Drivers on the 405 Freeway through Westminster will now officially be traversing the “Little Saigon Freeway.”

Community leaders, elected officials and veterans celebrated the designation of the 405 between Bolsa Avenue and Bolsa Chica Street in commemoration of the Vietnamese American community that settled in Orange County — the brown signs unveiled on Friday, April 18.

Assemblymember Tri Ta, R-Westminster, who pushed for the designation in the California Legislature, said the signs will “help the future generations understand the sacrifices of the first generation that came here.”

The designation is one way, Ta said, to show support for Vietnamese people both overseas and in the U.S., and to honor the sacrifices of both South Vietnamese and American soldiers.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law the bill that designated the Little Saigon portion of the 405 in September.

Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen said at the time that the designation “is a source of pride and honor for all Vietnamese Americans as this burgeoning community has contributed so much to the growth and prosperity of Orange County and California and to this nation in the past five decades.”

“And for these reasons, virtually most of the Vietnamese American elected officials, at all levels throughout California, have agreed to push for its passage,” Nguyen said in a prior statement in support.

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The freeway designation comes as the Little Saigon community commemorates the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, when communist forces in the north took over South Vietnam on April 30, 1975. Scores of Vietnamese people fled the communist regime, many by boats, and found a home in Orange County, where the Little Saigon area is considered the largest diaspora community of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam.

“Fifty years ago, we left Saigon and came here for freedom, and for the last 50 years, the Vietnamese community, we continue to fight for freedom,” said Ta.

“Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,” he said.

Funding for the signs came from private donors, according to Ta’s office; no taxpayer funds were used.

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