Vietnam

The idea of an "affordable manicure" was once an oxymoron. That's before Vietnamese immigrants arrived in the U.S. and cornered the market for inexpensive nail-care salons. The industry has offered a path to self-sufficiency for many Vietnamese-Americans in California and around the nation.

When Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and the reporters traveling with him were driven from Hanoi's airport into the city, the police officers escorting the motorcade were tough on the city's scooter riders.

In Hanoi, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta returned a North Vietnamese soldier's diary. Vietnam's defense minister gave Panetta an American Army sergeant's letters. The exchange marks another milestone in the countries' relations.

With its step-by-step return to Asia, the U.S. is looking for ways to send a message to China without picking a fight. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is visiting the region, emphasizing that the U.S. is back but with a much lighter touch. In Vietnam, he's hoping to build stronger defense ties.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is on a week-long trip to Asia, with stops in Singapore, Vietnam and India. As NPR's Larry Abramson tells host Rachel Martin, Panetta's trip highlights the Pentagon's new strategic focus on China and the Pacific.

Vietnam veterans never got the homecoming many feel they deserved. On Monday, a group of veterans, the Department of Defense and others will begin the first of many ceremonies to honor those who served and commemorate the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War. Events will be planned over the next 13 years, concluding with the fall of Saigon. Many will gather Monday at the Vietnam Memorial Wall for a wreath ceremony, including President Obama.

The unlikely bond between a nurse and one of her many patients began at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Ann Remington was with her brother, Army pilot Scott Saboe, when he got a POW/MIA bracelet — on it, the name of an Army airman who went missing in action in Vietnam. Scott died a few months later when his helicopter was shot down in Iraq. Ann found the bracelet in his things and kept it. Years later, the nurse was interviewing a new patient, World War II veteran Ted Soyland, and the name sounded familiar.

More than 40 years after his actions during the Vietnam war saved the lives of his fellow soldiers, Army Specialist Leslie H. Sabo Jr. posthumously received the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Horst Faas, who captured iconic moments during the Vietnam War, has died. In 1997, he talked to Terry Gross about covering the conflict. "Being in Vietnam and being around a major story of the time was always a great shot of adrenaline," he said.

When Ralph Bozella came home from Vietnam in 1972, he was happy he’d survived and was ready to get on with life.Because he had escaped any serious wounds…