Last Days in Vietnam Page #7

Synopsis: During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. On the ground, American soldiers and diplomats confront the same moral quandary: whether to obey White House orders to evacuate U.S. citizens only--or to risk treason and save the lives of as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can.
Director(s): Rory Kennedy
Production: American Experience/PBS Films
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.6
Metacritic:
86
Rotten Tomatoes:
95%
NOT RATED
Year:
2014
98 min
$408,651
Website
877 Views


we, of course, were taking advantage

of the presence of the aircraft

to evacuate threatened folks.

But there were other independent

efforts to get people out.

McBRIDE:
Several of us at the embassy

agreed that we would drive vans

down to the docks on the Saigon River.

I had an assigned assembly

point in the middle of Saigon,

and I crammed about 15

people into a nine-person van

and then drove through

the streets of Saigon

through various checkpoints

down to the docks.

People would get out

and go running for these

commercial boats and get on.

I made a number of runs

and there'd just be more

and more and more people.

Finally, as the sun was going down,

we were running out of light.

Man came up to me.

I turned to him and said,

"This is my last load.

I, you know, I can't take anymore. "

I said, "Well, get your family. "

And he said, "Can't do it.

"My family's too big.

My family's too big. "

And he just shook my hand

and said, "Thanks for trying,"

and walked away.

So I came back to the

embassy and parked the van.

It was already getting

well into twilight.

Got my way through the crowd.

It was a big crowd.

I had nothing more I could do.

So I went to get on the helicopter

and Ambassador Martin pulled

me out of line and he said,

"I know what you've been doing.

"I know you've been out there.

"We've been talking.

I want to thank you. "

I thought that was a kind gesture.

By that time it was definitely dark.

The lights of the...

of the helicopter inside

radiated very clearly.

I sat down, looked around.

I was one of maybe

two or three Americans.

The rest were all Vietnamese.

And we flew out.

It was very dark.

I remember that.

And people started to elbow

each other and try to get

in the front line.

And that's when the

Captain Herrington started

speaking to us in Vietnamese.

"Nobody is going to be left behind. "

And then he said, "When

you are in American embassy,

"you are in American soil.

"I promise, me and my

soldier will be the last one

leave the embassy. "

So after that announcement

everybody feel relaxed.

Literally, we totally relaxed.

We have nothing to worry about.

Yeah.

We were told

that the North Vietnamese

tanks were coming very close.

So we asked, we in

the White House, asked

the Defense Department how

many South Vietnamese were left.

"Left" meant inside

the embassy compound.

And then we calculated

how many helicopters

it would take to get them out.

We told Martin that he had

to be on the last helicopter.

All I know is that in Washington

there was confusion about

the numbers on the ground.

At 1:
00 a. m. there were

1,100 people left to evacuate.

After we'd had a flurry of choppers

and cleaned out more than half of them

and there were 420 people left,

we received an order from Washington

that the lift was over

other than the extraction

of the remaining Americans.

About 4:
00 in the morning, 4:30,

I land on the USS Blue Ridge again.

So, General Carey comes

out, gives me an apple

and a cup of coffee

or something and says,

"We're under orders from the President.

You got to get the Ambassador out. "

So we fly in.

I land on the roof exactly at

4:
50 in the morning and I said,

"I'm not leaving until

the Ambassador's onboard. "

One of the Marines lowered

the flag, folded it up

and escorted the Ambassador

up to the landing zone

up on top of the embassy

and he gave him the flag

and, uh, that was it.

Major Kean came to Colonel

Madison, said, "No more.

Only Americans from this point on. "

And Madison said, "The hell you say.

We've got these people over here. "

And Kean said, "Sir,

not going to happen.

It's a presidential order. "

And Madison said, "I'll take

this up with the Ambassador. "

He was very hot under the collar.

And Kean said, "You can't, that's him,"

and pointed to the CH-46

that was just flying away.

So the Ambassador's on board.

And out we go.

We land on the Blue Ridge.

15 or 20, maybe 25 people

get off with the Ambassador

and that was the end of it.

I flew 18.3 hours straight through.

Graham Martin looked very

tired, extremely haggard.

I mean, he looked like... I'm

sure the pressure was immense.

And at what time were

you to cease evacuation?

Cease evacuation?

We could still be flying if we

hadn't gotten the Ambassador out

because he refused to stop the lift.

I think about 3:
00.

3:
00 in the morning?

No, 3:
45.

Colonel Madison says

to me, "We're screwed.

"Stu, you stay down

here in the parking lot

and keep these 420 people warm"...

Meaning if they see us

all leave at the same time

they'll panic... "and then

make your way to the roof.

We gotta go. "

And he was very angry

and very disappointed.

So they disappeared into the embassy.

And I went to where

the remaining Vietnamese

who were waiting and told them...

"Big helicopters about to

come," and waited a few minutes.

Then I saw a chopper

take off and I thought,

"Sh*t, was I supposed

to be on that one?"

So, I looked at the

Vietnamese and I said...

"I got to take a leak. "

And I left into the shadows.

I made my way around

in a circuitous route

and went into the embassy.

I thought about how this

really, really was wrong.

I thought maybe I should

just say, "I'm not leaving

till they go, because I promised them. "

And then I said, "Don't be a fool.

"Maybe they've started

shooting down helicopters

"for all you know.

"You're not going to

get anybody else out.

"It's a presidential order.

This decision has been made. "

So, I got to the roof and a

CH-46 alighted on the rooftop,

put its ramp down and we got on board.

As it took off, the door was open.

And down in the parking lot

I could see the group of 420 of them.

They were right were we

had left them marshaled

on this little patch of grass.

I felt absolutely awful.

It was just so... serious

and deep a betrayal.

Later that night I was

quite surprised that I got

a call to "Come alongside the flagship.

The Admiral wants to speak to you. "

My first reaction, as any

CO, is, "What did we do?"

not realizing we had been

picked for a special mission.

We were supposed to pick up this person.

He was 30 years old, came

aboard, civilian clothes.

And the Captain was just told

to take his direction from this guy.

I went aboard the Kirk and

met with Captain Paul Jacobs.

And the first thing he said to me is,

"Young man, I'm not accustomed

"to strange civilians

coming aboard my ship armed

in the middle of the night. "

And I said, "Captain, I

assure you, neither am I."

He smelled like a

Naval officer, you know.

You know, one officer

can smell another one.

So, I looked him up in the blue book.

He's a graduate of the Naval Academy.

So from that point on we were fine.

"What do you want to do?"

And we worked together as a team.

We steamed down to Con

Son Island and we could see

on the radar display that

there were a lot of blips.

And I remember dawn breaking

and the sun coming up,

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Mark Bailey

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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