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Fall of Saigon, 40 Years On
Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. I think the Ricochet community would benefit from hearing from any members who may have been in — or offshore of — South Vietnam at the time, whether serving in the American military, employed by other US government agencies, or struggling to escape the communists to begin a new life in the USA. Anyone, for that matter, who was around at the time who would like to talk about it.
I would be greatly appreciative of people’s thoughts on this. It was clearly a very profound event in the lives of many. PBS is airing a new documentary on the commemoration called the “Last Days in Vietnam.”
Image Credit: “Saigon-hubert-van-es” by Source. Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Fall of Saigon” <href=”Saigon-hubert-van-es.jpg”/>Fair use via Wikipedia.
Published in General
Saw this last night. Really well done and completely engrossing.
I remember this from the news. My dad, who served many years there, shook his head and poured a scotch.
The Orange County Register, principal newspaper of Orange County, California, proud home of a large and vibrant Vietnamese-American community and “Little Saigon,” has a long story today, detailing how a number of OC residents were able to escape South Vietnam during this turbulent time:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/nguyen-659998-says-vietnamese.html
Me, too. My father was there as a combat correspondent—had spent ’72-’73 there. I remember him watching the news more clearly than the news itself.
Years later, I was having lunch with Dad at the little cafeteria on the ground floor of his office building in DC. The guy making sandwiches behind the counter was Vietnamese, I guess, though I wouldn’t necessarily have known this myself, but anyway, Dad looked at him, looked at his name tag, greeted him in Vietnamese and said, with complete presence and sincerity, “I’m glad you’re here.”
From a fellow Marine who attended a ceremony on the Midway in San Diego:
I thought that you might enjoy the following short recap of what I experienced this past weekend, especially since most on this mailing list also served in Vietnam. I live in San Diego and USS Midway has been docked here for a number of years as a floating museum. It has become one of the largest tourist attractions in town. This past Sunday, a special 40 year anniversary celebration was held on the flight deck. It was jointly sponsored by the local Vietnamese community, local military and others. I decided that I would go to the event. I left a couple of hours early, as I figured it would be pretty crowded. And it was.
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The helicopters and fixed wing aircraft many of us flew are all positioned on the flight deck on static display. In addition to the many tourists that were there, probably a couple of thousand Vietnamese-Americans were onboard as well. They were handing out American and South Vietnamese flags to everyone, as well as putting on a show of Vietnamese culture on the stage that had been set up. When the speeches began, the first to talk was the CEO of the Midway Foundation. He didn’t pull any punches… and I loved it. He talked of how our own government had caved when we were within a week of outright winning the war (as noted in General Vo Nguyen Giap’s memoirs). He also talked of the panic at the embassy 40 years ago today. And how the Americans, especially the Marine helo pilots, saved as many South Vietnamese as they could that day. ..
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He was followed on stage by the then Captain of Midway in 1975 and his Air Boss. They relayed some great stories of what they had to do that day to get the South Vietnamese helos onboard (or ditch next to the ship) to save them. He also relayed how he countermanded the Admiral’s orders not to let an O-1 Birddog land with a family onboard, as he had the Air Boss shove the already landed helos over the side, turned into the wind with a little over 40 kts across the deck so that the Birddog could now have a ready deck and land. The Captain said that he thought that he would probably be court-martialed for his actions.
(cont’d)
I happened tohave on a ball cap that said “U.S. Marines” on the bill. Now, here is where it gets really touching. And why we should all feel very proud of what we did serving our country. The first thing that occurred was that a man of Vietnamese descent came up to me and thanked me (ALL OF YOU) for doing the best we could to save their country from communism. He was just a child during that day in 1975, today he is a doctor. Next, the first South Vietnamese woman to be offloaded on the carrier gave a speech and was in tears the entire time, as were many of those the U.S. saved that day. When she saw found out that I had been a Marine helicopter pilot, she broke down completely. Again, I received her compliments for all of us, and I told her that as well. Other speakers are now judges and political representatives… Conservatives all.
So, to wrap it up… guys you done good! These people have made a successful life for themselves in this country… and as with a lot of other legal immigrants to the U.S. they have a great love for this country and quite frankly appreciate it more than a lot of our own natural born citizens. There are many videos of what occurred that day. Below are a few. Look closely and you will see Nguyen Cao Ky in at least one of them.
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Once again, am passing on the gratitude of those I met on Sunday to all of you who couldn’t be there. BTW, then Marine Capt Gerry Berry flew for over 18 hours into the early morning of the next day and brought the reluctant ambassador out… Operation “Frequent Wind” was over, as was America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Gerry is receiving this email, as is Quang Nguyen… a proud Vietnamese-American that a lot of you know.
Semper Fi,
Rog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i_pztQp0kM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn2DL8MFatk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lI1uoFSP2k
Sorry about all the cut-n-paste but the new reimposition of word limit makes it necessary.
For those interested in a detailed and extremely well researched work on the fall, consider reading
Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-75
I don’t have any first-hand experience with it, being born in ’72, but my high school girlfriend was a refugee from South Vietnam. Her father was a South Vietnamese paratroop sergeant, and they fled when Saigon fell, when Lan was just three years old. She told me that they had arranged for a boat, but when they came to take it, the man cheated them. In the end, they wound up on some kind of small boat out in the ocean, with nothing to eat but rice. A Navy destroyer found them and rescued them, and they arrived in California. They’re Catholic, and the Catholic church was helping resettle refugees, and they moved to Arkansas. Eventually, Lan and two of her sisters moved to my county in East Tennessee with their much older brother, an ALCOA engineer, to attend our excellent high school, and that’s when I met them.
Out of the seven children, I believe all went to college (three were with me at Rhodes College). Two…maybe three are doctors, at least one is an engineer.
Is it not amazing how many immigrant families do so well in our country while the ghettos don’t seem to be able to produce success.
My dad was stationed in the RVN from 1966 to 1968. He also helped to coordinate the evacuation of the American Embassy and the Baby Life.
His stories of knavery and bravery are quite something to hear. I wish he’d get serious about writing his book.