Triumph Amid Tragedy: The 1975 Fall of Saigon

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May 1

The most famous photo of the fall of Saigon appears to show a long line of people perched on a ladder atop the US embassy, waiting to be evacuated by a US military helicopter. In fact, however, the helicopter belonged to Air America, and the rooftop was that of a local apartment building. Yet the image does capture the urgency of the situation during which, at President Gerald Ford’s order that very day, April 29, 1975, thousands of Americans and South Vietnamese were being ferried out of the city in what remains the largest helicopter evacuation in history.

The evacuation of the US embassy came sooner than most expected, due to the rapid advance of North Vietnamese troops on the South Vietnamese capital. Many feared the city’s capture would result in widespread bloodshed. By late April, about 50,000 people had been evacuated via the US airbase, but as North Vietnamese troops advanced and rockets began to fall, Ford gave the order to implement Operation Frequent Wind, the final emergency evacuation. As a signal, Armed Forces Radio began repeatedly broadcasting the song “White Christmas” over the airways.

Rocket fire on the airbase had rendered the use of fixed wing aircraft too dangerous, so US Ambassador Graham Martin determined that the operation should proceed by helicopter, carrying evacuees to US ships waiting offshore. When Martin’s wife was evacuated, she chose to leave behind her suitcase, so that another South Vietnamese woman could fit in, and early the next morning, Martin himself received the order to board an evacuation helicopter. He did not know that the pilot had orders from Ford, if necessary, to arrest him to ensure that he was aboard.

Martin’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Wolfgang Lehmann, was one of the last to depart the embassy, and he described his final view from the rooftop as follows:

We could see the lights of the North Vietnamese convoys approaching the city…  The chopper was packed with the rest of the staff and remaining civilian guards … and it was utterly silent except for the rotors of the engine.  I don’t think I said a word on the way out and I don’t think anybody else did.  The prevailing emotion was tremendous sadness.

The embassy’s last hours were chaotic. As hostile crowds gained access to the compound, the remaining US Marines were ordered to barricade themselves in one of the buildings. They began climbing the stairs, bolting gates behind them as they went. When a vehicle was driven through the building’s door, intruders entered and began ascending toward the roof. The remaining Marines, trapped on the rooftop, used mace to keep the intruders at bay. A helicopter evacuated the final group just before 8:00 am on April 30, ending the war.

In less than two days, about 80 helicopters had flown nearly 700 sorties to evacuate approximately 8,000 individuals. The decks of waiting ships sometimes became so clogged with helicopters that some had to be pushed into the sea to create space for others to land. In addition, some pilots were told to ditch their helicopters at sea, from which they were rescued. Incredibly, only four US military personnel were killed during the operation, the last US casualties of the war. Today, the metal staircase that led to the embassy’s helipad is on display at the Ford Presidential Museum.

During the evacuation, many acts of heroism were recorded. One South Vietnamese major piloting a Cessna aircraft carrying his wife and five children dropped a note on the deck of the USS Midway requesting that the captain clear space for him to land. After helicopters were pushed aside, he defied the odds and did so, prompting a congratulatory crowd to gather round his plane. Many thousands of additional evacuees who could not board aircraft sought escape aboard small watercraft. Large numbers of these Vietnamese evacuees eventually entered the US under the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act.

Those rescued have many memories to share. The National Museum of American Diplomacy features the account of Anne Pham, who thanks to the actions of US Foreign Service personnel was evacuated with her family at age 3:

[My parents and their six children] escaped down the Saigon River, with darkness setting in.  Near the harbor, we came under rocket fire.  As our barge drifted out to sea, crammed with refugees, my father held me close and solemnly said to my eldest brother, “Take a good look at your country.  It will be the last time you see it.”  The next day, we were plucked out of the ocean and boarded a US ship.

Years later Pham would join the Foreign Service herself and become a faculty member of the National Defense University, prompting her to write,

By saving me on that fateful day, [those heroes] planted the seeds of strength and hope that helped me to achieve my dream of working for the State Department…  While I am a product of a painful chapter in history, I am also a product of the greatness of America, with its diverse society, democratic ideals, and opportunity for all.  Only in America can a former refugee child become a senior adviser working for the same agency as the Foreign Service officers who saved her.

Days after the completion of Operation Frequent Wind, on May 5, Ford telegraphed Ambassador Martin a message of congratulations and thanks:

I want to express my deep appreciation to you and your entire staff for the successful evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese from Saigon.  The tireless dedication of your mission and its skillful performance under the most severe pressure was vital to the accomplishment of this most difficult and delicate operation.  Please accept as well my sincere personal compliments.  Your courage and steadiness at this critical period enabled us to evacuate our citizens and a very large number of endangered Vietnamese.  I hope you will convey to your entire staff my deep gratitude and that of the American people for a job well done.

Of course, the mood back home in the US was different. Many Americans questioned what had been achieved over many years of conflict at such great cost in Vietnam, and some saw the entire campaign as an exercise in futility. Along with the Watergate scandal, the nation’s experience in Vietnam took a substantial toll on Americans’ trust in institutions and morale. Ford himself recognized the fall of Saigon as a “sad and tragic period” in the nation’s history, yet he also affirmed that “You couldn’t help but be very proud of those pilots and others who conducted the evacuation.”

Photograph by Hugh van Es