#Intro You woke up early to a humid morning.
The night before you finished packing your luggage, a small handheld suitcase.
You readied yourself and turned on the radio.
Awhile later, you hear, “The temperature in Saigon is 105 degrees and rising.
This will be followed by the playing of ``I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.”
You gather your suitcase and a handful of personal belongings and left the house.
A short while later, you arrived at an embassy.
Outside stood a few foreign men, carrying assault rifles.
You show them your documents and they let you through.
Your life is about to change.
#Background After almost 20 years of involvement in Vietnam,
the United States of America agreed to a ceasefire with North Vietnam.
For America and many Americans, this became the end of the Vietnam war.
However, fighting still continued between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
By the spring of 1975, the People’s Army of Vietnam (or North Vietnam) was quickly
making progress towards Saigon.
The people in Saigon feared that they would face mass arrest, imprisonment in re education
camps and executions at the hands of the communists.
It became clear that they had to evacuate.
Many Vietnamese, third world evacuees and Americans were evacuated via cargo and transport
planes.
However, it became more risky and challenging as the People’s Army of Vietnam approached
Saigon.
On the 20th of April, defeat just outside of Saigon signalled the end of the South Vietnamese
forces.
The USS Midway and USS Hancock would arrive just off the coast of South Vietnam, after
successfully finishing Operation Eagle Pull.
Most of the carriers air wings were replaced with large (CH-53) helicopters.
The carriers would also be joined by Task Force 76, consisting of 4 amphibious transport
dock ships, 1 amphibious assault ship, 3 dock landing ships, 4 tank landing ships, 2 cargo
ships, 1 cruiser ship, 5 destroyers, 1 destroyer escort and 1 frigate.
They were also joined by the USS Enterprise and USS Coral sea, both for aerial support
if needed and 14 tugboats and large transport ships.
Air America, a regional airline secretly owned and operated by the CIA, chipped in with a
further 24 helicopters and 31 pilots.
As the People’s Army of Vietnam approached, Saigon airport was struck by rockets and artillery,
making evacuations via cargo and transport planes practically impossible.
With the fall of Saigon imminent and thousands needing evacuation, something had to be done.
#The Operation In preparation for the evacuation, the US
embassy created and distributed a 15 page brochure called the “Standard Instruction
and Advice to Civilian in an Emergency”.
The brochure would go into detail about the evacuation process and the collection points.
On one of the evacuation pages, it stated, “Note evacuation signal.
Do not disclose to other personnel.
When the evacuation is ordered, the code will be read out on Armed Forces Radio.
The code is: The temperature in Saigon is 105 degrees and rising.
This will be followed by the playing of ``I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.”
On the early morning of April 29th 1975, Armed Marines were flown into Saigon and onto carriers.
Their jobs were to hold the designated landing zones and stand by on recovery ships.
Soon after, the evacuation signal was broadcasted, beginning Operation Frequent Wind.
Helicopters shuttled 50-60 people at a time from Saigon to the carriers.
From there the helicopters would unload the passengers, refuel and immediately head back.
This process continued from the 29th to the 30th.
Unexpectedly, many Vietnamese military helicopters flew out to the carriers as well, hoping to
take refuge.
As the carriers filled up, helicopters were pushed into the ocean to make room.
In the event where there was no space to land, pilots were ordered to drop their passengers
onto the carriers before landing their helicopters on the water and to wait to be rescued.
#Notable Events At one point during the operation, a small
observation airplane circled the USS midway and dropped a note.
On the note, the pilot requested for room to be made for him and his family to land.
A helicopter was dropped overboard to make room.
Outside of the Operation, tens of thousands of Vietnamese escaped Saigon via small ships
and wooden boats.
They were all taken by Task Force 76 and brought to safety.
#Aftermath By the end, 1,375 Americans and 5,595 Vietnamese
and other third world countries citizens were evacuated as part of the Operation.
In the month of April, 50,000 people were flown out via cargo and transport aircraft.
In total, excluding Americans, nearly 139,000 Vietnamese and other third world countries
citizens were evacuated from Saigon and taken to America.
#Conclusion Operation Frequent Wind marked an end to America’s
involvement in Vietnam.
It was a dark chapter for America and many Americans, evenso, they did their duty the
best they could.
The Americans and others who partook in the Operation did more than was asked for them.
Many evacuees from Saigon recounted that they were met with compassion, understanding, kindness,
time and attention.
All of which helped ease the pain of leaving their home and gave them optimism for a future
in America.
If you want to find out more about Operation Frequent Wind, I recommend reading The Sympathizer.
The first part of the book is written from the perspective of, without spoiling, a person
evacuating from Saigon as part of the Operation Frequent Wind.
The author has a unique writing style and the book has also won many awards, most notably
the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
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