A Soviet-made T-54 tank rolls into Saigon, in this AP photo taken 30 years ago. Photo submitted. Author's note: It is estimated that anywhere from 30 to 40,000 Canadians served in the American military during the war in southeast Asia.
A Soviet-made T-54 tank rolls into Saigon, in this AP photo taken 30 years ago. Photo submitted.
Author's note: It is estimated that anywhere from 30 to 40,000 Canadians served in the American military during the war in southeast Asia.
Of that number, 113 were confirmed ‘killed in action’ while a further seven are still officially listed as ‘missing in action’.
April 30 marks the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, the former south Vietnamese capital.
This is a brief accounting of events on that fateful day.
It was shortly before 05:00 hours Saigon time.
The distant sounds of relentless heavy artillery and automatic weapons fire from the 13 North Vietnamese Army Divisions ringing the city had denied its residents any respite during the long night. Meanwhile, a single United States Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter gently settled onto the rooftop landing pad of the United States Embassy. Its sole mission, a prime directive from President Gerald Ford, was to evacuate only Ambassador Graham Martin and his staff.
The Ambassador and his entourage boarded the helicopter, callsign 'Lady Ace 09', commanded by Capt. Jerry Berry. Once airborne, Capt. Berry transmitted the code word 'Tiger' three times to confirm that the mission was successful.
A second CH-46 soon followed in its wake to load the rest of the anxiously waiting officials. This was to be one of the final episodes of Operation Frequent Wind, the United States plan to evacuate all remaining Americans from Saigon.
Throughout the chaotic morning, Marines under the command of Major James H. Kean U.S.M.C. Commanding Officer of Company ‘C’, Marine Security Guard Battalion and Ground Support Force Commander, U. S. Embassy Compound had to contend with hundreds of hysterical Vietnamese Nationals who'd been employed by the U.S. Government.
They desperately hoped to be evacuated along with the few remaining Americans. In desperation, the swelling Vietnamese hoard estimated in excess of 10,000, charged forward managing to make it on to the Embassy proper. Anticipating such a move the Marines, masters of improvisation, had hastily constructed themselves a makeshift barricade to slow down the frenzied crowd's advance.
It took almost an hour, but to some it seemed like an eternity before a flight of Sea Knights arrived to extract the remaining rearguard, which was now taking sporadic sniper fire. At 07:58 hours, the last CH-46 to leave the United States Embassy Compound lifted off with ten Marine Security Guards of the Saigon Detachment accompanied by Lieutenant Colonel James Kean.
Soon a strange silence, not heard in many a year, began to fall over Saigon as the last audible signatures of the chopper's rotor blades beat the humid morning air away.
At 10:24 hours, President Duong Van 'Big' Minh went on the state-run radio station to call for the cessation of hostilities by his government's forces.
He made the same request to the enemy troops of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Viet Nam who were steadily advancing from the north.
For some strange reason Minh referred to them as "brother combatants", an unlikely case given the circumstances. To reinforce this presidential decree, General Nguyen Huu Hanh, the acting Chief of the Joint General Staff, made the order ABSOLUTE!
At 10:45 hours on the 30th of April 1975, as the oppressive mid-morning sun beat down unmercifully on the South Vietnamese capital, North Vietnamese Army Senior General Van Tien Dung's II Corps Huong Giang Tank Brigade rumbled unmolested down Thong Nhut Avenue. The Soviet-made T-54's continued up to the iron gates of Independence Palace.
The rallying cry of "Tien vi Saigon" or "Onward to Saigon" had carried them and hundreds of thousands of others throughout the drive to liberate the South. Without slowing down, a single tank, No. 843, commanded by Bui Quang Than, smashed through the side gate. In quick succession a second tank, No. 390, under the command of Vu Dang Toan, followed suit by crashing through the main gate onto the front yard.
The floodgates were now open, and soon the once stately palace grounds were littered with communist armor. In a classic touch of irony, a lone North Vietnamese soldier bearing the same name as former South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, dashed across the lawn and up the steps, wildly waiving a large North Vietnamese flag. Bui Quang Than immediately proceeded to run up to the balcony of the fourth floor, where he unceremoniously hauled down the flag of the Republic of Viet Nam and hoisted the flag of the South Viet Nam Liberation Front. This defining moment truly signaled the end of what has been coined the ’Ten Thousand-Day War'.
North Bay resident Chris Charland is a veteran and a special operations officer with the Michigan Association of Concerned Veterans, a small group responsible for the fundraising, building, erecting and dedication in July 1995 of the Canadian Viet Nam Veterans Memorial in Windsor, Ontario.
