spartans_in_darkness

fOil SEeftEf,yeeMINfif*1
P.L. 86-36
helicopters from the offshore carriers began landing
at the DAO compound and the embassy
grounds. The first choppers discharged Marines
who provided a security cordon around the sites.
For the next eighteen hours, the helicopters kept
up a steady routine of pickup and return. By the
end of the period, about 7,200 people had been
evacuated from Saigon to the armada waiting in
the South China Sea. Upwards of another 70,000
Vietnamese fled by boat and ship to join the
American fleet. By the morning of 30 April, the
city was clear of Americans.
~ By and large, the extraction of the
Americans and the Vietnamese went smoothly.
Two Marines were killed during an earlier
shelling of Tan Son Nhut. Also, some U.S. choppers
and planes came under occasional communist
ground fire and some handheld SA-7 missiles.
A few were damaged. However, there was
no indication that there was a deliberate policy to
attack the aircraft by the North Vietnamese. The
aircraft came under fire mostly over areas around
Saigon where there was fighting..Similarly, except
for some random shots at the American embassy
and some reportsof shooting at other nationals
fleeing the city, there was little harassment from
the South Vietnamese.V''
cg//gl) The evacuation of the American cryptologists
had started some days earlier on 23 April
when thepenultimate contingent of Americans ­
the ones/whose fate caused such frictionbetween
I land Ambassador Martin - were
i
finallyI
flown out. Bythe morning of the 29th, only
and two communication specialists remained in
the besieged city. Finally, those three got the word
to leave. They sent out the last message announcing
their departure and destroyed the remaining
cryptomaterial. However, they were isolated at
their offices at the DAO compound. The military
attache got them into cars for a last ride to the
embassy. Late that day, they alighted from a rescue
chopper out of burning Saigon. The compound
where their offices had been was flattened
by charges set that day by the last Americans.
(V) VSDAO compound qrter destruction byAmerican-set charqes, Sqigof/, 30 ApHI1975
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