I posted the story for two reasons. I thought some Vietnam Veterans might appreciate the story. Those who would recognize the roof of the embassy would be a relatively small percentage of those who served in South Vietnam. The story also explains how historical errors get propagated, and how hard they are to correct.
I'm sorry if it brings back any bad memories. The story brings back bad memories to me.
From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
The day that the passenger capacity of the C130 was proven wrong........
Thanks. It's obvious that the "liberation" of Saigon wasn't welcome by most Vietnamese.
I knew the Pittman story before, it's detailed in Decent Interval by Frank Snepp. However, nice to have the first-hand account from Van Es himself.
More recently I've spent hours walking around Saigon trying to find the actual building. It's difficult because all the street names have been changed (is Tu Do Street now Dong Khoi aka Rue Catinat?).
Over the years I've searched the Web for hours trying to find a good streetmap of downtown Saigon circa 1975. Anyone know where to get one?
Of equal interest is a period map of the Tan San Nhut area from Tan Binh circle and to the northeast. I think that was all MACV territory during the war.
Apologies are not necessary. To be reminded of those days is a good thing as it may help to prevent a reneactment of it in the future. Well done.
"I'm sorry if it brings back any bad memories. The story brings back bad memories to me."
I had been back for 5 years when Saigon fell. It was a horrible feeling to watch that on tv thinking about all the men who died for no reason whatsoever, and the seeminly wasted year of my life. It was a horrible, horrible feeling. The only thing close to it was watching the Twin Towers collapse, but at least that was a call to arms. I just hope we don't repeat ourselves in the war on terrorism. There is so much more at stake.
As I reflected on my own rememberances of that day, I realized there was no way to do the post justice...
The shame and anger I had for the traitors (the democrat party) that abandoned our comrads was profound. To this day I can not, and will not forgive, or forget what they had done.
Be that as it may, April 30th, 30 years later, and the democrat party still exists. Still is doing it's best to destroy America from within, and the ignorant masses still support it...
Thank you for the ping!