VBC programs connect and heal,
educate and inspire.
Everyone is always welcome.

The Veterans Breakfast Club (VBC) is the nation’s premier non-profit for connecting veterans with their fellow Americans through inspiring stories of service.

Our goal is to build a nation that understands and values the experiences of our military veterans so that every day is Veterans Day.

We do this by bringing together–in-person and online–men and women from all walks of life, all ages and eras, and every branch of service to talk about what they’ve seen and done. We want to hear how people’s military service has shaped them. “Every Veteran Has a Story” is our slogan. We want to hear every one.

We share the stories we hear in our weekly VBC Bulletin email newsletter and our quarterly VBC Magazine. We also record a weekly podcast, The Scuttlebutt, about military culture from the people who lived it.

We do all this because we believe the best way to thank a Veteran is to listen.

Listening is what the VBC has been doing for the past 15 years, when we held our first small event outside of Pittsburgh. Since then, we’ve held over 1,000 programs in-person and online and have welcomed over 20,000 different people at our events, Veterans and non-Veterans coming together to listen.

We value every veteran’s experience, no matter who they are or when or how they served. We’ve seen up close the power of storytelling, as the memories shared at VBC events connect, heal, educate, and inspire an ever-expanding circle of listeners.

At any given event, you might hear from the newest members of Space Force to a 101-year-old World War II veteran.

We’ve welcomed Tin Can Sailors and Montford Point Marines, Vietnam Sky Soldiers and Cold War intelligence officers. We’ve heard stories from the Horn of Africa to Antarctica, the Bering Sea to Diego Garcia, and all points in between.

LORAN Coast Guardsmen and Radar Station Airmen have told us about serving in some of the most remote places on earth.

Korean War veterans have borne witness to their “forgotten war.”

Other “forgotten warriors” shared their memories of Beirut, Grenada, and Mogadishu.

Some of the first women authorized for combat shared stories of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the Purple Hearts they received.

Join us at our events and help keep these stories alive.

All you need to do is listen.

Every Veteran Has a Story.
Hear Them Now.

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Featured Stories

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UPCOMING EVENTS

The Fall of Saigon, 50 Years Later

Date: April 28, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Location: Zoom, Facebook, YouTube
Events | Online Events
Fall of Saigon

We commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon by sharing stories of Vietnamese and American veterans of the Vietnam War. We also welcome expert historian Jay Veith, whose books include Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-1975, Drawn Swords in a Distant Land: South Vietnam’s Shattered Dreams, and Code Name Bright Light: The Untold Story of U.S. POW Rescue Efforts During the Vietnam War.

The Fall of Saigon marked the official end of the Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, bringing about the unconditional surrender of the South Vietnamese government and reunifying Vietnam under communist rule.

In early 1975, North Vietnam launched the Spring Offensive, a massive military campaign aimed at defeating South Vietnam. U.S. forces had largely withdrawn after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, which were supposed to ensure peace and political resolution. However, fighting resumed almost immediately, and by March 1975, North Vietnamese forces began sweeping through the Central Highlands with little resistance. City after city fell—Ban Me Thuot, then Hue, then Da Nang. The South Vietnamese military, riddled with corruption, low morale, and logistical failures, crumbled quickly.

By mid-April, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) had surrounded Saigon. Panic gripped the city. Over two million residents—government officials, soldiers, and civilians—feared brutal retribution from communist forces. The U.S., which had drastically reduced its presence in Vietnam, prepared to evacuate remaining American personnel and as many South Vietnamese allies as possible.

The evacuation was codenamed Operation Frequent Wind. It began in earnest on April 29, as NVA shelling closed Tan Son Nhut Airport. Helicopters became the only viable means of escape. U.S. Marine and Air America helicopters shuttled people from the U.S. Embassy and other buildings in Saigon to ships offshore in the South China Sea. Scenes of desperate Vietnamese civilians scaling embassy walls, clinging to departing helicopters, and crowding onto rooftops became iconic images of the war’s chaotic end.

During the final days, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin remained in denial, delaying evacuation and worsening the chaos. Only about 7,000 Vietnamese were airlifted out in time. Tens of thousands more were left behind.

On the morning of April 30, the last U.S. Marines guarding the embassy were airlifted out under fire. At around 11:30 AM, North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace. President Duong Van Minh, who had been appointed only days earlier in a last-ditch effort to negotiate a peaceful handover, surrendered unconditionally.

The war was over. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, and the South Vietnamese government ceased to exist. Tens of thousands of former South Vietnamese officials, military officers, and intellectuals were sent to reeducation camps. A mass exodus of refugees began—many fled by boat, leading to the “boat people” crisis in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The Fall of Saigon was not just a military collapse but a symbol of the United States’ failure to achieve its objectives in Vietnam despite years of fighting, enormous casualties, and massive financial investment. It left a deep scar on American foreign policy and military planning and redefined how the U.S. approached future conflicts.

We’re grateful to UPMC for Life  for sponsoring this event!

 

IN-PERSON Event Sewickley, PA – Wednesday, April 30 @ 8:30am-10:30am

Date: April 30, 2025
Time: 8:30 am - 10:30 am
Location: Christ Church Grove Farm (249 Duff Rd, Sewickley, PA 15143)
Events | In-Person Events
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Come to our live, in-person breakfast in Sewickley, PA.

We meet at Christ Church Grove Farm (249 Duff Rd, Sewickley, PA 15143). You’ll walk in, pick up your name badge, pay $20 ($15 for VBC Members, no cost for those who don’t eat), and meet others who are there to hear and share the stories. Breakfast is served at 8:30am. At 9:00am, we start the program. For the next 90 minutes, we circulate the room with the microphone and have veterans share a slice of their service experience. You never know what you’re going to hear, and there’s always new people with new memories to offer.

RSVP by calling 412-623-9029 or emailing betty@veteransbreakfastclub.org. Please make sure to RSVP for events at least two days in advance. We understand that your schedule can change quickly, but advance notice of attendance always helps us and our venues prepare the program. Thank you!

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PAST EVENTS

Streamed live on March 3, 2025 Former Navy SeaBees join us for a conversation marking the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy’s Construction Battalions on March 5, 1942. Formed in response to the urgent need for military construction forces capable of working under combat conditions, the Seabees...
Streamed live on March 3, 2025 Former Navy SeaBees join us for a conversation marking the 83rd anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Navy’s...
Streamed live on February 20, 2025 We are proud to welcome two amateur historians who have changed our understanding of one of the most iconic...
Streamed live on February 17, 2025 We welcome Major General William M. Matz Jr., a distinguished retired U.S. Army officer, whose new book, My Toughest...
Streamed live on February 13, 2025 Glenn Flickinger marks the 80th anniversary of the Yalta Conference with a conversation with experts and historians. Yalta was...
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The mission of the Veterans Breakfast Club is to create communities of listening around veterans and their stories to ensure that this living history will never be forgotten.  We believe that through our work, people will be connected, educated, healed, and inspired.

INTRODUCING THE VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

Preserving veterans’ stories so that this living history is never forgotten.

We pair passionate VBC volunteers with military veterans for one-on-one oral history interviews over Zoom. If you are a veteran, or you know a veteran, who would be interested in sharing his or her story with us, let us know. If you are someone interested in conducting these interviews, please reach out!

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Your weekly dose of veterans’ stories, military news, and the latest headlines, all in one place

Watch and listen to the Scuttlebutt, the VBC’s podcast dedicated to understanding military culture. Hosted by Shaun Hall, Director of Programming. New episode every Monday at 6AM ET.

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Latest Blog Posts

Written by Todd DePastino After reading our Veterans Breakfast Club blog post on the Australian slouch hat, retired Australian Regular Army Warrant Officer Class II...
Written by Todd DePastino Jack Reid of the Veterans Group of Pine Hills in Plymouth, Massachusetts, recently shared with us the World War II journal...
Written by Todd DePastino Manchu: A Brotherhood of Sacrifice is a new documentary film that chronicles the Vietnam War through the eyes of the U.S....
Image via Pexels Written by Sidney Allen of CiviliansforVets.org Leaving military service often marks the beginning of a new journey. For many veterans, that journey...
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