Honorable Exit
Page 45
One rocket hit the top floor: Manyon, Fall of Saigon, 96.
His spokesman condemned: Keyes Beech, “Hotel Rocketed: Polish Reds Move,” Los Angeles Times, April 29, 1975, 6.
Communist artillery spotters: Herrington, interview; Herrington, Peace with Honor?, 167.
JMT linguist Stuart Herrington: Herrington, interview.
He called Major General Smith: Snepp, Decent Interval, 448.
“It may also be possible”: FLMF, box 4; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 262.
“It appears evident”: George McArthur, “Reds Fire 4 Rockets into Central Saigon,” Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1975, 1.
Tom Glenn, the young cryptologist: Glenn, interview; Tom Glenn, “Bitter Memories: The Fall of Saigon (Part 1),” Baltimore Post-Examiner, Aug. 18, 2013.
Two days before delivering his warning: Tom Glenn, “Bitter Memories: The Fall of Saigon (Part 1),” Baltimore Post-Examiner, Aug. 18, 2013.
Glenn told Martin: Ibid.
Glenn hurried to Tom Polgar’s office: Ibid.
“I finally understood”: Glenn, “Bitter Memories.”
Polgar began hedging: Pilger, “The Last Day,” 18.
“There is no way”: Ibid.
The CIA’s Can Tho base chief: Sources for Rounsevell material: Parker, Vietnam War, 488; Rounsevell, interview.
Back in Can Tho: Parker, interview; Parker, Vietnam War, 491–92; McNamara, Escape with Honor, 132–34.
Air America pilot Marius Burke: Source for Burke material: Burke, interview.
He suggested that Kiem: Sources for Armitage-Kiem meeting: Armitage, interview; Kane, “Secret Evacuation of the VNN Fleet,” 32–33; Do and Kane, Counterpart, 194–98.
Erich von Marbod had stopped: Trest, Air Commando, 251; Hung, Palace File, 339.
The next day: Von Marbod, interview.
He expected a cease-fire: Ibid.; Hung, Palace File, 339.
Von Marbod persuaded: Von Marbod, interview.
During the next several days: Von Marbod, interview and correspondence.
Von Marbod saw Martin again: Von Marbod, interview; Snepp, Decent Interval, 458–59.
After lunch von Marbod: Von Marbod, interview.
Armitage persuaded four U.S. servicemen: Armitage, interview; Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, 50–51.
Back at Tan Son Nhut: Von Marbod, interview; Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, 50–51.
Von Marbod radioed Armitage: Von Marbod, interview; Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, 50–51.
“I’ve got a problem”: Von Marbod, interview; Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, 50–51; Willenson, Bad War, 333.
Von Marbod called Seventh Air Force: Von Marbod, interview; Trest, Air Commando, 251–52.
When CIA agent Jim Parker: Sources for Parker material: Parker, interview; Parker, Last Man Out, 296–303; Parker, Vietnam War, 492–97.
While helicopters were collecting: McNamara, interview; McNamara, Escape with Honor, 135–36.
He asked his driver: McNamara, interview; McNamara, Escape with Honor, 136–37.
CHAPTER 17: EIGHTEEN OPTIMISTIC MINUTES
Minh had told: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 161.
The inauguration was then postponed: Terzani, Giai Phong!, 35.
“as if delivering”: Pilger, Last Day, 32.
Headlines in The Saigon Post: Terzani, Giai Phong!, 42.
But Radio Liberation: Todd, Cruel April, 342.
New York Times reporter: Snepp, Decent Interval, 466.
“I thought South Vietnamese”: Von Marbod, interview.
Tom Glenn had been walking: Glenn, interview.
One slammed into Joe McBride’s: McBride, interview; Moorefield, interview.
Ken Moorefield grabbed his revolver: Moorefield, interview.
Bell watched as the A-37s: Bell, interview; Bell, Leave No Man Behind, 99–100.
When Ross Meador left: Meador, interview.
Earlier that day: Martindale, interviews.
After Jacobson refused: Burke, interview; Burke, “Vietnam Report: Part Two—Saigon Evacuation,” 7–8.
Don Hays was in the embassy: Sources for Hays material: Hays, interview; DBC, box 3, folder 48; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 294–95.
Dr. Lem Hoang Truong’s position: Sources for Truong material: Truong, interview; unpublished memoir supplied to the author by Truong.
An hour after the attack: Pilger, Last Day, 44–46; Snepp, Decent Interval, 467.
Polgar, who believed that the attack: Pilger, Last Day, 46.
Minutes later he cabled: FLMF, box 8.
He went on to describe: Ibid.
Kissinger cabled back: Ibid.
Quinn ran into David Kennerly’s office: Quinn, interview; Quinn, “From Whitehouse to the White House,” 10–11.
Ford ordered the flights: Snepp, Decent Interval, 468.
“No. They hit”: FLMF, box 8.
By April 28, according to U.S. Air Force: Tobin, Laehr, and Hilgenberg, Last Flight from Saigon, 45.
Ken Moorefield felt responsible: Moorefield, interviews.
Moorefield walked back: Ibid.
After the attack ended: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 141–42.
Moorefield rounded up: Moorefield, interviews.
Jake Jacobson convened: Snepp, Decent Interval, 473–74.
CHAPTER 18: FREQUENT WIND
“How are things going, guys?”: Moorefield, interviews.
Sergeant Maloney found them: Maloney, “Sgt. Kevin Maloney’s Fall of Saigon.”
Before the day ended: John W. Finney, “Viet Cong Attack on Airport,” New York Times, April 29, 1975, 1.
“Call up the Communist”: Madison, interview.
Stuart Herrington ran: Herrington, interview; Herrington, Peace with Honor?, 171.
One shell exploded so close: Ibid.
“If they refuse”: Madison, interview.
As Ky was leaving: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 400; Ky, Twenty Years and Twenty Days, 229.
Ross Meador and the Vietnamese nurse: Meador, interview.
Jim Parker woke: Parker, interview; Parker, Last Man Out, 305–7.
Air America pilot Marius Burke: Burke, interview; Burke, “Vietnam Report: Part Two—Saigon Evacuation.”
Don Hays, the young diplomat: Hays, interview.
NSA head of station: Glenn, interview; Glenn, “Bitter Memories,” 17.
Tom Polgar, who had bet: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 384.
At 7:30 a.m., Martin received: Ibid., 385.
“In view of the above”: FLMF, box 8.
The National Security Council convened: FLNSA-Meet, April 28, 1975.
Kissinger cabled Martin: FRUS, 271.
He met in his office: Snepp, Decent Interval; Todd, Cruel April, 349–50; Dawson, 55 Days, 328–29.
Jacobson wanted Martin: Snepp, Decent Interval, 483.
Jacobson warned him that Vietcong: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 388; DBC, box 4, folders 7–8.
As columns of black smoke: DBC, box 4, folders 7–8.
Martin turned to Colonel: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 390; Hung, Palace File, 325.
Smith broke in: Pilger, Last Day, 72.
Martin asked to confer: DBC, box 4, folders 7–8; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 390.
“If we can’t”: DBC, box 4, folders 7–8; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 390.
Erich von Marbod had been sitting: Von Marbod, interview.
“You have friends”: Ibid.; Snepp, Decent Interval, 489.
Colonel Madison thought: Madison, interview.
Sporadic Communist artillery shells: Herrington, Peace with Honor?, 173–74.
He called Smith to report: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 391.
Martin called Kissinger: FRUS, 270.
“I repeat my request”: Kissinger, Crisis, 530–31.
“The President insists”: FLMF, box 8.
Martin argued that he should remain: Dawson, 55 Days, 344.
During the National Security Council: FLNSA-Meet, April 28, 1975.
After learning about the delay: Kissinger, Crisis, 532.
The JMT was unpacking: Madison, interview; Herrington, interview.
Herrington looked out a window: Herrington, interview.
Herrington, Bell, Madison, and Summers: Sources for JMT at the embassy: Herrington, Madison, and Bell, interviews; Bell, Leave No Man Behind, 104–5; Herrington, Peace with Honor?, 176–78; Summers, “Bitter End,” 70.
“Every one of you folks”: Pilger, Last Day, 88.
Herrington had written: Herrington, interview.
“There is plenty of time!”: Wallace, River of Destiny, 29–30.
They were promising to evacuate Thu Minh Nguyen: Katie Baker, “Remembering the Fall of Saigon and Vietnam’s Mass ‘Boat People’ Exodus,” Daily Beast, April 30, 2014, thedailybeast.com.
They were promising to evacuate Y. I. Ching: Dawson, 55 Days, 339.
They were promising to evacuate Binh Pho: Wallace, River of Destiny, 28–29.
“Hey everybody, stay in line”: Ibid., 29.
Martin had ordered that the evacuation: Snepp, Decent Interval, 543.
CHAPTER 19: KEN MOOREFIELD’S ODYSSEY
When rockets began: Sources for Moorefield assembling convoy and making his first run: Moorefield, interviews; Santoli, To Bear Any Burden, 234–35; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 398–99; Maloney, “Sgt. Kevin Maloney’s Fall of Saigon,” 5; Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 143.
They returned to find: Moorefield, interviews; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 423–24; Santoli, To Bear Any Burden, 235.
The dispatcher radioed: Moorefield, interviews.
At Newport earlier that morning: Ryder, interview; MSC.
The LST cast off: Ryder, interview; MSC.
Martin and Jacobson feared: Moorefield, interviews; Snepp, Decent Interval, 504.
They never resurfaced: Ryder, interview.
His tug pulled its barge: Ibid.
AID officer Mel Chatman: Chatman, interview.
“Sir, with all due respect”: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 127.
After returning to the French embassy: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 407; DBC, box 4, file 7.
After leaving Martin’s residence: Source for Moorefield in the streets: Moorefield, interviews.
One of these buses had collected: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 163–64, 174–76, 189–96; Hoffmann, On Their Own, 373.
After becoming separated: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 175.
Ed Bradley thought: Ibid.
Ken Kashiwahara noticed: Ibid., 163–65.
As they were leaving: Ibid., 175.
DAO intelligence operative: Kieff, interview.
A female Vietnamese passenger: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 192–96.
“The Dodgers won”: Ibid., 165.
Keyes Beech tried entering: Ibid., 192–96.
Moorefield abandoned his sedan: Moorefield, interviews.
Joe McBride returned: McBride, interview.
“Martin thinks there will be”: Ibid.
By the time McBride returned: Source for McBride at embassy: Ibid.
CBS bureau chief Brian Ellis: Ellis, interview.
“Look, I’ve decided it may be time”: Ibid.
Many of the Vietnamese: Manyon, Fall of Saigon, 110.
John Bennett, the acting director: ADST, John T. Bennett.
A reporter picked up: Pilger, Last Day, 86.
Truong’s odyssey had been as frantic: Truong, interview.
Carey had already tangled: TTU/OH, Lieutenant General Richard E. Carey, 471.
Hours before Gray flew: Ibid.
Gray was as tough: Gray, interview; Santoli, Everything We Had, 14–16, 69–70.
While briefing his officers: Santoli, Everything We Had, 90.
He repeated this admonition: Gray, interview.
In reply, Hays had gestured: Sources for Hays at Tan Son Nhut: Hays, interview; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 396–97; DBC, box 3, folder 48.
The MPs fired warning shots: TTU/OH, Lieutenant General Richard E. Carey, 473–75; Dunham and Quinlan, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 181; Snepp, Decent Interval, 511, 531.
Instead of monitoring: Gray, interview.
Among these pilots was Marius Burke: Burke, interview.
Before Harnage began making pickups: Harnage, Thousand Faces, 156–58.
He had acted instinctively: Ibid., 121–24; Bernstein, “This Week O. B. Harnage Remembers America’s Last Day in Vietnam.”
After Air America pilots: George Taylor, correspondence with author.
Air America helicopters landed on the roof: Source for Martindale on roof: Martindale, interviews.
Throughout the afternoon: Camp, Assault from the Sky, 221.
Military intelligence agent Nelson Kieff: Kieff, interview; Snepp, Decent Interval, 536–37.
As their helicopter rose over: Gembara, interview.
CHAPTER 20: INTO THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
Soon after 10:00 a.m.: McNamara, interview; ADST, McNamara, 138–40; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 394–95.
During a last sweep: McNamara, Escape with Honor, 142.
Soon after Hasty arrived: McNamara, interview.
Years later he would call: McNamara, Escape with Honor, 138.
What really happened: Parker, Vietnam War, 504–5; Parker, Last Man Out, 311–12.
The Vietnamese crew: Kassebaum, interview; ADST, McNamara, 143–44.
Mud began appearing: McNamara, Escape with Honor, 146–49; ADST, McNamara, 144–45; McNamara, interview.
Richard Armitage drove: Armitage, interview.
Kiem summoned his captains: Do and Kane, Counterpart, 204.
Terry McNamara gunned: Sources for McNamara heading down the Bassac: McNamara, Whitten, and Kassebaum, interviews; ADST, McNamara, 145–52; McNamara, Escape with Honor, 146–47.
The Boo Heung Pioneer reached: Ryder, interview; MSC; Lee and Haynsworth, White Christmas in April, 180–81.
Captain Flink woke: Parker, interview.
After transferring his refugees: Ryder, interview.
Parker knew it was too late: Sources for Parker’s rescue mission at Vung Tau: Parker, interview; Parker, Vietnam War, 510–17; Parker, Last Man Out, 316–26.
Some of the passengers: Sources for Lem Truong’s voyage: Truong, interview; Truong, unpublished memoir provided to the author.
Richard Armitage left on one of the last: Armitage, interview; Herman, Lucky Few, 54, 62.
At dawn on May 1: Mann, Rise of the Vulcans, 51–52; Herman, Lucky Few, 109–12.
Erich von Marbod had left: Von Marbod, interview.
The Pentagon awarded him: Willenson, Bad War, 334.
CHAPTER 21: THE 420
Once Ken Moorefield got inside: Sources for Moorefield at the embassy: Moorefield, interviews; Santoli, To Bear Any Burden, 236–37; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 428–29, 434–35, 440–41; DBC, box 4, folder 12.
“If only we hadn’t cut off”: Santoli, To Bear Any Burden, 237.
Martin emerged from his inner office: McArthur, “It Became Sinful.”
“Well, the smart ones”: LDE, “George McArthur’s Vietnam.”
Several days earlier, after learning: Willenson, Bad War, 314.
“If I ever hear you say”: Engelmann, Tears Before the Rain, 130.
“Can’t you tell him”: FRUS, 273.
Kissinger later said that he
and Ford: Ibid.
He spent several hours: Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Periscope Newsletter, April 2005, 29.
Ford watched updates: Cannon, Time and Chance, 372.
“I’m the only Secretary of State”: Nessen, It Sure Looks Different from the Inside, 110.
“If we give you another”: Ibid.
“The good news”: Ibid.
Twenty-six members of the congressional leadership: FRUS, 276.
At 9:41 p.m., Martin received: FLMF, box 10.
“Perhaps you can tell me”: FRUS, 275.
“I can’t come out until”: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 439.
“Among Americans here”: FLMF, box 10.
“Defense promises 30 CH-53s”: Ibid.
“IBM headquarters reports”: Ibid.
“I understand that 154 IBM employees”: Ibid.
Martin read Rumsfeld’s cable: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 440.
“they carry about two-fifths”: FLMF, box 10.
“We need the capacity”: FRUS, 277.
“Who in the hell”: TTU/OH, Richard Carey, 498.
A similar drama was unfolding: Ibid.
“I will personally see”: Ibid.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please be quiet”: SBE; Herrington, interview.
The pushing and shoving: Ibid.
Shortly after midnight Martin came: Madison, interview.
“That’s fine. There’s no need to worry”: Wallace, River of Destiny, 31.
Kissinger told Schlesinger: Kissinger, Crisis, 538.
“I have been directed to send you”: FLMF, box 10.
He had driven from breakfast: Meador, interview.
Martin appeared around 3:30 a.m.: Engelmann, Tears, 472; Madison, interview; Snepp, Decent Interval, 558.
Madison called Lehmann: Madison, interview.
“Jesus,” Madison said: Ibid.; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 445.
Lehmann called back: Madison, interview; Butler, Fall of Saigon, 445.
Martin’s request for: Butler, Fall of Saigon, 444.
Vice Admiral Steele, who commanded: Dunham and Quinlan, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 199.
“busily engaged in holding back”: Willenson, Bad War, 344.