On April 30, 1975, the capital city of Saigon fell to the People’s Army of Vietnam, prompting the evacuation of more than 130,000 Vietnamese closely associated with the United States or the former government of South Vietnam. Most of the evacuees were resettled in the U.S. In the years following, more fled the Communist government, many finding their way to the U.S.
Profile of the evacuation
April 28, afternoon: Saigon’s airport and the U.S. embassy are attacked by rockets. Evacuation by airplane is curtailed. Operation “Frequent Wind” — the evacuation by helicopters — is about to start.
April 29, 4:30 a.m.: Two Marines guarding the airport, corporals Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge, are killed by rocket attacks. They are the only Americans killed in action during the evacuation.
3 p.m.: U.S. starts flying hundreds of helicopter sorties to the airport — the planned evacuation site.
6 p.m.: Ambassador Martin decides it is too risky to move personnel to the airport. He asks for evacuations from the embassy. Marines cut down trees and set up lights to prepare a landing site.
Midnight: Flights ordered to stop. Martin pleads with the White House to keep flights going. The parking lot landing site is used by CH-53s, the roof is used by CH-46s.
April 30, 12:30 a.m.: Martin learns there will be only 20 more sorties. Martin informs Fleet Command that this is impossible since there are still 850 evacuees and 225 U. S. personnel. The flights continue.
3 a.m.: Command to evacuate only Americans, although hundreds of Vietnamese remain. Marines pull back from walls into main building — crowds surge into compound.
4 a.m.: Marines move to the roof, barricading doors and using mace on frantic crowds. At 5 a.m., Martin is flown out. About 8 a.m., the last 11 Marines board a CH-46 on the embassy roof and leave Vietnam.
A tent city in Camp Pendleton where more than 50,000 refugees lived.Sources: Dept. of Defense, www.fallofsaigon.org, SEARAC, The Associated Press, The New York Times, BBC News, Wold Population Review
Former Register artist Scott Brown contributed to this report.
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