; Whereas more than 58,000 members of the Armed Forces of the United States lost their lives in the Vietnam war, and more than 300,000 members of the Armed Forces of the United States were wounded in Vietnam; Whereas many thousands of veterans of the Vietnam war were exposed to Agent Orange and other harmful herbicides during the course of their service, carrying home delayed wounds of toxic exposure at the highest rate of any generation of veterans before; Whereas the Vietnam war was an extremely divisive issue back home in the United States, as a result of biased and shameful attacks from the media, academia, politicians, and many others