Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: We left, by my watch at 7:58, Saigon time. I made my way around in a circuitous route and went into the embassy. But I had a job to do, and it was an important job to do, I thought, to deny the enemy the South Vietnamese Naval ships. It underlines how confused and ineffective U.S. policy was toward Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. And Kean said, "Sir, not gonna happen. Many of them had Vietnamese wives, mistresses, whatever. Frank Snepp, CIA Analyst: It was not an official evacuation. Without any immigration papers, anything, passports, you name it. That was just a taste of what's coming. ‎Watch trailers, read customer and critic reviews, and buy Last Days In Vietnam directed by Rory Kennedy for $12.99. I asked the Vietnamese officer in charge to get in touch with the navy commander, Commodore Thang. And we'll work together as a team.". But, well, they looked up at the helicopters leaving and I could see their eyes. We saw the last helicopter leave from the roof. Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State: When President Ford went before the congress, he had two major concerns. It was long enough to get us through the most dangerous part of the trip. There's no way he could land on Kirk without impacting the ship. One of the boats had been hit and sinking, so it went alongside one of the other Vietnamese Navy ships. I had become so concerned I decided to pull our best Vietnamese agents in out of the woodwork to try to see what they could tell us about Communist planning, which obviously was rapidly evolving. Frank Snepp, CIA Analyst: At this time, Ambassador Martin had been back in Washington trying to persuade Congress to vote additional aid. When suddenly, whoosh, bam! Check out the  channel for exclusive video and clips from the film. Binh Pho, College Student: And then he said, um, "When you are in American embassy, you are in American soil. He was 30 years old, came aboard, civilian clothes. The third option was military fixed-wing aviation, the C5As, the C-141s, which carry a lotta people. Paul Jacobs, Commanding Officer, USS Kirk: We viewed them as enemy until we could verify who it, who it was, and then we realized that these were South Vietnamese trying to escape. Video Librarian's Best Documentary of 2015. The key word would be connection. Just go. Lock ourselves in a room and then come out when the dust is settled and introduce ourselves to the North Vietnamese. Terry McNamara, Consul General: The people on the boat were scared. You got to remember this is an ambassador who had lost his only son in combat in Vietnam. I land and I said to the people, I said, "I'm here to get the ambassador." The message was, 'The temperature is 105 and rising,' and then Bing Crosby’s 'White Christmas.' But we complied. We told Martin that he had to be on the last helicopter. He had been holding out hope that some kind of third-party solution could be worked out, so that South Vietnam could continue with some form of independence or autonomy. And they began to argue with me. It came out and tried to land on the ship. Although the Nixon administration’s 1973 cease-fire treaty with North Vietnam paved the way for the withdrawal of … Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! The 30 year war in South Vietnam is at last over. The shrapnel is just blowing up. Right. Obviously, very scared. Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: The ramp is closing and I did what I was trained in my first tour. People calmed down greatly after that. He said it was the Wild West at this point. Gerald Berry, Marine Pilot: You're very tired, and you're not seeing an end to this thing. We're pulling them on as fast as we can. Slate: Dam Pham was arrested and sent to a re-education camp. Salimah El-Amin We couldn't repair or replace equipment. Graham Martin, U.S. It held that in an emergency, all Americans still in the country, about 6,000 people, would be evacuated. U.S. military men took matters into their own hands to get their South Vietnamese counterparts out of the country before the North Vietnamese reached Saigon. Paul Jacobs, Commanding Officer, USS Kirk: Late that night, I was quite surprised that I got a call to come alongside the flagship; the admiral wants to speak to you. Kiem Do, Captain, South Vietnamese Navy (in Vietnamese, subtitled): He said that the situation is getting desperate now. Almost brick by brick, the embassy was being dismantled. Andreina Martinez On the 8th of April, I met with one of our best agents who said, "the Communists are gonna drive on Saigon. I thought about how this really really was wrong. Steve Hasty, Marine Consulate Guard: All our Vietnamese remained on the Pioneer Contender. Especially if you have a connection with the Americans. Ron Nessen, White House Press Secretary: Congress wouldn't pass it. "What do you want to do? Aimee Huffman Jim Laurie, NBC News Correspondent: People were coming in and out of the buildings. And then the mother jumped out and he caught her too. We received an order from Washington that the lift was over other than the extraction of the remaining Americans. Katharine Duffy, Contracts & Rights Manager And that I should not try to take any Vietnamese out. Stuart Herrington, Army Captain: I kept a map every day on the progress of the North Vietnamese onslaught. Walter Cronkite, CBS News (archival): Communist forces in South Vietnam, already solidly in control of 11 provinces, began working on yet another one today: Binh Dinh. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend I know you probably don't believe any of this, but it's all true. In many minds, this is how it is remembered, and this is what is reflected in the film. And each time a bird came in, here would go another 40, 50 people. ", Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: We were going up the stairs. Alan Barker Joe Bruscio (archival): I'm leaving Vietnam. Different by Design & HD Cinema, Additional Online Editors And we had less than 24 hours to pull it off. If the very worst were to happen, at least allow the orderly evacuation of Americans and endangered South Vietnamese to places of safety. They had no idea what was going to happen so they came out ready for anything, really. Field hospitals had to reuse soiled bandages. Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: He was upset. "And then make your way to the roof. I told Armitage that we needed as many sailors as we could muster. Promises made in good faith, promises broken. Share. Where's our fall back? Tucker Scott Alleborn You can't live with the communists. Nobody is gonna be left behind. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device. He'd lost an adopted son in Vietnam to combat. Last Days in Vietnam: Sundance Review. I promise, me and my soldier will be the last one to leave the embassy." Mark Mandler We've got these people over here." It was actually a mission that was called "embassy snatch," I was just supposed to get the ambassador. And I remember the dawn breaking and the sun coming up, seeing what I had seen as a radar display in person. I had all these causes, all these big things I was doing. You know, of course they took the money but they never got us. We thought that the USS Kirk would just going to be an observer to this whole thing when all of a sudden, on radar, we started seeing these little blips coming out from the shore. It is sobering, yet also a celebration of the individual willing to put himself on the line for what is right. But people could see what was going on. If we're gonna really get, get hit, it'll be there. It landed also. John Chancellor, NBC News (archival): NBC news correspondent Jim Laurie is one of the few Americans still left in Saigon. It's a 24-hour snapshot in time that hints at the atrocities happening before, during, and after the final evacuation of U.S. forces from the country. And I looked at the crew chief, and I said, "Put it down." Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State: We were told that the North Vietnamese tanks were coming very close. You know one officer can smell another one. But they had to be allowed to bring their families on board with them. That was defeatism. Terry McNamara, Consul General: That April I was in Can Tho, which was about 100 miles from Saigon. Paul Jacobs, Commanding Officer, USS Kirk: They lowered their Vietnamese flag, people crying. Miki Nguyen: One by one, we jump out. Joan Churchill, A.S.C. But I was on my way back to Vietnam. A Moxie Firecracker Production for American Experience. I remember looking at the ramp and two hands were over the top of it. No more troops, no more money, no more aid to the Vietnamese." And Madison said, "The hell you say. “Deftly woven...a concise and gripping film” —The New York Times, "Both heartrending and inspiring"—The Hollywood Reporter, "Plays like a wartime thriller" —The Washington Post, Listen to NPR's Kenneth Turan review Last Days in Vietnam.Read "The Stories Behind the Iconic Images," The Washington Post review of Last Days in VietnamWatch Rory Kennedy's interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, September 3, 2014, Director Rory Kennedy discusses LAST DAYS IN VIETNAM at The Hollywood Reporter's, Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, Watch Rory Kennedy's interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. They spoke good English, too. Terry McNamara, Consul General: I was in regular contact with the embassy, and I was told that when the time came, I should be ready to evacuate. Beth Karmin Gerald Berry, Marine Pilot: The chain of command, for-- as I understood it as a captain of the United States Marine Corps, and I think I got it right -- is that for any evacuation, that decision is the ambassador's decision. I thought maybe I should just say I'm not leaving. We had prepared three or four landing zones right across the street from the main runway of Tan Son Nhut airbase. In Saigon, during my childhood, it was like, say, living in the middle of busy LA. The noise of the rain hitting the water on the river was so loud that it muffled the sound of our engines. Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: Our next job was just lookin' at that classified document idea and gettin' rid of that. I would write one letter for my wife's ten letters. And pointed to the CH-46 that was just flying away. Paul Sanni, Series Producers Dam Pham, Lieutenant, South Vietnamese Army: There was chaos in Saigon at that time. And in this building there was over $1 million in U.S. currency. Some were anchored, some were just adrift. Communist ground forces have started moving in on Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport. Susan Norget Joe McBride A documentary directed by Rory Kennedy, daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy, dramatically presents the disorderly and humiliating American evacuation of Saigon as it was falling to North Vietnamese forces in April 1975. Give me this kind of money. And, you know, Kissinger knew this. And the word comes back "No. After we'd had a flurry of choppers, and cleaned out more than half of them and there were 420 people left. So I spent one sleepless night worrying about this, "How am I going to do this?" Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State (archival): I'm confident that every American who wanted to come out, uh, is, is out. In general, things were eerily calm and in many ways normal in Saigon. Joe Bruscio (archival): Uh… I'm kind of scared, to be honest with you. Steve Hasty, Marine Consulate Guard: I made the last broadcast, you know, Saigon and any monitoring station, this is Can Tho Consulate signing off the air; we are evacuating. You know so, we're all excited. And that's when the Captain Herrington started speaking to us in Vietnamese. So, I went to get on the helicopter. And 160,000 North Vietnamese troops moving right behind them. And suddenly, just quiet. The President commends the personnel of the Armed Forces who accomplished it, as well as Ambassador Graham Martin and the staff of his mission who served so well under difficult conditions. Hugh Doyle, Chief Engineer, USS Kirk: One fella is standing there and he said he looked up and saw this big bundle of stuff come flying out and it was a baby, it was the one-year old baby. There are tens of thousands of South Vietnamese employees of the United States government, of news agencies, of contractors and businesses for many years whose lives, with their dependents, are in very grave peril. Landon Butler I mean, I don't know who I'm supposed to tell, but I told everybody I was supposed to get the ambassador but the ambassador didn't get on. But as President Ford’s administration considered withdrawal, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese became terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock, and by an inexplicably optimistic U.S. ambassador, who steadfastly refused to discuss the possibility of evacuation, both for fear of panicking the South Vietnamese population, and out of a stubborn reluctance to admit defeat. The only option we had was sit on the stupid roof like a sitting duck. Jim Laurie, NBC News Correspondent (archival audio): In the words of General Minh, we are here to hand over the power of government to you in order to avoid bloodshed. He didn't own a thing but his underwear when he finally came aboard the ship. Joel & Susan Hyatt Juan Valdez, Marine Embassy Guard: My sense was that we were gonna be there, you know, pretty much for a long time to come. Kiem Do, Captain, South Vietnamese Navy (in Vietnamese, subtitled): We tried to do our best without thinking about the future. We then tried to scramble into the embassy ourselves. Then my friend, he showed the paper to the guard, and he just kind of pointing to each one of us, and we, one by one, to go inside of the Embassy. Were they gonna continue shelling Tan Son Nhut? Geir Gundersen Stuart Herrington, Army Captain: The carrier pilots were saying, "Look, it's an uncontrollable sea of people and Ambassador Martin has lost his objectivity. There was an old pilot named O.B. Landi Rees, Archival Materials Courtesy of Ted Hayash So meanwhile we've thrown three helicopters in the water so far. I jumped out, my brother jumped out. And the only way we could do that was keeping the airport open as long as we could. Our plan was that my deputy would bring up the rear and he would go through the consulate buildings and make sure that we had destroyed all of the sensitive material. We weren't sure who the dip-wad was that was opening up on us, but we continued blazing away as we got past the ambush site. Reporter, CBS News (archival): Our plane is surrounded here, I don't know how the hell we're going to get out. And then we saw a faint light on the horizon, and as we got a little bit closer, we could see that they were the lights of a ship's rigging. Finally I looked out and I saw a black dot. Allison Huynh Hassan Slate: After landing in the Philippines, Kiem Do reunited with his wife and children. The very last option, the very last option, was, was helicopters off the carriers into Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base. Well, as it turned out, the guys yelling down were Marines. And when we got there, it was teeming with people. Reporter (archival audio): Rockets exploded all over the base, touching off three major fires. I called it "dream in the wind." Lyndie Benson City after city and village after village fell to the North while the U.S. diplomats and military operatives still in the country contemplated withdrawal. And then I said, don't be a fool. And he said "No, Frank. Hugh Doyle, Chief Engineer, USS Kirk: Turned out, all throughout the southern part of Vietnam, there were South Vietnamese army and air force installations with one or two or three or four helicopters, and those helicopters were flyable, their pilots were there. He was very hot under the collar, and Kean said, "You can't. I had gotten very attached to Vietnam. It was like, "Where are the soldiers? They were so close the shrapnel was plinking against the fence behind us. Joseph McBride, State Department Officer: If we were gonna get people out, we were gonna have to make it happen, and deliver the Vietnamese to the big airplanes in some form or fashion. I mean, you have... Steve Hasty, Marine Consulate Guard: We were dealing with an ambassador who was just convinced that somehow he was going to be able to pull this out and that there wouldn't have to be an evacuation and therefore there wouldn't have to be a concern about evacuating South Vietnamese. Scott Anderson But the military is responsible for giving him all kinds of plans. Corbis Kiem Do, Captain, South Vietnamese Navy (in Vietnamese, subtitled): We had about 32 vessels that we could sail. We immediately started returning fire. I had never heard Ford use a curse word in all the time I'd known him. On the next, we would get orders to abandon it. Slate: After 13 years of hard labor, he was released and made his way to America. We looked up at the horizon and all you could see were helicopters all heading towards us. Real high up. Once we hit the absolute narrowest portion, that's where we're really going to be in danger." They took us aboard. I realized that I had become the quintessential American in Vietnam. Joseph McBride, State Department Officer: Ambassador Martin was dragging out the evacuation as long as he could to get as many South Vietnamese out as possible. Kiem Do, Captain, South Vietnamese Navy (in Vietnamese, subtitled): The truth is, planning an evacuation was above my rank. But the fact that they're going to be crammed with an unknown number of civilians was somewhat problematic. Then the third plane came in. And he just shook my hand and said, "Thanks for trying." And Ambassador Martin wouldn't hear of it. Slate: In the last days of the Vietnam war, some 130,000 South Vietnamese managed to escape, including 77,000 by events described in this film. There were still rounds coming in. The plane is taking off. In this case, meaning, "You're not allowed to bring out Vietnamese military people who were under obligation to stand and fight." So, General Carey comes out, gives me an apple and a cup of coffee or something and says, "We're under orders from the president. Additional Photography That Ambassador Martin is trying to evacuate all of Saigon through the U.S. As they climbed up the ladder to the roof, a photographer took that famous photograph. Kirk after the fall of Saigon. I was part of the Four Party Joint Military Team, which was stationed out at Tan Son Nhut. We're pulling away, we're leaving them behind! confused, overpopulated streets of Saigon, we hear the voice of then Captain Stuart Herrington. Hugh Doyle, Chief Engineer, USS Kirk: We were supposed to pick up this, this person. People holding letters saying, you know, "I worked for the Americans, please let me in." not realizing we had been picked for a special mission. Anderson Wright, Interns So he lost everything. When we got to the roof, Master Sergeant Valdez was there. Richard Armitage, Special Forces Advisor: A Vietnamese sailor immediately shot this guy and then order was restored. Jasmine Barnes And people started to elbow each other try to get in the front line. Stuart Herrington, Army Captain: The air base was under continuous artillery fire. Georgia Stockwell, Audio Post Production Facility While O.B. We'd pulled out our troops in 1973 and public opinion at that point shifted. Dam Pham Produced and Directed by Rory Kennedy, Last Days in Vietnam was a 2015 Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature. I was one of maybe two or three Americans. All rights reserved. And they started leaving, especially the Americans. Richard Armitage, Paul Jacobs and the U.S. Navy escorted the vessels of the Vietnamese Navy— filled with thousands of refugees—to the Philippines. We though peace was at hand. Terry McNamara, Consul General: It was an American freighter, the Pioneer Contender. And he pops up, and he's alive. People would get out and go running for these commercial boats and get on. I had arranged a signal with my intelligence community friends that if I said, "I'm having a barbecue," that meant come to a certain pre-designated place and bring your families and only bring one suitcase because we're going to have a party. Robert Leal So that starts the lift. Ambassador to South Vietnam (archival): Cease evacuation? Hasty stayed and helped him. Man came up to me. Urgent understates it. We still had no organized plan for evacuating high-risk South Vietnamese, because we had an ambassador who was making up his mind on the wing. You know. Now that Option Four had been declared, I don't think anyone said, "Okay. Gail Evertz and Scott Minerd I borrowed a truck, and I basically sent the signal to my folks, and this meant a group of South Vietnamese majors, lieutenant colonels, colonels and their families to muster at an address in downtown Saigon. Kathryn and Richard Kimball I drove down there. You know, the whole Vietnam War is a story that kinda sounds like that. Hugh Doyle, Chief Engineer, USS Kirk (archival audio): None of them had ever landed on a ship before, they were Vietnamese air force. As we watch the aimless. Juan Valdez, U.S.S. Stuart Herrington, Army Captain: Three of the choppers that came in each landed a platoon of 40 marines from the task force. He was just flying blind. I made a number of runs and there'd just be more and more and more people. He was a great gentleman. Shutterstock, Inc.  They have a courtyard and a swimming pool and we mostly gather around the swimming pool. Yeah. Miki Nguyen: Just thunderous loud noise. Graham Martin, U.S. During the chaotic final days of the American involvement in the Vietnam War, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon, South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. And then we were attacked. They loaded up onto the truck, and I drove them to the airbase. There were people who were saying, "Look, we've gotta do some heavy, heavy planning here because depending on how this goes and it doesn't look good now, we may all have to evacuate. Geralyn Dreyfous Slate: On March 10, 1975, North Vietnam launched a massive invasion into South Vietnam. We have objected to that violation. We have been reducing the population here as measure of prudency and will take measures to reduce it further as a, as a question of prudence. You know, military officers and people of military age. They were bringing SA-2 missiles down to provide anti-aircraft cover for their forces. That being said, providing students with context for the Vietnam conflict will greatly enhance their experience viewing The Last Days of Vietnam. Richard Armitage, Special Forces Advisor: We steamed down to Con Son Island, and we could see on the radar display that there were a lot of blips. You're not going to get anybody else out. Stack the ammo because this one's gonna be ugly. And sure enough, about 10 o’clock in the morning, there was Bing Crosby on the airwaves." Including their families, many more than that. As North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon, eleven U.S. Marines found themselves on the roof of the American Embassy with no U.S. helicopters in sight. Mike Sullivan, Marine Embassy Guard: A tank is going to take one shot. And I told them, (speaks Vietnamese) "Big helicopters about to come." Frank Snepp, CIA Analyst: The prearranged signal for the evacuation was broadcast on American radio in Saigon. Graham Martin, U.S. There was no hiding it that somehow, people had to have let these people into the embassy. I was the last one out. So there was a standoff in the middle of the river. Gail Furman So somebody was looking out for us that day. Frank Snepp, CIA Analyst: The ambassador refused to leave until he could get as many Vietnamese on as many choppers as possible. During the chaotic final weeks of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as the panicked South Vietnamese people desperately attempt to escape. Garrick Utley, Reporter, NBC News (archival): Do you think it will be necessary? Henry Kissinger, Secretary of State: We were told that Martin had left on the last helicopter. As gripping as it is inspiring, Last Days in Vietnam offers a surprisingly fresh -- and heart-wrenching -- perspective on the end of the Vietnam War. Was it, you know, marine security guards who looked the other way? It's a different noise. It was a terrible, terrible, terrible moral dilemma for everybody. We were there to protect American lives, as well as American property. So, what if the master plan to take people out by air from Tan Son Nhut doesn't work? I can't take anymore." Saigon was full of rumor, of false stories. Rep. Pete McCloskey, (R) California: There was no way in 1975 that the Congress was gonna vote any money to go to the aid of South Vietnam. And as soon as the chopper would land, they would be brought into the restricted area where a couple of the marines would escort them into the aircraft. We couldn't think of what else to do, these other planes were looking for a place to land, so we just, just, physically pushed them. I knew I was missing one man. Except for us. It is a unilateral cease-fire and an unconditional surrender. MyFootage, LLC Kiem Do, a colonel in the South Vietnamese Navy, remembers the solemn flag-lowering ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Last Days in Vietnam Trailer - YouTube. You want to go? At the embassy, a lot of the people who got out happened to be good wall jumpers. They continued to organize these makeshift airlifts. Binh Pho, College Student: I was a student. And then I went around Saigon to see what happened. Aide to Graham Martin (archival): He has no statement to make. I mean, he looked like, I'm sure the pressure was immense. And it was understood that General Smith was not being premature with recommendation for Option Four. So, we had to disarm them. They were rationing their artillery shells because they were running out. Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. All of these things, and it was all churning all around. Of course, the Americans we worked with had a plan in place for us. Hanoi suddenly saw the road to Saigon as being open. Richard Nixon (archival): We today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam. Garrick Utley, Reporter, NBC News (archival): Why? When you hear the Chinook coming, you know it's coming. Neil got to the roof. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. Binh Pho, College Student: I kind of fall asleep off and on, but what gets me woke up is the noise. Marianna Yarovskaya, Production Assistants And Ambassador Martin pulled me out of line and he said, "I know what you've been doing. Inside the embassy, we discovered as we walked through the buildings and the outbuildings and the swimming pool area and the social club area, everywhere we looked was teeming with Vietnamese. An emergency, all Vietnamese. maybe I should only restrict myself to evacuating Americans using my helicopters! That could not be fastened down or was not an official evacuation to Tan Son Nhut given my a. Hoping to get out as soon as possible USS Kirk: this big Chinook up. 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