Wat Da Con Heo !

View slideshow from Larry Englemann’s collection of Vietnam War Era Photos

: EVACUATED ALLIES: Air America helicopter on the roof of an apartment building in Saigon taking on American civilians and Vietnamese refugees to fly them to safety on American ships in the South China Sea. Father Joe Devlin of San Jose was among those on the ladder seeking to get out of Saigon before the North Vietnamese Army arrived. Photo taken April 29, 1975. Often the building was described mistakenly as the US Embassy and the chopper as a US Marine chopper. Both assumptions are wrong.

: TROPHY: Col. George Slade, commander of the Marine Amphibious Unit that flew from the USS Midway to the US Embassy to evacuate American citizens and Vietnamese refugees. His men brought back with them this seal from the Embassy and presented it to him. Photo taken aboard the USS Midway April 30, 1975.

: ON THE MIDWAY: Vietnamese refugees aboard the USS Midway, morning of April 30, 1975. Vietnamese pilots flew their families and friends and other refugees out to the deck of the Midway off the coast of South Vietnam. People exited the choppers and were told to hang onto a long rope in order not to be blown over the side by prop wash. Crew members then led them across the deck and down into the ship.

: APPROACHING DANANG: Refugees along the road from Pleiku, waiting for a ride or for rescue, April 1975.

: SURVIVOR: Dinh Truc Tran was a military policeman with the South Vietnamese Airforce at the end of March 1975. As a World Airways 727 left Danang, crowded with fleeing soldiers and civilians, Tran, afraid he might be captured by the advancing North Vietnamese Army, climbed into the wheel well of the plane and made it back to Saigon. A fellow soldier in the wheel well was crushed to death when the landing gear was partially retracted by the plane’s crew who were unaware anyone was hiding in the wheel well.

: SURVIVORS: Following the fall of Saigon in April 1975, as many as one million refugees left Vietnam, most by boat, for the next 15 years. These girls were in the hold of a boat that drifted ashore in Hong Kong after running out of food and water.

: VICTORIOUS PILOTS: North Vietnamese pilots returning to their base near Danang after bombing Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Saigon on the morning of April 29, 1975. The North Vietnamese pilots had plenty of fuel for their aircraft. The South Vietnamese Air Force suffered from serious fuel shortages.

: RESCUE MISSION: Afternoon of April 29, 1975. The first Marine helicopter lifts off from the deck of the USS Midway on its way to Saigon as Midway crew members and fellow Marines give the thumbs up sign.

: PANIC STRIKES: Vietnamese attempting to climb over the Embassy Wall to get aboard helicopters leading from the grounds of the Embassy. Marines were brought in to keep order and to stop the Embassy from being stormed by the crowds wanting to get out.

: SAILING TO AMERICA: Two Vietnamese refugees safely aboard the USS Midway on the morning of April 30, 1975.

: REFUGEES ARRIVE: Morning of April 30, 1975, as the Midway prepares to leave Vietnamese waters, crew members and the ships photographer spot scores of helicopters approaching from Vietnam. The crew was uncertain if these were North or South Vietnamese. it turned out they were South Vietnamese helicopters with their radio equipment removed, bringing out terrified refugees from Saigon.

: WAITING: Children waiting for assistance on the island of Chimawan off the coast of Hong Kong. These are children of boat people who sailed East seeking escape from the new regime and who made it as far as Hong Kong. Chimawan was an island prison camp where thousands were kept while the world community attempted to find a solution to the flood of refugees from Vietnam.

: ALLIES IN DEFEAT: Generals Ngo Quang Truong, center in helmet, and Nguyen Cao Ky, arrive on the deck of the USS Midway on the morning of April 30, 1975. After announcing his plans to head the resistance against the North Vietnamese in Saigon and to turn it into another Stalingrad, Ky fled to the American fleet.

: BOAT PERSON: Little girl among the boat people held on the island of Chimawan off the coast of Hong Kong.

: STRATEGIZING: Crew members of the USS Midway discussing what to do with pilots of Vietnamese helicopters who have just landed on the deck of the Midway. Of course the helicopter’s passengers were taken aboard the Midway and the South Vietnamese helicopters were then pushed over the side of the ship in order to clear the flight deck.

Source: MetroActive

Categories: History

Tags: 1975, April 30, Chimawan, Embassy, Hong Kong, Ngo Quang Truong, Nguyen Cao Ky, North Vietnamese pilots, pictures, South Vietnam, USS Midway, Vietnamese refugees

Comments (3)

Yavor Indzhev

September 5th, 2010 at 12:18 am

The photo of the rescue mission and chopper don’t who us just a apartment building – this is CIA residence.

Information Source: “Legacy of ashes: The history of the CIA”

Michael P. Mitchell

April 23rd, 2011 at 3:19 pm

I am glad that you have posted these pictures on this site. This brings back so many memories when I was brought over from my motherland as a little refugee kid. I remember bits and pieces of Operation Frequent Wind very well as if it just happened yesterday. I remembered being flown out of my motherland and being on a naval ship. I do not know which ship I was on, but I do remember eating chili in a circle in a dimly lit room. Across from me was someone scraping someone’s back with a utensil. I was told that was to get the sick person to feel better. i remembered looking over the railing at the white water that was caused by the moving ship and it was a sunny day.

susanna

June 22nd, 2012 at 5:00 am

great collections of historical pieces. so well kept photos.

Featured News

VN đón lãnh đạo TQ với ‘cờ thừa sao’

Popular Articles

View slideshow from Larry Englemann’s collection of Vietnam War Era Photos

Comments (3)

Leave a reply

Featured Video

Archives

Categories