"Vietnam: The Soldier's Story" Doc. Vol. 6 - "Last Chopper Out: The Fall of Saigon"

[Music] March 1975 the North Vietnamese Army heads south on its way to capture Saigon here just an incredible and it was like a chain reaction South Vietnamese civilians and army deserters flee for the onrushing invaders anxious crowds hammer at the gates of the American Embassy hoping for a way out the terror and fear in people's eyes and particularly those that were outside was ogress April 30th 1975 enemy approaches Saigon after more than 20 years the war was about to happen there's a panic at first and it was on this sort of fatalism to go the end was inevitable and there's nothing they could do about it [Music] [Applause] I'm Jack Smith and these are stories of the Vietnam War told by the people who know at best those who fought it I was one of them tonight we'll look at the tumultuous end of that war in April 1975 there are stories of tragedy and broken promises but also of courage during chaos and lives touched by uncommon bravery by 1973 the last American combat troops were gone from Vietnam the Americans still there were advisors embassy workers and guards around US installations and by 1975 Hanoi was ready for the last push south the final offensive [Music] early in March 1975 North Vietnamese troops capture the central highland city of bundy to 165 miles northwest of Saigon the noise strategy is to cut the country in half South Vietnamese morale is poor many units have not been paid in months with no US troops to stiffen them and facing a noise crack divisions South Vietnamese army breaks and South Vietnamese president to unaccountably orders the army to abandon the strategic central highways [Music] frightened refugees and soldiers clog the roads across the center of Vietnam and South Saigon [Music] by March 16th the flight of panic Vietnamese becomes known as the convoy of tears Jen Kashia Hara is there for ABC News all you would see would be people carrying what looked to be everything they owned on their backs were pulling it along carts heading south I mean it was an incredible convoy if you will of people who were abandoning their homes abandoning the safety of wherever they live just moving I'm not sure whether they knew where they were moving to all they think they knew is they were moving south so the roads were just clogged with people carrying anything that could demoralized southern soldiers lead the flight through the mountain passes of central Vietnam as North Vietnamese troops continue their relentless march toward Saigon cutter sparks a Marine Guard stationed at the American consulate in Danang 380 miles from Saigon calls the mood of the people did you see that panic it was almost like they didn't need to run but because everybody else was running I'm gonna run to Frank snap a CIA military analyst in South Vietnam knew earlier than most that the South Vietnamese Army would not stand and fight the CIA at the end of March one month before the end predicted that the South Vietnamese Army could not hold and it made a lot of sense because half of it had already collapsed in one two-week period I flew over the retreating South Vietnamese Army in the northern part of the country and they were literally running into the surf the army just kind of busted up and everybody the Vietnamese took their families so they clouded highway 1 which is coming into denying gun sound and I went up with an Air America and we could see what they call the high bond past which is coming out of 74 feeling confident it can end the war Hanoi decides to test Saigon and America's will that month North Vietnam captures the sparsely populated province a foot long 66 miles north of the capital to her newest surprise the South Vietnamese and the United States do not react to its bold booth meeting with little resistance with Vietnam that launches its massive conventional partnered assault against South Vietnam his troops are all Regular Army us and in the myth guerrilla warfare forever Vietnamese tanks over on a multi-city after another the old imperial city of way mostly destroyed during the Tet Offensive in 1968 the shelled and now there are more than 250,000 frightened refugees champion with no American troops in Vietnam Congress has drastically cut money and supplies to Saigon under attack the South Vietnamese military is fast running out of arms and ammunition South Vietnam's president too orders his Armed Forces to abandon way 398 miles north of Saigon March 26th 16 days into their offensive the communists raise their flag over that ancient city for the first time since the Tet Offensive it is now impossible to stem the flow of refugees as the people move headlong down the coast as many as 6,000 Americans among them government officials construction workers and journalists still remain in South Vietnam they begin to worry about their fate but all they can do is watch and wait unsure of the outcome General Homer Smith commanded troops of Danang in 1969 and 1970 and he is now the United States defense attache to the South Vietnamese government when the close the high bandpass people had to come out by ocean and so it was almost another Dunkirk the capabilities of the Nang were just not enough to support that native population so we actually set merchant ships up there to help evacuate the people who are coming out people of all ages crowd into small boats barges and freighters choke the coastline [Music] [Music] [Music] and it was so chaotic that they were people throwing babies just to barges in mission and the babies were falling into water and we're letting the women up with babies some of the old people first and we take the baby put him in a water bucket and pull him up to the side of the ship in the meantime their mamas would get up the side and we'd have to be back some of the other people they were really panic and they were afraid we were going to leave chaos Bounce at the Danang Airport people are desperate to get out recovers the story to the Associated Press one evacuating plane from the Maine had a South Vietnamese clinging to the landing gear and it was that kind of panic I think that really lost the war the scenes were tumultuous private individuals try to help World Airways president it daily offers to evacuate high-risk Vietnamese civilians who work for the Americans and fear reprisals from the North Vietnamese hysteria results when almost 300 men mostly army deserters forced their way aboard dailies play the last evacuation flight to Saigon March 30th Danang Falls South Vietnam's second-largest city only 380 miles from Saigon is in North Vietnam's hands nothing except time stands in the way of annoys had long drive toward the company when Danang fell the South Vietnamese Army gave up that's when it really went into disarray there were thousands of desertions and the commanders were bugging out and trying to flee and there was no one in command they were panicking and mad at the same time the way they treated their own people and bother the Americans but the way they were treating their own people life someone slap him hit him with rifle shoot him break into stores just basically do whatever they felt like they want to do the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong were sort of taking over the country that seemed like from the top to the bottom I saw this wave coming down the country and at one point I remember we flew up to quinion which is on the Central Coast spent the night there there's no point people were just leaving the city off in the distance I can hear artillery fire and that just seems to quicken the tempo of exodus from this city so I remember going to the airport and finding the airport absolutely deserted the control tower was deserted everybody was gone because the North Vietnamese were coming into the town Joshua Hara and his crew talked their way onto one of the last flights to Saigon I sat on the floor and flew back to Saigon so I think I think beginning at that point it was clear to me that the whole country was though many Americans and Vietnamese know the country is doomed there are still American officials in the Capitol who hide from the truth ambassador Graham Martin tries to deny the possibility of the coming defeat the Ambassador had imposed his view on the American community trying to convince all of us to stay calm not to panic not to pack up because he thought that would send the wrong signal to the South Vietnamese themselves so very few of the Americans in the official community really knew what was going on there's no television were damn few radios there were no newspapers so the only words they got were through the grapevine and down that way the mood was otherworld I had a sense that no one really appreciated the danger I since I was reading all the intelligence had a totally different view and I began to get very concerned that this imposed the sense of unreality would cause us never to plan for an evacuation but general Homer Smith is handling the evacuation of South Vietnamese who have an American connection either through work or marriage everyone fears a coming bloodbath by the marauding North Vietnamese initially Smith and his staff fly out some 200 Vietnamese a day but with the North Vietnamese Army getting closer to Saigon by the hour general Smith keeps evacuating more refugees on April 2nd at daily of World Airways again decides to assist the evacuation on his own this time he flies out 58 orphans who would be left behind when Saigon Falls his unauthorized flight gets so much publicity it becomes a goad to action inside the Ford White House the State Department tells general Smith to start evacuating thousands more Vietnamese orphans April the 4th 1975 especially equipped Air Force c5 a transport is loaded with 226 orphans most of the babies escorting the orphans to their new homes in the United States are 77 Americans must have been secretaries from the US Embassy so begins operation baby left fear and hope but once in the air the flight is in trouble got out over the South China Sea the rear ramp when it did it damage the control surfaces on the tail with his plane and distress the pilot makes a decision to turn back to Saigon the young captain who was flying it turning around brought it back into land and he lost it short of the runway short of the Saigon River jumped the river crashed and that was it [Music] I already call my exactly coming in and saying boss we have a disaster the c5 just crash toward the airbase and that you can look at and you can see the smoke 138 died in the crash including 78 orphans 39 civilians and military and 11 crew members we set up for a morgue over at the seventh-day Adventist Hospital bodies over there we got a few survivors and they were taken to the hospital there's a shattering shattering incident Marine Steve hasty takes part in the rescue operation and cannot forget what he saw we were taking the body parts off the helicopters we would run forward with stretchers just straight the body parts off the deck of the helicopter onto them the stretchers covered with a sheet although the first baby lift is an unexpected catastrophe the United States continues to successfully fly out thousands more orphans on April 4th the day of the baby lift disaster president too goes on television and attacks America for letting down his country he blames his military and his people for fleeing the communist juggernaut but he never accepts responsibility for his own failures calls for Q's resignation grow louder but he holds fast to his weakened presidency as the Communists raced toward Saigon where people wonder the strangely quiet streets of the city the mood is uncertain hundreds of thousands of people in South Vietnamese troops converge on the capital the United States prevails on South Vietnam to seal off the city so it will not be overrun with refugees and become even more impossible to govern those South Vietnam is on the brink of disaster there is still no announced plan for the evacuation of the more than 6,000 Americans who remain in the country but in the South China Sea more ships join the u.s. seventh Fleet every day by April the 7th only 28 days after the start of the Communist offensive everyone waits for the Americans to begin their own evacuation bandits are Vietnam everyone waits to see how long it will take Hanoi to capture its most coveted prize Saigon [Music] [Applause] [Music] by the end of the first week in April North Vietnamese troops controlled most of the country north and west of Saigon they're closer than ever to taking the capital then on April the 8th there is a stunning event so this jet airplane flying right evolved and jet airplanes don't fly over the city they never had before and then I saw something falling out of this airplane down in the area of the palace I said oh my god and all of a sudden two bombs dropped out and I'm going I don't believe this time they landed over the presidential palace it is an ominous attack that was a shock because first of all the Vietcong in the North Vietnamese didn't have airplanes so there was never any fear of attack from the air it was always on the ground behind the controls of a captured American jet is a dissident South Vietnamese Air Force pilot not the North Vietnamese the damage to the palace is slight and President Chu and his family escaped injury but it does not help morale as people wonder what will be next the airstrike on the presidential palace signified that there was no impunity for saigon even the palace itself was vulnerable after weeks of refusing to see the uncommon defeat people sense the end is near people actually thought there is going to be a bloodbath even to this day I've never seen anything like this they fear losing just in incredible and it was like a chain reaction but there is still some fight in Saigon troops starting April the 10th at the town of Swan Lok only 38 miles northeast of Saigon 5000 South Vietnamese Army troops go into battle against 40,000 hardened North Vietnamese soldiers I will hold on I will knock them down here even the previous two division was really vision though these South Vietnamese forces give Saigon a burst of hope the battle at Swan lock will be nothing more than a holding action everyone now wants to to resign everyone except the American ambassador Graham Martin he says - is the only president South Vietnam has and he should stay in office ambassador Martin who has been out of the country recuperating from an illness takes an unrealistic view of Saigon impending fate he'd missed the first part of the Communist offensive and I said mr. ambassador half of the South Vietnamese Army's gone he said well Frank I think not I think your intelligence is mistaken so the ambassador had a different point of view and why not his son had died in Vietnam he was a cold warrior of the old stripe and he was determined to hold that line he wasn't going to give up South Vietnam and he was not going to plan for let alone order an evacuation Martin believes if people see America planning an evacuation it will create panic no matter what Martin thinks some American officials take action without his knowledge or approval most evacuation plans were done by my staff we were the ones that are interfacing with Marines and with the Navy in fact yeah the Ambassador was not overly enthused about an evacuation Tony would a member of General Homer Smith special planning group makes the evacuation plans all evacuation planning under General Smith went underground and was was largely done in secret from the public actions taken at the Embassy general Smith ordered the evacuation he was in charge of the evacuation preparations which were not briefed to the Ambassador because of the ambassador's existence that no evacuation would be planned at first no one knows who the evacuees will be or how many will be allowed to leave we identified about over 25,000 people that for which the u.s. had responsibility to evacuate from Saigon and what followed what was called the black evacuation and the unreported evacuation in which that actual community was reduced to about 5,800 or somewhere close to that for the final evacuation plans go forward there are briefings on meeting places secret bus routes and secret messages to be broadcast over the American radio service being Crosby singing white Christmas be the signal for everyone to leave and leave quickly Wood trains volunteers in secret to handle the evacuation the fact that we had volunteers and not military personnel was because the Ambassador would not permit any active evacuation planning or training so we had to make do with American citizens who would volunteer to perform the evacuation of the American mission as the North Vietnamese close in on Saigon many believe the final evacuation will come sooner than anyone expects April 15th the Communists will have the ammunition dump at Benoit airbase only 22 miles from Saigon April 16th / Graham Martin's objections President Ford tells the American Embassy but all non-essential persons must leave Saigon bhiku 18th an advanced guard of North Vietnamese soldiers attacks the outskirts of Saigon by now the Communists control two-thirds of the country main North Vietnamese force is only a hundred miles from the calendar April 21st after 11 days of hard combat at Swan lock the remaining 600 South Vietnamese troops go down fighting Swan locked Falls that night president 2 goes on television and in a final scathing anti-american speech he resigns as president of South Vietnam when I arrived at the house at the mansion all of a sudden a number of teas aides came running across the driveway with bags heavy bags and you could hear the tinkle of metal hitting metal like wind chimes he was moving his gold out of the country reportedly 14 million dollars worth then I caught the whiff of whiskey in the car two had been drinking heavily he had shipped out most of his favorite art to Hong Kong he was moving his gold out of the country and he started weeping he started weeping to is a broken man fleeing a country on the brink of defeat despite ambassador Graham Martin's futile hope of a peaceful settlement on the streets and around the American Embassy the number of people clamoring to get out increases tenfold monoi is ready to move in for the kill while Saigon and Washington hold their breath it is April 21st 1975 President Chu is gone but the North Vietnamese will not negotiate with his hand-picked successor nor with the Americans a noise ultimatum all Americans must leave it even delays its final push into Saigon to give them time to get out but the evacuation is already under way by April 22nd 1975 44 days into their assault on South Vietnam Hanoi knows it can easily take the Kapiti but it delays a final military strike fearing American reprisals if Americans die in their attack [Music] in Saigon on April the 25th Colonel Harry summers assesses the mood of the capital was almost sort of fatalism to go through the end was inevitable and there's nothing we could do about it then there was some quasi panic of the US Embassy probably people trying to get in the embassy but the rest of town was quiet I mean very quiet as a matter of fact strangely quiet in Washington President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger are nervous so we're getting all these calls from Washington saying get this person out and get that person I'd get the other person after they had lists of people they wanted to evacuate it so we ran a lot of I guess what could be called black operations of the picking people up specific people and evacuating despite careful planning there is no guarantee if and when there will be a mass departure of Americans and Vietnamese we fully assumed after about the 20th of April that it could come at any time we were literally sleeping in an hour or so at a time from that from that day on because of the tense situation in the country despite the fear and tension the flights from Townsend Newt Airport outside Saigon protected by US Marines are still orderly people wait three or four days to get out and there is no panic but for the final evacuation to run smoothly the planners have other concerns our concern in Saigon was that you cannot predict the rate of collapse and the city was so large and had the population so intense at this point that we thought we would only have at best 12 hours after we began in order to complete our actions the strategy is to move people by helicopter and buses to the airport they select more than a dozen meeting places and pickup points they name bus routes in Saigon after trails of the Old West Chisholm and Aragon who do not know how to drive a bus become drivers whole concept here was to try to bring out as many people as possible on the evacuation routes using armored buses which we had armored inside so they didn't show that worked as it turned out pretty well in the last days of April big men a former general and an opponent of new in van to becomes the leader of what remains of South Vietnam Hanoi is willing to negotiate with big men but the superstitious general will take office only when the planets are properly aligned but annoy cannot wait [Music] in the pre-dawn hours of April 27 enemy rockets hit Zygons waterfront partly destroy a Saigon salon the noose tightens around the desperate City Saigon is very tense John Valdez is one of eleven Marines at the American Embassy where crowds gather hoping for a way out there were people all around all the gates in the embassy you know people trying to to get out and there was a lot of traffic I remember that very well which made it very very hard for some of the vehicles that were still evacuating people to Thompson or even the buses made it very very difficult for them to remove at on salute Airport Marine Ted Marie senses a mood of uncertainty as people still wait calmly for the next plane out everybody had a fatalistic attitude of this is the N let's get out of here everybody knew from the past couple of weeks that it was just a question of time how much time do we have how much time has left how many people can we get out everybody wanted to get out April 28 annoy blasts Saigon Newport Bridge with Rockets South Vietnamese troops clashed with North Vietnamese infantry trying to cross the bridge into the city [Applause] [Music] early on the morning of April the 29th Communist rockets fall on tunson to the airport well one of those Rockets believe my wife and me out of bed I heard them come and shook us up we got off we got dressed we went over to our operation center the rocket attack at 0 400 on that morning was a wake-up call that the end was was closer than we all thought those Rockets take the lives of the last two American soldiers to die in combat in South Vietnam Marine corporal Charles McMahon jr. and Marine Lance Corporal Darwin W judge take a direct hit on their guard post near the main gate of the airport it brought home the fact that what was going to happen what could happen to all of us the Severinus of the situation and the fact that this wasn't a game this was something that had finally touched us it wasn't across the street now two of our own had died and it kind of sobered herself ambassador Martin decides to see the damage for himself his marine bodyguard Colin Broussard is with him we locked and loaded our rifles and machine guns and we went down the Main Street to Tom Stewart Air Base at that time artillery rounds were landing on the interface smoke to it was coming up and some to destroy aircraft and an ambassador could see firsthand what was going on clearly the runways are beyond repair and after conferring with General Homer Smith Martin calls Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Washington and tells him he will end all fixed-wing flights from Saigon so begins the evacuation by helicopter between Saigon and the fleet of the South China Sea pilot James Bolton starts flying that day and doesn't rest until he completes his mission there was a lot of burning black smoke coming up from the airport they had been shelling the airport for some time that's why the helicopters were going in now because the shells were coming in on the airfield the runways had been damaged so fixed wing was terminated helicopters of course we were already in the air now and it was a go we had no problems whatsoever not at Thompson oh no crying mother's screaming grandmother's no we had we had a little bit of consternation that morning because two more of those rockets what I'm landed up there and wounded a couple of people pilots called a helicopter landing zone at Thomson Hood Airport the Alamo it is America's last stand what was formerly one of the busiest airports in the world when all designated evacuees are finally in the air the helicopter pilots then shift their attention to the American Embassy operation frequent wind is about to begin [Music] [Music] dawn is approaching on April 29 1975 Japanese troops surround Saigon ambassador Graham Martin now invokes operation frequent wind the final curtain on America's long years in Vietnam though unhappy Martin realizes all is lost evacuation is off pre-arranged signals go out over the radio Bing Crosby sings white Christmas people take one overnight bag and hurry to their departure point the convoys began moving and picking up people on their assigned routes got lost several times it wasn't hard to get lost in the confusion of Saigon that day by and large they function very well there were mobs running in different directions there was a lot of feeling going on and terms I think most of it in the air but you couldn't tell we had a bus flipped over by a mob you don't know the power of a mob until you see a bus picked up and thrown over and eventually they picked up my Jeep and threw it over so we had to get off and find our way to a bus men and women make their way to rooftop landing zones around the city helicopters arrived to load passengers for their flight to freedom he still brought about 1200 people off the roofs of these fortified buildings which also had radios sea rations and water placed on the roofs well in advance outside the gates of the embassy traffic is snarf inside there is disorder there was thousands of people jam with a new Hollis in the embassy totally unplanned for and the embassy had no idea whatsoever what to do with the cross got bigger and bigger larger and larger you know more people wanted to get out the people were pretty much panic they all wanted to get out of there you know we're rushing them to the choppers putting him on the choppers taking on another once landing we're getting sixty more people there a sea of humanity surrounds the gates and walls of the embassy threatening to engulf it [Music] pushing toward the fence surrounding the embassy was a 14-foot wall the Marines on the other side we're in danger being stampeded and you had the same scene of the Marines kicking me hitting them with rifle butts major Jim Jean is in charge of the 11 Marines of the American Embassy there were people trying to pay off the Marines on the wall Chinese businessman had a brown paper sack full of uncut gems he handed up to a marine and then he handed a baby up all he wanted to do was send the baby up in the membrane you know he handed him back his sack and his and the child and said I can't do it tension increases as geri-beri pilots his packed helicopter non-stop between the 7th fleet and the American Embassy a round trip of three hours this is absolute chaos one the crowd is not getting a smaller if anything is getting larger and it's kind of like the bottomless pit every time you land there's more people there there were before and there were a bunch of goons we called them Cowboys that were deserters and so on that were armed that were shooting at the helicopters and and we could see the tracers and a lot of the helicopter shot had holes in them and it was very disconcerting because one crash [Music] fearing revenge from the North Vietnamese South Vietnamese soldiers desert in droves to discard their uniforms and change into civilian clothes then they become part of the crowds where are they wandering the streets along with other Saigon ease they break into and loot to the main American commissary and deserted American residences [Music] you've got these soldiers and civilians running around looting American apartment buildings that the Americans had evacuated they were taking refrigerators stereos and he leftover food these people were thugs I mean they really were they were foods the last-minute evacuation by helicopter is surprisingly orderly but there is confusion and shock among the Vietnamese [Music] family separated they arrived on different ships and some relatives are left behind toby Hainsworth is a sailor aboard the carrier Midway when refugees arrive the people themselves were very subdued they were quiet it seemed to me there was a mixture of a relief that they had gotten out fatigued because many of them had travelled many miles to get to Saigon in hopes of getting out one way or the other sadness of having left home [Music] suddenly a flood of South Vietnamese army helicopters carrying unauthorized refugees fills the skies with the South China Sea gunnery sergeant Russell Thurman has a front row seat on his evacuation helicopter guy was like black with helicopters so knees and say tensions were kind of high because those helicopters are trying to land on our ship it was just amazing to see them flying out in hopes of finding the fleet and in hopes of being rescued they had no guarantees each rogue helicopter carries women children grandmothers all are low on fuel two and sometimes three tried to land on the ships at the same time some ditch at sea [Music] [Music] sailors must push the helicopters over the side to make room for new arrivals [Music] this helicopter landed all these people came off and they were going to push the helicopter over the side which because we had just maxed out deck space and their pushover side and one woman just went berserk and we had Vietnamese interpreters with us and we got one of them to find out why she'd gone hysterical because they were pushing the hillock up to the side and she finally got it knowing that she went over and pulled a baby out from underneath the sea there was a moment of just immense emotion at the American Embassy ambassador Martin the one man most against the evacuation is himself now ordered by President Ford to leave Saigon major Jim Kean delivers President Ford's message to Martin Kim and I said the president directs you even he looked up these glasses and he looked up over his glasses he had this stare that he could freeze people with and he said all in good time young major we had lowered the flag and put it in a brown paper sack and gave it to him and with that he went out there on a helicopter by four o'clock in the morning by this time the Grand Martin was said I guess best described in a daze I mean his world had collapsed he was absolutely exhausted but you had to respect respect ambassador Martin you know he kept us cool Martin and his staff fly out to the carrier Midway I remember when he came on when he came around the side just absolutely a dirty hag was very tired guy that had obviously been in a very stressful position for a very very very long period of time elsewhere on a small island off the coast south vietnamese air force major bung lee loads his wife and five children on a single-engine plane and flies out in search of the fleet the plane is running out of gas when the carrier Midway looms into view its deck crowded with helicopters I don't have no way to communicate with the control tower that tried to use all the sign language to ask them you know keep here Chan to live even had to make three passes before we finally got a note to the ship and it was taken up to the bridge and basically he said I've got my wife and five children would you please clear your runway I want to land and I has them trying to rescue my family moved to helicopter and I believe I can land on them okay the Navy clears the deck of helicopters so the small plane can land and as he came across the flight deck world plane letter he landed it on their carrier perfectly and out comes making his wife step flatter five of the kids tremendously dramatic moment without warning Washington ends the airlift prematurely leaving behind 460 people at the American Embassy in Saigon we abandoned the farming we volunteered the state of the very end in case of helicopter crash abandon this German priest with his refugee children you vacuumed we abandoned the CIA people from the Korean embassy who were all executed later it was just a very distasteful thing and it was done by accident I was done not by design but because it was a breakdown in communication it was a Vietnam war in microcosm great intentions and poor performance but 11 American marines still remain at the embassy they booby-trapped the stairways and make their way to the roof yet then these looters are already inside the embassy fully armed Marines hunker down and wait for two more hours before a helicopter arrives to carry them to the seventh Fleet watch the Sun come up and we saw big men and his motorcade come down to Main Street well we still see all the chaos going down there are masses of people on the street cars the confusion in the embassy compound by this time you could see the North Vietnamese tanks that are coming by the site that are on their way to the presidential palace there was a huge Sun and then this lone 46 you know comes in out of the Sun it is 750 in the morning April 30th 1975 it takes the 11 Marines two minutes to board and by 752 they head out to the South China Sea [Music] [Applause] Ramona we thought they'd really had forgotten us you know and I guess saying to myself it's finally over here finally getting out of here as the last Marines fly over the city looters carry away everything they can from the empty American Embassy [Music] at 11:00 that morning North Vietnam tanks smashed through the gates of the presidential palace with these soldiers triumphantly waved the Communist flag from the balcony it was a day of madness and it was a day of terrific horror and sadness and humiliation for the Americans who were there but we had to stare the Vietnamese in the face those we were betraying and that's why it was so painful to so many of us were the younger officers there that last day when we return many years later still presents before flee today politicians and their generals after 12 years and 58,000 American lives it was over Saigon was now Ho Chi Minh City the war in Vietnam had ended not in victory but in a rout ironically in the last offensive of the war the North Vietnamese took the same route that military planners had feared they would take 10 years earlier when the Battle of the yang the first decisive battle of Vietnam stopped the North Vietnamese Army in its tracks to everyone's relief the feared bloodbath Vietnam at least never materialized at more than 100,000 South Vietnamese soldiers politicians and intellectuals were arrested placed in reeducation camps another name for prison camps were many languished under terrible conditions for as long as 15 years the fall of Saigon triggered a mass exodus of desperate refugees the boat people they were called while some of the stories ended happily in the United States countless others spent years without a home in refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia at home the war left bitterness and division it also left behind a reluctance to use force that's only recently been overcome but in the Gulf War the generals and leaders made sure not only that they had public support but that the US had overwhelming strength at this time would win [Music] in Washington there is a moving memorial to the men and women who fought and died the wall as it's known it has become a place where families veterans and even those who opposed the war come to find closure for a conflict that still provokes debate but for those who survived Saigon in the final days it seems there will always be sorrow the fall of Saigon I think for those of us that didn't Vietnam was very very emotional it was the day that none of us wanted to come to we had made significant investments of our lives and [Music] that last day we saw what we done we betrayed the Vietnamese who counted on us it was the feeling of shame not at the American effort many Americans had died there and died bravely but it was our failure to make sure we left no bodies on that battlefield enough that battlefield strewn with bodies in our honor [Music] [Applause] a personal note I went back to Vietnam a few years ago back to the killing fields in the Central Highlands where I nearly died in 1965 and in what was once a landing zone running with blood I found flowers that I brought back and placed at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington like a lot of other veterans I began letting go in 1997 the first American ambassador since Graham Martin took up his post in a unified Vietnam that ambassador Pete Peterson was himself a veteran of the Vietnam War an Air Force fighter pilot who was shot down and spent six and a half years as a prisoner of war I'm Jack Smith [Music] [Music] you [Music]

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Keywords: vietnam war, the soldiers' story, vietnam war movies, vietnam war sounds, vietnam war oversimplified, vietnam war stories told by veterans, vietnam war documentary a television history, the soldiers story, a soldiers story, vietnam the soldiers story, abc news, vietnam veterans, fall of saigon, south vietnam, vietnam war movies scenes, vietnam veterans return to vietnam, vietnam veterans of america, vietnam veterans ptsd, vietnam veterans memorial, fall of saigon helicopter

Id: 8ZMV0lxhaR0

Length: 53min 27sec (3207 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 01 2019