AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Presents Academy Award® Nominated Documentary “Last Days in Vietnam”
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AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Presents Academy Award® Nominated Documentary “Last Days in Vietnam” Premieres Tuesday, April 28, 2015 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS April 1975. During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon, South Vietnamese resistance crumbled. City after city and village after village fell to the North while the few U.S. diplomats and military operatives still in the country contemplated withdrawal. With the lives of thousands of South Vietnamese hanging in the balance, those in control faced an impossible choice––who would go and who would be left behind to face brutality, imprisonment or even death. Directed by Rory Kennedy and airing in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, “Last Days in Vietnam” premieres on AMERICAN EXPERIENCE on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, 9:00-11:00 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings). The 1973 Paris Peace Accords had forged a tenuous ceasefire between North and South Vietnam, and mandated the removal of almost all U.S. forces. Following this latest ceasefire violation, President Gerald Ford asked Congress for an emergency appropriation to aid the beleaguered South Vietnamese government. The White House expected that neither Congress nor the American people would support a reengagement in Vietnam. Says then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, “We knew we were not going to get the $722 million. By that time, it made no big difference, [but] President Ford said first he owed it to Vietnam to make a request.” By early March 1975, huge swaths of territory were overrun daily and, by the end of the month, the North Vietnamese Army had surrounded the capital, preparing to launch its final assault on Saigon––11 months ahead of schedule. To the U.S. diplomats and military operatives still in Saigon, one thing was clear—a Communist victory was inevitable. The Americans grew increasingly concerned for the safety of their South Vietnamese allies, co- workers and friends who faced imprisonment or possibly death in the event of a North Vietnamese victory. As the North Vietnamese troops drew dangerously close to Saigon, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin, himself the father of a fallen Vietnam veteran, steadfastly refused to discuss an evacuation, both for fear of panicking the South Vietnamese population and out of a stubborn reluctance to admit defeat. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, American officers on the ground found themselves faced with a moral dilemma: whether to follow official policy and evacuate U.S. citizens and their dependents only, or to ignore their orders and save the Vietnamese men, women and children they had come to value and love in their years in Vietnam. At the risk of their careers and possible courts-martial, a handful of individuals took matters into their own hands. Engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations, they waged a desperate effort to evacuate as many South Vietnamese as possible. In the days leading up to the final attack, U.S. Army Captain Stuart Herrington was one of a number of American officers who bypassed the ambassador and organized a “black op” evacuation effort, transporting his South Vietnamese contacts to an airbase and sneaking them aboard an outbound U.S. cargo flights to the Philippines. As the situation became increasingly dire, Department of Defense official and former Navy officer Richard Armitage arrived by plane in Saigon. In consultation with his former counterpart, South Vietnamese Navy Captain Kiem Do, Armitage developed a plan to remove U.S. Navy ships before they fell into Communists’ hands. When evacuation day came, Armitage discovered the Vietnamese sailors had packed the ships with nearly 30,000 South Vietnamese refugees. Recalls Armitage, “I thought it was a lot easier to beg forgiveness than to get permission. So the decision was made.” On April 29, the Saigon airport was attacked, forcing an immediate evacuation. Floating offshore in the South China Sea was the U.S.S. Kirk, part of the fleet sent to facilitate the evacuation of Americans. The crew and the ship––with its single, tiny helipad––was entirely unprepared for the role it was about to play in the scramble to evacuate the city. Soon, a seemingly unending stream of helicopters, piloted not by Americans, but by South Vietnamese airmen fleeing for their lives with their families and friends, descended upon the American destroyer. However, most of the action on that final, fateful day took place at the besieged U.S. Embassy in Saigon, where thousands of South Vietnamese hoping to secure a last-minute evacuation scaled the walls while a U.S. intelligence analyst ran his own underground railroad of evacuees to barges on the Saigon River. In the final hours of the evacuation, Ambassador Graham Martin used American resources meant for his own protection to extract thousands of South Vietnamese during an 18-hour airlift from the embassy compound. “Last Days in Vietnam” anchors a special week of programming related to the Vietnam War, and will be preceded at 8:00 p.m. ET by THE DRAFT, a look at the history of the selective service system in America. Both programs are part of PBS Stories of Service. On Monday, April 27, THE DAY THE 60’S DIED, premiering at 9:00 p.m. ET, chronicles the nation’s upheaval during May 1970, the month in which four students were shot dead at Kent State University during a protest against the Vietnam War. DICK CAVETT’S VIETNAM, following at 10:00 p.m. ET, is a look back at the conversations the talk show host had about the war with a range of high-profile public figures. In conjunction with the film, AMERICAN EXPERIENCE is launching a national outreach campaign, bringing together Vietnamese Americans, veterans and their communities to share their experiences from that turbulent time. The cornerstone of the campaign is the “First Days Story Project,” a partnership with StoryCorps. Forty years after those last days, the First Days Story Project hopes to record the stories of the Vietnamese American and veteran community during their first days in the United States after the war and archive them in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. “Last Days in Vietnam” will be available on DVD and Blu-ray on April 28, 2015, as well as for online viewing at pbs.org/amercanexperience. * * * About the Participants, in order of appearance Stuart Herrington, retired Colonel, U.S. Army, was a captain at the time of the Vietnam War, and served as an intelligence advisor to the South Vietnamese military. Henry Kissinger joined President Richard Nixon’s administration as National Security Advisor in 1969. He later served as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. In 1973, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in negotiating the United States’ withdrawal from Vietnam. Juan Valdez, retired Master Gunnery Sergeant, was the noncommissioned officer in charge of the Marine security guard detachment stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. He was the last American soldier out of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Frank Snepp served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1968 to 1976. During the Vietnam War, he was a chief analyst of North Vietnamese strategy in Saigon. Kiem Do was a Navy captain in South Vietnam. He served as the Navy’s deputy chief of staff for operations during the war. Ron Nessen was White House Press Secretary serving under President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977. Binh Pho was a college student in South Vietnam during the war. Following the war, he spent a year in a re- education camp, but escaped by boat to Malaysia in 1978. He now lives in the U.S. Steve Hasty, retired Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps, served three tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, the last as a staff sergeant commanding the Marine Security Guard Detachment assigned to the U.S. Consulate General in Can Tho. Rep. Pete McCloskey (R) CA served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. In 1972, he ran for President against Richard Nixon on an anti-Vietnam War platform. He served in the U.S. Navy, followed by the U.S. Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve. He retired as a colonel. Terry McNamara served as Consul General to Vietnam from 1974 to April 1975. Hugh Doyle was the chief engineer on the U.S.S. Kirk. Gerald Berry, retired Colonel, was a captain in the Marine Corps at the end of the Vietnam War. On April 29, 1975, he was sent to extract Ambassador Graham Martin from the U.S. Embassy and in the process helped airlift hundreds of South Vietnamese over 18 hours. Richard Armitage joined the U.S. Defense Attaché Office in Saigon in 1973, after three combat tours in Vietnam as an ensign in the U.S. Navy. Joseph McBride served with the U.S. State Department in Saigon during the evacuation in 1975. Dam Pham was a Navy lieutenant in South Vietnam during the war. Jim Laurie was an NBC News Correspondent stationed in Saigon covering the wars in Vietnam and Cambodia. Mike Sullivan, retired Master Sergeant, was a staff sergeant in the Marine Security Guard and assistant to Master Sergeant Juan Valdez, serving to protect the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. Paul Jacobs, retired Commander, U.S. Navy, was a captain and Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Kirk at the time of the Vietnam War. Miki Nguyen, a South Vietnamese native, was six years old when his family evacuated Saigon in 1975.