The evacuation of the embassy was completed at 07:53 on 30 April, but some Americans chose to stay or were left behind and some 400 third-country nationals were left at the embassy. [10] At 08:00 Lieutenant General Minh, commander of the RVNAF and 30 of his staff arrived at the DAO compound demanding evacuation, signifying the complete loss of RVNAF command and control. [9] Workers from Pacific Architects and Engineers visited each of the 13 LZs to remove obstructions and paint H's the size of a UH-1 Huey helicopter's skids. They were the last American ground casualties in Vietnam. [6] The fall of Xun Lc on 21 April and the resignation of President Nguyn Vn Thiu on 21 April brought greater crowds seeking evacuation to the DAO Compound as it became apparent that South Vietnam's days were numbered. Major Kean contacted the Seventh Fleet to advise them of his airlift requirements; until that time the fleet believed that all evacuees had been bussed from the embassy to the DAO Compound and that only two helicopters would be required to evacuate Ambassador Martin and the Marines from the embassy. [10]:196 The plan for the evacuation included stationing buses and American civilian bus drivers at 28 buildings throughout metropolitan Saigon. Please click a thumbnail to view the larger image. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th MAB, flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin; he later said, "The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador". Once completed, the new defensive perimeter encompassed only LZ 36 and the Alamo. The airlift resulted in a number of enduring images. [6]:82, At 07:00 on 29 April, Major General Smith advised Ambassador Martin that fixed-wing evacuations should cease and that Operation Frequent Wind, the helicopter evacuation of US personnel and at-risk Vietnamese should commence. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. Twenty-six ships of Task Force 76, including the Kirk, converged on the South China Sea for Operation Frequent Windthe evacuation of Saigon. Size of this PNG preview of this SVG file: Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents. RVNAF F-5s took off in pursuit, but they were unable to intercept the A-37s. [35], On the afternoon of 29 April 1975, Hubert van Es, a Saigon-based photographer for United Press International, took the iconic photo of Operation Frequent Wind of an Air America UH-1 on a rooftop picking up Vietnamese evacuees. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. The Kirks legacy, however, is bound up in compassion and mercy; the little DE was an integral part of the rescue of tens of thousands of refugees. Pay tribute to a Vietnam War Hero past or present and hear the stories of Operation Frequent Wind and the Fall of Saigon from those who lived it. [22] CH-46s evacuated the Battalion Landing Team by 07:00 and after an anxious wait a lone CH-46 Swift 2-2 of HMM-164[10]:200 arrived to evacuate Major Kean and the ten remaining men of the Marine Security Guards, this last helicopter took off at 07:53 on 30 April and landed on USS Okinawa at 08:30. [21] From the billowing incinerator on the embassy roof floated intelligence documents and US currency, most charred; some not. Eventually the ARVN commander controlling the gates agreed to permit the remaining buses to enter the compound. and eight destroyer types for naval gunfire, escort, and area defense, including: The USSEnterprise and USSCoral Sea carrier attack groups of Task Force 77 in the South China Sea provided air cover while Task Force 73 ensured logistic support. See also: Operation New Life, Operation Babylift and Operation New Arrivals. The airlift resulted in a number of enduring images. The RVNAF pilots had been instructed after dropping off their passengers to ditch their helicopters and they would then be picked up by one of the ship's tenders. Homer asks the helicopter pilot if they are being taken to an aircraft carrier and is told that "the closest vessel is the USS Walter Mondale. The Kirks crew did what they could to repair those that were seaworthy and transfer people from others that were to be abandoned. When U.S. President Gerald Ford met with the National Security Council on 9 April 1975 he was told by Henry Kissinger that a maximum of 1.7 million people had been identified as possible evacuees and that these included: American citizens and their relatives, the diplomatic corps, the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), third-country nationals under contract by the U.S. government and the employees of the U.S. and their dependents (estimated at about 200,000 people). In the spring of 1975, Hanois latest offensive rapidly gained momentum, and by April 20th, defeat outside Saigon spelled the end of organized ARVN resistance. [10]:197, 9th MAB intelligence photo of the DAO Compound with LZs marked, 9th MAB post-operation map of the DAO Compound and Air America Compound with LZs marked, A Marine provides security as helicopters land at the DAO Compound, Vietnamese evacuees board a CH-53 at LZ 39, Aerial reconnaissance photos of the destroyed DAO Headquarters building with Air America Compound in the foreground, On 25 April, 40 Marines from the 9th MAB on USS Hancock were flown in by Air America helicopters in civilian clothes to the DAO compound to augment the 18 Marine Security Guards assigned to defend the embassy; an additional six Marines were assigned to protect Ambassador Martin. Once completed, the new defensive perimeter encompassed only LZ 36 and the Alamo. [20] By 10:30 all of Air America's fixed-wing aircraft had departed Tan Son Nhut, evacuating all non-essential personnel and as many Vietnamese evacuees as they could carry and headed for Thailand. Several weeks before Saigon fell, Armitage had met with Captain Kiem Do, RVNN deputy chief of staff, to plan the rescue of its ships when the government surrendered. American administration plans for final evacuation By this time the Ford administration had also begun planning a complete evacuation of the American presence. The Pittman Building was not an approved LZ, but when the agreed pickup point at the Lee Hotel at 6 Chien Si Circle was declared unusable, CIA Station Chief Tom Polgar asked Oren B. Harnage, Deputy Chief of the Embassy's Air Branch to change the pickup to the Pittman Building, which was the home of the Assistant Station Chief and had an elevator shaft believed capable of supporting the weight of a Huey. On 28 April, Tan Son Nhut Air Base (next to the airport) came under artillery fire and attack from Vietnamese People's Air Force aircraft. They were evacuated to Bangkok on 1 August 1976. U.S. officials decided to stop using the less maneuverable C-141s, which had been loaded with up to 316 evacuees, and use only C-130s, which had been taking off with more than 240. [20]:20, At 11:00 the security situation at the Air America compound was deteriorating as General Carey did not wish to risk his Marines by extending his perimeter to cover the Air America compound (LZ 40), so all Air America helicopters from this time operated out of the tennis courts in the DAO Annex (LZ 35). Marine corporals McMahon and Judge, killed at the DAO compound, were the only members of US forces killed in action during the operation and they were the last US ground casualties in Vietnam. Desperate aircrews with ubiquitous Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters ferried families and friends to the flight decks of U.S. Navy warships. [40], In The Simpsons at the end of Episode 16 of Season 6, "Bart vs. Australia", the Simpsons are evacuated from the American Embassy as angry Australians gather outside in a scene reminiscent of Hubert van Es's famous photo. On 2 May, Task Force 76, carrying the Operation Frequent Wind evacuees and 44,000 seaborne evacuees and the RVN Navy group set sail for reception centers in the Philippines and Guam.[8]. Around 12:00 five or six RVNAF UH-1Hs and one of the stolen ICCS UH-1Hs, were circling around Blue Ridge. The curtain of haze over Saigon so altered the diminished daylight that line of sight visibility was only a mile. [6] President Ford, in an address to the American public on 11 April, promised to evacuate Vietnamese civilians of various categories. [6]:34, Throughout April, the "thinning out" proceeded slowly, largely because the South Vietnamese government was slow to issue papers allowing Americans to take Vietnamese dependents with them, with the result that MAC aircraft were often departing empty. It was carried out on 2930 April 1975, during the last days of the Vietnam War. Martin told them that he would not tolerate any outward signs that the United States intended to abandon South Vietnam. "[15] Frank Snepp later recalled the arrival of helicopters at the embassy while the song was playing over the radio as a "bizarre Kafkaesque time". Rather than loading as many evacuees as possible, each evacuee was required to have a seat and a seatbelt, reducing the number of passengers that could be carried on each flight to 94 in a C-141 and 75 in a C-130. [18] Disgruntled ARVN troops repeatedly hit American helicopters with small arms fire throughout the evacuation, without causing serious damage. [20]:30, At 14:06 two UH-1E Huey helicopters carrying General Carey and Colonel Alfred M. Gray Jr. (commander of Regimental Landing Team 4 (RLT4)) landed at the DAO Compound. When U.S. President Gerald Ford met with the National Security Council on 9 April 1975 he was told by Henry Kissinger that a maximum of 1.7 million people had been identified as possible evacuees and that these included: American citizens and their relatives, the diplomatic corps, the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS), third-country nationals under contract by the U.S. government and the employees of the U.S. and their dependents (estimated at about 200,000 people). [10]:191192, The HMH-462 CH-53s loaded with evacuees and left the compound, they unloaded the first evacuees delivered by Operation Frequent Wind at 15:40. [33], The Cessna O-1 Bird Dog that Major Buang landed on USS Midway is now on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. [3]:258 The total number of Vietnamese evacuated by Frequent Wind or self-evacuated and ending up in the custody of the United States for processing as refugees to enter the United States totalled 138,869. On board the USS Hancock, a South Vietnamese CH-47 helicopter is pushed over the fantail to make room for A third wave of two CH-53s from HMH-463 and eight USAF CH-53Cs and two USAF HH-53s of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (all operating from USS Midway) arrived shortly afterwards. [20] With its available fleet of only 20 Hueys (3 of which were impounded, ditched or damaged at TF76), Air America had moved over 1,000 evacuees to the DAO Compound, the Embassy or out to the ships of TF76. Called Operation Frequent Wind, the plan involved the use of U. S. Air Force helicopters to ferry the evacuees from landing zones around Saigon to ships of the Seventh Fleet waiting off shore, including the USS Midway [35], On the afternoon of 29 April 1975, Hubert van Es, a Saigon-based photographer for United Press International, took the iconic photo of Operation Frequent Wind of an Air America UH-1 on a rooftop picking up Vietnamese evacuees. Despite receiving sporadic PAVN AAA fire, USAF and USN aircraft made no attacks on AAA or SAM sites during the evacuation. The U.S. Embassy in Saigon was intended to only be a secondary evacuation point for embassy staff, but it was soon overwhelmed with evacuees and desperate South Vietnamese. [30], For an operation of the size and complexity of Frequent Wind, casualties were relatively light. This will be followed by the playing of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas. Operation Frequent Wind Nulla vel risus et eros sollicitudin pulvinar et in odio. A third wave of two CH-53s from HMH-463 and eight USAF CH-53Cs and two USAF HH-53s of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (all operating from USS Midway) arrived shortly afterwards. [36][37] The building in the photo was the Pittman Apartment building at 22 Gia Long Street (now 22 L T Trng Street), which was used as a residence by various embassy, CIA, and USAID employees. The note read "Can you move these helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly 1 hour more, we have enough time to move. WebIn April and May 1975, while on her final WestPac tour, Hancock was one of the ships that conducted the evacuation of South Vietnam when that long-suffering country was overrun by North Vietnamese forces. The Marines closed and bolted the chancery door, the elevators were locked by Seabees on the sixth floor and the Marines withdrew up the stairwells locking grill gates behind them. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th MAB, flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin; he later said, "The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador". [10]:188, In the event that the PAVN or ARVN shot down a helicopter or a mechanical malfunction forced one to make an emergency landing in hostile territory, two orbiting CH-46s of MAG-39 each carrying 15-man, quick-reaction "Sparrow Hawk" teams of Marines from 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, from USS Blue Ridge, were ready to land and provide security enabling a search and rescue helicopter to pick up the crew. [10]:188, As part of the evacuation plan agreed with the DAO, Air America committed 24 of its 28 available helicopters to support the evacuation and 31 pilots agreed to stay in Saigon to support the evacuation; this meant that most helicopters would have only one pilot rather than the usual two. [10]:201 CH-46F Swift 1-4 of HMM-164 from USS Hancock flown by Captain William C. Nystul[31] and First Lieutenant Michael J. Shea[32] crashed into the sea on its approach to the ship after having flown a night sea and air rescue mission. They were evacuated to Bangkok on 1 August 1976. [3], The two major evacuation points chosen for Operation Frequent Wind were the DAO Compound next to Tan Son Nhut Airport for American and Vietnamese civilian evacuees, and the U.S. Embassy, Saigon for embassy staff. A C-130 Airborne Command and Control controlled all US air operations over land. At this time, the embassy indicated that another 19 lifts would complete the evacuation. By mid-April, contingency plans were in place and preparations were underway for a possible helicopter evacuation. each carrying Marine, and Air Force (eight 21st Special Operations Squadron CH-53s and two 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron HH-53s[11]) helicopters. Hugh van Es believed that Miss Saigon misappropriated his photo and considered legal action against the show, but decided against it.
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