Chronology/Operations - Period - 1972 To 1975
VC = Viet Cong(local force enemy). NVA= North Vietnam Army.
FSB = Fire Support Base. A defended perimeter within which artillery and/or mortars
were placed to support tactical operations by infantry or armour that were operating more
than 10 klms(maximum gun range) from the Nui Dat Base.
FSPB = Fire Support Patrol Base. As above. Provided a secure base to operate
patrols from.
AO = Area of Operations. TAOR=Tactical Area of Operational Responsibility
KIA = Killed in action. WIA = Wounded in action. MIA = Missing in Action. DOW =
Died of wounds
RAR = Royal Australian Regiment(Infantry). RAA = Royal Australian Artillery. RNZA =
Royal New Zealand Artillery. RAE = Royal Australian Engineers
Art = Artillery. Bty = Battery. Coy = Company. Bde = Brigade. APC = Armoured
Personnel Carriers.Tp = Troop. Cav = Cavalry.
1972
Dr Henry Kissinger, US National Security Adviser
"Peace is at Hand".
January
13 - President Nixon announce that US troops withdrawals will reduce US commitment to
69,000 .
29 - The RAAF 35 Sqn Caribou flights cease except a daily courier run to Siagon.
February
13 - All RAAF No 35 Sqn Caribou flights cease and to the unit prepares to depart for
Australia.
19 - 4 Caribou aircraft from No 35 Sqn depart Vung Tau arriving at the Richmond Air
Base, Sydney on the 26 Feb 1972. During their tour of 7 years No 35 Sqn established an
outstanding record, having flown 80,000 sorties totalling 47,000 hours in the air, carried
more than 677,000 passengers, 36 million kg of freight and 5 million kg of mail.
29 - The last of the Australian troops depart Vietnam on HMAS Sydney.
March
2 April 1972, soon after it became apparent that a major Communist
effort was underway, President Nixon ordered his Pacific forces to strike that region of
North Vietnam nearest to the DMZ by air and sea.
12 - 4 RAR completes its second tour and final tour of Vietnam.
30 - North Vietnamese forces invade South Vietnam. The U.S. Navy gave its sister
service some of this additional time when the fleet sortied into Southeast Asian waters to
help stem the Communist Easter Offensive that began on 30 March 1972. This massive,
three-pronged enemy attack, which broke across the DMZ, through the Central Highlands, and
toward Saigon from the north, sparked an immediate American response. Seventh Fleet
cruisers and destroyers steamed into the coastal waters off I Corps and added their 8-inch
and 5-inch guns to the South Vietnamese defense of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Provinces.
Each day, between 15 and 20 U.S. ships poured fire into the ranks of the North Vietnamese
divisions striking for Hue. Navy and Marine Corps spotters ashore or in the air called in
heavy bombardment. On occasion gunfire support ships fired directly at enemy troops and
tanks on the beach. Expending thousands of rounds each month, 117,000 in June alone, the
fleet surface force was a prime factor in the successful South Vietnamese defense of Hue
and subsequent counterattack to retake overrun areas.
April
5 - US Air Force fighter bombers reinforce units in Thailand.
6 - US Admiral Moorer announces the resumption of aerial and naval bombardment
against North Vietnam.
During April, the first month of operations, the Seventh Fleet resumed the interdiction
campaign that ended in November 1968. Task Force 77 swelled to include five carriers, Constellation,
Kitty Hawk, Hancock, Coral Sea, and Saratoga (CVA 60). The
addition of Midway to the task force in May would make this the largest
concentration of carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin during the war. The air squadrons, massed
for multiaircraft strikes in Operation Freedom Train, hit key military and logistic
facilities at Dong Hoi, Vinh, Thanh Hoa, Haiphong, and Hanoi. Smaller flights attacked
enemy troop units, supply convoys, and headquarters in the areas around the DMZ. Also
taking part in Freedom Train were the fleet's gun cruisers and destroyers, which ranged
the southern North Vietnamese coastline, shelling transportation routes, troop
concentrations, shore defenses, and Communist logistic installations. Joseph Strauss
(DDG 16) and Richard B. Anderson (DD 876) opened this renewed operation on 5 April
when they fired on the Ben Hai Bridge in the northern half of the DMZ. Then on the 16th
for the first time, cruiser Oklahoma City and three destroyers obliterated targets
on the Do Son Peninsula, which guarded the approaches to Haiphong.
From April through September, the cruiser destroyer group fired over 111,000 rounds at the
enemy, destroying or damaging thousands of bunkers and buildings; knocking out tanks,
trucks, and artillery sites; killing 2,000 troops; and sinking almost 200 coastal logistic
craft and 4 motor torpedo boats. In August, Newport News, destroyer Rowan
(DD 782), and naval air units sank two of the PT boats that attacked the American ships
off Haiphong.
May
1 - Quang Tri City falls to the North Vietnamese.
8 - President Nixon announces the mining of North Vietnam harbors.
From May through December 1972, no large merchant vessels entered or left North Vietnamese
harbors. An attempt by the Communist to lighter cargo to shore from ships in international
waters was foiled when fleet ships and aircraft, including Marine helicopter gunships,
intercepted and destroyed the shuttling craft. The deployed American fleet even curtailed
the enemy's intracoastal movement.
Complementing this effort at sea was the massive aerial offensive by the U.S. Navy and
U.S. Air Force named Linebacker. In contrast to the earlier Rolling Thunder campaign, in
Linebacker Washington gave operational commanders authority to choose when, how, and in
what order to strike and restrike targets. Commanders could adjust to changing weather and
the enemy's defenses and concentrate their aerial firepower to best effect. As a result,
American air squadrons interdicted the road and rail lines from China and devastated North
Vietnamese warmaking resources, including munition stockpiles, fuel storage facilities,
power plants, rail yards, and bridges.
Using Boeing B-52 bombers and new, more accurate ordnance, such as laser guided bombs and
advanced Walleye bombs, the Air Force and the Navy hit targets with great precision and
destructiveness. For instance, the U.S. air forces destroyed the Thanh Hoa and Paul Doumer
bridges, long impervious to American bombing, and the Hanoi power plant deep in the heart
of the populated capital city. They also knocked out targets as close as 10 miles to the
center of Hanoi and 5 miles from Haiphong harbor.
Between 9 May and the end of September, the Navy flew an average of 4,000 day-and-night
attack sorties each month, reaching a peak of 4,746 in August. This represented over 60
percent of the American combat support sorties during the same five-month period.
The North Vietnamese attempted to counter the American onslaught. Employing thousands of
antiaircraft weapons and firing almost 2,000 surface-to-air missiles in this period, the
enemy shot down 28 American aircraft. In one day alone, the Communist air force challenged
U.S. aerial supremacy by sending up 41 interceptor aircraft. On that day, 10 May, Navy
pilot Lieutenant Randy Cunningham and his radar intercept officer Lieutenant (jg) William
Driscoll became the war's only Navy "aces," adding three kills to the two
already credited to them. American air units destroyed a total of 11 North Vietnamese
aircraft that day, but lost 6 of their own. The Navy's ratio of kills to losses had
improved by the end of air operations on 15 January 1973, when the total stood at 25 MiGs
destroyed in air-to-air combat for the loss of 5 naval aircraft. During the Linebacker
campaigns, the fleet's SAR units rescued 30 naval air crewmen downed for various reasons
in the North Vietnamese theater of operations.
The nature of the campaign changed in May when President Nixon ordered the virtual
isolation of North Vietnam from external Communist support. Aside from the obvious
military rationale, the President sought by this action to end North Vietnamese
intransigence at the stalled Paris negotiations. For the first time in the long Southeast
Asian conflict, all of the Navy's conventional resources were brought to bear on the
enemy. On 9 May, in Operation Pocket Money, Coral Sea's A-6 Intruders and A-7
Corsairs dropped magnetic-acoustic sea mines in the river approaches to Haiphong, North
Vietnam's chief port. Shortly thereafter, the other major ports were mined as well. Over
85 percent of the country's military imports passed through these ports. Washington gave
foreign ships three days to depart the country, after which the mines armed themselves.
Despite this advance notice, 32 foreign, mostly Communist ships elected to remain trapped
in North Vietnamese waters.
On 10 May the 8-inch guns of heavy cruiser Newport News bombarded
targets near Hanoi from a position off Do Son while guided missile cruisers Oklahoma
City and Providence and three destroyers suppressed the enemy's counterbattery
fire from the peninsula. Normally three or four U.S. ships made up the surface action
group that cruised along the coast ready to provide air-spotted or direct fire.
13 May, in order to frustrate Communist attack plans, Marine helicopters
from the amphibious ready group's Okinawa (LPH 3) landed South Vietnamese marines
miles behind Communist lines in I Corps. On 24 May and again on 29 June, the amphibious
task group deployed South Vietnamese troops on the enemy's exposed coastal flank and rear.
These actions and strikes by naval air and gunfire support units eventually helped force
the North Vietnamese in retreat.
August
12 - The last American ground combat troops leave Vietnam. 43,500 airmen and support
personnel remain.
Jane Fonda Broadcast from
Hanoi, August 22 1972
September
By the end of September 1972, the North Vietnamese diplomats in Paris were much more
amenable to serious negotiation than they were at the end of March. Allied air, naval, and
ground forces had repulsed the Communist offensive in South Vietnam and in I Corps even
regained much lost ground. After drastically reducing the enemy's reinforcements and
munitions infiltrated into the South, the U.S. air and naval campaign in the North
gradually destroyed Hanoi's ability to prosecute the war.
October
Believing that a negotiated settlement of the Southeast Asian conflict was within reach in
Paris, on 11 October the Nixon administration ordered U.S. Pacific forces to cease bombing
in the vicinity of Hanoi. Then on the twenty-third, Washington restricted allied strikes
to targets below the 20th parallel. Nevertheless, negotiations with the North Vietnamese
again bogged down in Paris while the enemy strengthened the air defenses of the capital
and Haiphong and restored the rail lines to China. The Communist once more stockpiled war
reserves. In response to these developments, President Nixon ordered a massive air assault
by Air Force B-52 bombers, tactical aircraft, and the Navy's carrier attack units against
military targets deep within Hanoi and Haiphong.
December
5 -Australian Labour Government elected under Gough Whitlam. Conscription ends.
18 December the joint attack, designated Linebacker II, fell on the enemy
capital. That night and on succeeding nights of the operation, wave after wave of B-52
bombers and supporting aircraft struck Hanoi, hitting command and communication
facilities, power plants, rail yards, bridges, storage buildings, open stockpiles, truck
parks, and ship repair complexes. Because of the precision of the air crews and their
weapons, there was minimal damage to nonmilitary property. The North Vietnamese met the
Linebacker II attack with 1,250 surface-to-air missiles, which brought down 15 of the big
American bombers and 3 supporting aircraft; antiaircraft defenses and MiG interceptors
destroyed another 4 carrier planes.
20 - Australian Army Assistance Group(AAAG) departs Vietnam, on the last
two RAAF C130 flights in support of Australian troops. This now leaves a small
Australian Embassy Guard as the last of the Australian troops in Vietnam.
President Nixon orders the resumption of bombing north of the 20th parallel.
Peace talks in Paris are suspended.
The loss of six B-52s on 20 December alone, however, called for a change in tactics and
more reliance on technologically superior equipment. Thereafter, the American air forces
employed the most advanced precision-guided weapons and electronic countermeasure, target
finding, and other equipment. They also concentrated on the destruction of the enemy's
missile defense network, including command and control facilities, missile assembly and
transportation points, and the missile batteries themselves. To spread thin Communist
defenses, the American command broadened the operational arena to include not only Hanoi,
but Haiphong, Thai Nguyen, Long Dun Kep, and Lang Dang. This redirection of effort
succeeded. Not surprisingly, at year's end the North Vietnamese resumed serious
discussions in Paris.
29 December, the last day of Linebacker II, U.S. forces had neutralized
the enemy's surface-to-air missile system while reducing friendly losses to a minimum.
30 - Bombing of North Vietnam ceases. North Vietnam agree to negotiate a peace
settlement.
1973
By 1973, both the logistic establishment and the combat arm of the Vietnamese Navy
possessed the material resources to carry on the fight alone. The 42,000-man naval service
marshalled a force of 1,500 ships and craft for warfare on the rivers and canals, in
coastal waters, and far out to sea. The supply, training, and repair facilities were
structured to man and support the operational navy for a long-term struggle.
Despite these advantages, the Vietnamese Navy still was burdened with the old problems of
poor leadership, low morale, and lack of dedication on the part of many personnel. The
departing Americans in the Naval Advisory Group concluded that the relatively young,
recently expanded, and still developing Vietnamese Navy had the potential to add great
strength to the defense of South Vietnam, but only if given the time to mature.
January
5 - Letter from President Nixon to President Nguyen Van Thieu of Vietnam
Reassuring Vietnam of US support.
11 - Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck proclaims the cessation of hostilities in
Vietnam by Australian Forces.
15 - US suspends military operations against North Vietnam.
23 - President
Nixon's Speech Ending the War - 23 Jan 1973 . (Real Audio)
On 27 January 1973, U.S., South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and Viet
Cong representatives finally signed the long-sought cease- fire agreement at Paris. Under
its provisions, the Communist agreed to release all American prisoners of war within a
space of two months in exchange for U.S. military withdrawal from South Vietnam and the
U.S. Navy's clearance of mines from North Vietnamese waters.
The last provision of the cease-fire agreement that directly related to the Navy entailed
removal of the U.S. sea mines laid along the North Vietnamese coast and the Mark 36
Destructors dropped into inland waterways. On 28 January, following months of extensive
preparation and training, the Seventh Fleet's Mine Countermeasures Force (Task Force 78),
led by Rear Admiral Brian McCauley, sailed from Subic Bay and shaped course for a staging
area off Haiphong.
US KIA 58,191.
24 - Dr Henry Kissinger's Comments at News Conference
Excerpts from the Paris Accords,
January 27, 1973.
28 - Lon Nol proposes a cease fire in Laos.
February
On 6 February, one day after Commander Task Force 78 met in the city
to coordinate actions with his North Vietnamese opposite, Colonel Hoang Huu Thai,
Operation End Sweep got underway. Ocean minesweepers Engage (MSO 433), Force
(MSO) 445), Fortify (MSO 446), and Impervious (MSO 449) swept areas off the
coast near Haiphong while being escorted by guided missile frigate Worden (DLG 18)
and destroyer Epperson (DD 719). By the end of the month, amphibious ships New
Orleans (LPH 11), Dubuque (LPD 8), Ogdon (LPD 5), Cleveland (LPD
7), and Inchon (LPH 12) had joined the force off North Vietnam. These ships carried
31 CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters from the Navy's Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron
12 and from Marine helicopter squadrons HMM-165 and HMH-463. These aircraft towed
minesweeping sleds and other devices to carry out aerial mine countermeasures along the
inland waterways and the shallow port areas. A total of 10 ocean minesweepers, 9
amphibious ships, 6 fleet tugs, 3 salvage ships, and 19 destroyer types served with Task
Force 78 during the six months of Operation End Sweep.
21 - Souvanna Phouma and the communists agree to a cease fire in Laos.
26 - Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announces the establishment of
diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam(now the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam).
During February and March, U.S. aircraft touched down at Gia Lam Airfield in Hanoi to
repatriate 138 naval aviators, some of whom had been prisoners in North Vietnam since
1964. The men were flown to reception centers in the Pacific and the United States, where
they received a joyous welcome from families and friends. The repatriation program,
appropriately named Operation Homecoming, ensured that the men received extensive medical,
psychological, and emotional support for the transition from captivity to freedom. Another
five men captured in the war were released earlier by the North Vietnamese while two
escaped. Thirty-six naval aviators died while in the hands of the Communist, whose
treatment of American prisoners was always harsh and often bestial. The Navy listed over
600 naval flight crew personnel missing and presumed dead at the end of the conflict.
The Americans began airborne minesweeping in the primary shipping channel to Haiphong on
27 February and in the ports of Hon Gai and Cam Pha on 17 March. During the early part of
April, MSS 2, an old, decommissioned LST, filled with foam and other buffers and
crewed by a few daring volunteers, made eight check runs up the Haiphong channel to ensure
that no mines threatened the vital waterway. Meanwhile, U.S. naval instructors trained 50
North Vietnamese personnel to conduct minesweeping operations on rivers and inland
waterways. Further, U.S. C-130 transport aircraft flew into Cat Bi Airfield to transfer
minesweeping gear to the North Vietnamese. Airborne and ocean sweeping operations
continued in the Haiphong and northern areas until 17 April, when U.S. leaders temporarily
withdrew the task force to persuade the North Vietnamese to adhere to the terms of the
Paris agreement. Convinced that Hanoi had received the intended message, on 18 June
Washington restarted Operation End Sweep. The task force returned to the anchorage off
Haiphong. In little more than a week, Admiral McCauley declared the water approaches to
Haiphong and the harbors of Hon Gai and Cam Pha free of danger from mines. Afterward, the
American flotilla worked the coastal areas off Vinh in southern North Vietnam. Finally, on
18 July 1973, with Operation End Sweep completed, the Seventh Fleet departed North
Vietnamese territorial waters. Thus ended the U.S. Navy's long, arduous, and costly
deployment off the Communist mainland.
March
2 - Act of the International Conference on Vietnam, signed in Paris
17 - A Cambodian pilot bombs the Presidential Palace in Cambodia. Lon Nol
survives.
29 - The last American troops leave South Vietnam leaving a Defence Attaché
Office.
April
1 - The last American Prisoners of War are released
10 - Complaints of Violations of Cease-Fire Given to Participants in the
International Conference on Vietnam
June
29 - US Congress bans the bombing of Cambodia after 15 August.
July
Last Australian troops leave Vietnam.(Embassy Guard)
1974
January
4 - President Thieu claims the war in South Vietnam has resumed.
27 - Siagon reports that 13,778 soldiers, 2,159 civilians, and 45,057 Communist
have died since the January 1973 truce.
August 5 - US Congress places a $1,000,000,000 ceiling on military to South Vietnam
for the fiscal year ending 30 June 1975.
1975
March
Concluding that it was only a matter of time before all was lost in Cambodia,
American leaders prepared to evacuate American and allied personnel from Phnom Penh. Fleet
commanders revised and updated long-standing plans and alerted their forces for this
special mission, designated Operation Eagle Pull.
On 3 March 1975, Amphibious Ready Group Alpha (Task Group 76.4), and the 31st
Marine Amphibious Unit (Task Group 79.4) embarked and arrived at a designated station off
Kompong Som (previously Sihanoukville) in the Gulf of Siam. By 11 April, the force
consisted of amphibious ships Okinawa, Vancouver, and Thomaston (LSD
28), escorted by Edson (DD 946), Henry B. Wilson (DDG 7), Knox (DE
1052), and Kirk (DE 1087). In addition, Hancock disembarked her normal
complement of fixed-wing aircraft and took on Marine Heavy Lift Helicopter Squadron (HMH)
463 for the operation. Anticipating the need to rescue as many as 800 evacuees, naval
leaders decided that they needed all of the squadron's 25 CH-53, CH-46, AH-1J, and UH-1E
helicopters and Okinawa's 22 CH-53, AH-1J, and UH-1Es of HMH-462. The amphibious
group also carried the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, which would defend the evacuation
landing zone near the U.S. Embassy, and reinforced naval medical-surgical teams to care
for any casualties. Land-based U.S. Air Force helicopters and tactical aircraft were also
on hand to back up the naval effort. Commander U.S. Support Activities Group/7th Air Force
(COMUSSAG) was in overall command of the evacuation operation.
5 - North Vietnamese troops launch attacks in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The final test of strength between the Republic of Vietnam and its Communist antagonists
that many observers had long predicted occurred in the early months of 1975. Seeking to
erode the government's military position in the vulnerable II Corps area, on 10 March
Communist forces attacked Ban Me Thuot, the capital of isolated Darlac Province, and
routed the South Vietnamese troops there. The debacle convinced President Nguyen Van Thieu
that even the strategic Pleiku and Kontum Provinces to the north could not be held and
must be evacuated. Accordingly, on the fifteenth, government forces and thousands of
civilian refugees began an exodus toward Tuy Hoa on the coast but that degenerated into a
panicked flight when the enemy interdicted the main road. The enemy dispersed or destroyed
many of the South Vietnamese II Corps units in this catastrophe.
16 - The ordered withdrawl degenerates into a rout under North Vietnamese
attack.
24 - Hanoi sets General Dung a new timetable designed to bring about the
collapse of SVN before the seasonal rains.
Giving up Hue on 25 March, Vietnamese troops retreated in disorder toward
Danang. The Vietnamese Navy rescued thousands of men cut off on the coast southeast of
Hue, but heavy weather and the general confusion limited the sealift's effectiveness. On
the previous day (24 March) government units evacuated Tam Ky and Quang Ngai in southern I
Corps and also streamed toward Danang. Simultaneously, the navy transported elements of
the 2d Division from Chu Lai to Re Island 20 miles offshore. With five North Vietnamese
divisions pressing the remnants of the South Vietnamese armed forces and hundreds of
thousands of refugees into Danang, order in the city disintegrated. Looting, arson, and
riot ruled the city as over two million people sought a way out of the ever-closing trap.
On 25 March, US ships were alerted for imminent evacuation
operations in South Vietnam. Noncombatants were chosen for the mission because the Paris
Agreement prohibited the entry of U.S. Navy or other military forces into the country.
27 March, the massive U.S. sea evacuation of I and II Corps began. During
the next several days four of the five barge-pulling tugs and Sgt. Andrew Miller, Pioneer
Commander, and American Challenger put in at the port. The vessels embarked
U.S. Consulate, MSC, and other American personnel and thousands of desperate Vietnamese
soldiers and civilians. When the larger ships were filled to capacity with 5,000 to 8,000
passengers, they individually sailed for Cam Ranh Bay further down the coast. By 30 March
order in the city of Danang and in the harbor had completely broken down. Armed South
Vietnamese deserters fired on civilians and each other, the enemy fired on the American
vessels and sent sappers ahead to destroy port facilities, and refugees sought to board
any boat or craft afloat. The hundreds of vessels traversing the harbor endangered the
safety of all. Weighing these factors, the remaining U.S. and Vietnamese Navy ships loaded
all the people they could and steamed for the south. MSC ships carried over 30,000
refugees from Danang in the four-day operation. American Challenger stayed offshore
to pick up stragglers until day's end on 30 March, when the North Vietnamese overran
Danang.
In quick succession, the major ports in II Corps fell to the lightly resisted Communist
advance. Hampered by South Vietnamese shelling of Qui Nhon, Pioneer Commander, Greenville
Victory, Korean-flag LST Boo Heung Pioneer, and three tugs were unable to load
evacuees at this city, which fell on 31 March. The speed of the South Vietnamese collapse
and the enemy's quick exploitation of it limited the number of refugees rescued from Tuy
Hoa and Nha Trang. Before the latter port fell on 2 April, however, Boo Heung Pioneer
and Pioneer Commander brought 11,500 passengers on board and put out to sea.
29 - RAAF HQ at Butterworth, Malaya receive telephone advice that a group
of Australian C130s, plus two dakota aircraft are to be dispatched to Vietnam for relief
missions.
30 - First C130 flight takes off from Butterworth for Siagon.They are
refused landing when the the controller asks if any crew are armed. They return to
Butterworth and resume the flight soon afterwards. The RAAF is tasked to assist in the
movement of refugees and Red Cross supplies to Can Tho from Phan Rang, directly in the
path of the advancing Communists.
April
Initially, Cam Ranh Bay was chosen as the safe haven for these South Vietnamese troops and
civilians transported by MSC. But, even Cam Ranh Bay was soon in peril. Between 1 and 4
April, many of the refugees just landed were reembarked for further passage south and west
to Phu Quoc Island in the Gulf of Siam. Greenville Victory, Sgt. Andrew Miller,
American Challenger, and Green Port each embarked between 7,000 and 8,000
evacuees for the journey. Pioneer Contender sailed with 16,700 people filling every
conceivable space from stem to stern. Crowding and the lack of sufficient food and water
among the 8,000 passengers on board Transcolorado led a number of armed Vietnamese
marines to demand they be discharged at the closer port of Vung Tau. The ship's master
complied to avoid bloodshed, but this crisis highlighted the need for the Navy to provide
better security.
1 - An RAAF C130 takes off from Siagon enroute to Phan Rang. Conditions
at the airport are unsafe and the aircraft returns.
2 - Two RAAF C130 s make 6 flights into Phan Rang, some 1500-1800
refugees are evacuated amongst utter pandemonium and panic. The US announce Operation
"Baby Lift". the evacuation by air of some 2,000 war orphans. The RAAF is placed
on alert to assist the Operation.
As the magnitude of the calamity in I and II Corps became apparent, the Seventh Fleet
deployed elements of the Amphibious Task Force (Task Force 76) to a position off Nha
Trang. Because of the political restrictions on the use of American military forces in
South Vietnam and the availability of MSC resources, however, Washington limited the naval
contingent, then designated the Refugee Assistance Task Group (Task Group 76.8), to a
supporting role. For the most part, this entailed command coordination, surface escort
duties, and the dispatch of 50-man Marine security details to the MSC flotilla at sea. By
2 April, the task group--Dubuque, Durham (LKA 114), Frederick (LST
1184), and the Task Force 76 flagship Blue Ridge (LCC 19)--was monitoring
operations at Cam Ranh Bay and Phan Rang. That same night the first Marine security force
to do so boarded Pioneer Contender. A second contingent was airlifted to Transcolorado
on the fourth. Dissatisfied with the condition of reception facilities on Phu Quoc and
ill-tempered after the arduous passage south, armed passengers in Greenville Victory
forced the master to sail to Vung Tau. Guided missile cruiser Long Beach (CGN 9)
and escort Reasoner (DE 1063) intercepted the ship and stood by to aid the crew,
but the voyage and debarkation of passengers proceeded uneventfully. In addition,
Commander Task Group 76.8 immediately concentrated Dubuque, guided missile
destroyer Cochrane (DDG 21), storeship Vega (AF 59), and the three ships of
Amphibious Ready Group Alpha at Phu Quoc to position security detachments on each of the
MSC vessels and to resupply the refugees with food, water, and medicines. Naval personnel
also served as translators to ease the registration process<
3 - Phan Rang is abandoned then reclaimed by SVN Government troops.
4 - Tragically the airlift suffers when a USAF C-5a Galaxy aircraft
loaded with 243 children, suffers a pressurisation problem and crashes on the
outskirts of Siagon. 143 children, escorts and medical staff are killed, including
Australian Welfare Workers Margaret Moses and Lee Mack. RAAF C130s continue to air
lift the children to Bangkok. 194 children were brought out by the RAAF and then
transported to Sydney by QANTAS charter.
7 - The SVN Government places a ban on any more of the "Baby
Lift" flights. This ban is quickly reversed, but not without delay of more flights.
7 April 1975, the American command put Amphibious Ready Group Alpha on
three-hour alert and positioned the force off the Cambodian coast. In the early morning
hours of 12 April Washington ordered execution of the daring mission. At 0745 local time, Okinawa
began launching helicopters in three waves to carry the 360-man Marine ground security
force to the landing zone. One hour later, after traversing 100 miles of hostile
territory, the initial wave set down near the embassy and the Marines quickly established
a defensive perimeter.
Within the next two hours, U.S. officials assembled the evacuees and quickly loaded them
on Okinawa and Hancock helicopters. Because many already had left Cambodia
by other means prior to the twelfth, the evacuees numbered only 276. The group included
U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean, other American diplomatic personnel, the acting
president of Cambodia, senior Cambodian government leaders and their families, and members
of the news media. In all, 82 U.S., 159 Cambodian, and 35 other nationals were rescued.
10-15 - North Vietnamese troops capture Xuan Loc, 38 miles from Siagon.
10 April, all ships at Phu Quoc were empty, thus bringing to a close the
intracoastal sealift of 130,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese citizens. With stabilization of
the fighting front at Xuan Loc east of Saigon and the Communists preparation for the final
offensive, the need to evacuate by sea diminished. By the fourteenth all naval vessels had
departed the waters off South Vietnam and returned to other duties.
Meanwhile, the Seventh Fleet focused its attention on Cambodia, in imminent danger of
falling to the Communist Khmer Rouge guerrillas. Since 1970, the United States had aided
the government of President Lon Nol in its struggle with the indigenous enemy and with
North Vietnamese forces arrayed along the border with South Vietnam. The American support
included a bombing campaign launched from Navy carriers and Air Force bases as far away as
Guam and the delivery to Phnom Penh of arms, ammunition, and essential commodities through
airlift and Mekong River convoy. Material assistance to the 6,000-man Cambodian Navy
included the transfer of coastal patrol craft, PBRs, converted amphibious craft for river
patrol and mine warfare, and auxiliary vessels. Despite this aid, by early 1975 the
Communists in Cambodia controlled every population center but Phnom Penh, the capital. As
the enemy tightened his ring around the city, the resistance of Cambodian government
forces began to crumble.
12 - US Ambassador in Cambodia leaves Phnom Penh.
17 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia, falls to insurgents.
The second airlift of "Baby Lift" commences and a RAAF C130 brings out another
77 orphans.
The US Seventh Fleet marshalled its forces in the Western Pacific. Between 18 and 24
April 1975, with the loss of Saigon imminent, the Navy concentrated off Vung Tau a vast
assemblage of ships under Commander Task Force 76.The task force was joined by Hancock
and Midway, carrying Navy, Marine, and Air Force helicopters; Seventh Fleet
flagship Oklahoma City; amphibious ships Mount Vernon (LSD 39), Barbour
County (LST 1195), and Tuscaloosa (LST 1187); and eight destroyer types for
naval gunfire, escort, and area defense. The Enterprise and Coral Sea
carrier attack groups of Task Force 77 in the South China Sea provided air cover while
Task Force 73 ensured logistic support. The Marine evacuation contingent, the 9th Marine
Amphibious Brigade (Task Group 79.1), consisted of three battalion landing teams, four
helicopter squadrons, support units, and the deployed security detachments.
21 - After a dogged defense at Xuan Loc, the South Vietnamese forces
defending the approaches to Saigon finally gave way on 21 April. With the outcome of the
conflict clear, President Thieu resigned the same day. On the 29th, North Vietnamese and
Viet Cong forces closed on the capital, easily pushing through the disintegrating Republic
of Vietnam Armed Forces. Although U.S. and South Vietnamese leaders had delayed ordering
an evacuation, for fear of sparking a premature collapse, the time for decision was now at
hand.
25 - President Thieu passes command over to Vice-President Tran Van Huong
and flees to the US.
25 - The RAAF conduct the last three flights into Siagon. The Australian
Embassy is closed and the Ambassador and his staff of 10 were airlifted out of Siagon at
approx 7 pm. Also on board were 16 Vietnamese refugees and nine Australian
journalists. Four Australian Airmen(ADGs) are left behind. A reserve
C130 circling off the coast is sent to pick up the stranded men up.
26 - Communists continue their advance and capture Phuoc Le, 60 klms
south east of the Siagon.
28 - Duong Van Minh takes over the government of Saigon.
At 1108 local time on 29 April 1975, Commander Task Force 76 received the
order to execute Operation Frequent Wind (initially Talon Vise), the evacuation of U.S.
personnel and Vietnamese who might suffer as a result of their past service to the allied
effort. At 1244, from a position 17 nautical miles from the Vung Tau Peninsula, Hancock
launched the first helicopter wave. Over two hours later, these aircraft landed at the
primary landing zone in the U.S. Defense Attache Office compound in Saigon. Once the
ground security force (2d Battalion, 4th Marines) established a defensive cordon, Task
Force 76 helicopters began lifting out the thousands of American, Vietnamese, and
third-country nationals. The process was fairly orderly. By 2100 that night, the entire
group of 5,000 evacuees had been cleared from the site. The Marines holding the perimeter
soon followed.
The situation was much less stable at the U.S. Embassy. There, several hundred prospective
evacuees were joined by thousands more who climbed fences and pressed the Marine guard in
their desperate attempt to flee the city. Marine and Air Force helicopters, flying at
night through ground fire over Saigon and the surrounding area, had to pick up evacuees
from dangerously constricted landing zones at the embassy, one atop the building itself.
Despite the problems, by 0500 on the morning of 30 April, U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin
and 2,100 evacuees had been rescued from the Communist forces closing in. Only two hours
after the last Marine security force element was extracted from the embassy, Communist
tanks crashed through the gates of the nearby Presidential Palace. At the cost of two
Marines killed in an earlier shelling of the Defense Attaché Office compound and two
helicopter crews lost at sea, Task Force 76 rescued over 7,000 Americans and Vietnamese.
29 - The Sydney Morning Herald
" The Prime Minister has lied to Parliament. He has deceived the Australian people.
He has abused their trust in him...his duplicity has been damningly exposed by the
publication (unauthorized) of secret cabled instructions sent by Mr Whitlam to our
ambassadors in Hanoi and Saigon. Their publication brings into the open gravest political
scandal since federation".
30 April 1975 - The Brisbane Courier Mail
" The charge the Prime Minister(Mr Whitlam) must answer over his cable to Hanoi and
Saigon earlier this month is - to put it kindly - that he misled the Australian people and
their Parliament.
If the Government's policy was in favor of Hanoi and against the Thieu Government in
Saigon, then he should have said so...it was not even handed.
The cables were complementary, not similar. Both were directed against the Thieu
Government in South Vietnam...this was one-sided. It was a pro-Hanoi and 'dump Thieu'
policy. He should have told parliament this".
10am April 30 - North Vietnamese troops enter Siagon.
President Duong Van Minh
announces unconditional surrender.
Last Flight out of Siagon
The
Final Day of My Husband's Life- General Hung
The Former Republic of
Vietnam Armed Forces
The Unforgettable
Morning
April 30 - Van Tein Dung - Commanding North Vietnamese Troops Occupying Siagon
"I lit a cigarette and smoked." - (this last day of the 10,000 day war) - "
seemed so fresh and beautiful, so radiant, so clear and cool; a morning that made babes
older than their years and made old men young again"
Meanwhile, out at sea, the initial trickle of refugees from Saigon had become a torrent.
Vietnamese Air Force aircraft loaded with air crews and their families made for the naval
task force. These incoming helicopters (most fuel-starved) and one T-41 trainer
complicated the landing and takeoff of the Marine and Air Force helicopters shuttling
evacuees. Ships of the task force recovered 41 Vietnamese aircraft, but another 54 were
pushed over the side to make room on deck or ditched alongside by their frantic crews.
Naval small craft rescued many Vietnamese from sinking helicopters, but some did not
survive the ordeal.
This aerial exodus was paralleled by an outgoing tide of junks, sampans, and small craft
of all types bearing a large number of the fleeing population. MSC tugs Harumi, Chitose
Maru, Osceola, Shibaura Maru, and Asiatic Stamina pulled barges
filled with people from Saigon port out to the MSC flotilla. There, the refugees were
embarked, registered, inspected for weapons, and given a medical exam. Having learned well
from the earlier operations, the MSC crews and Marine security personnel processed the new
arrivals with relative efficiency. The Navy eventually transferred all Vietnamese refugees
taken on board naval vessels to the MSC ships.
Another large contingent of Vietnamese was carried to safety by a flotilla of 26
Vietnamese Navy and other vessels. These ships concentrated off Son Island southwest of
Vung Tau with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board.
On the afternoon of 30 April, Task Force 76 and the MSC group moved away from the coast,
all the while picking up more seaborne refugees. This effort continued the following day.
Finally, when this human tide ceased on the evening of 2 May, Task Force 76, carrying
6,000 passengers; the MSC flotilla of Sgt Truman Kimbro, Sgt Andrew Miller, Greenville
Victory, Pioneer Contender, Pioneer Commander, Green Forest, Green
Port, American Challenger, and Boo Heung Pioneer, with 44,000 refugees;
and the Vietnamese Navy group set sail for reception centers in the Philippines and Guam.
Thus ended the U.S. Navy's role in the 25-year American effort to aid the Republic of
Vietnam in its desperate fight for survival.
1 May 1975 - The Daily Telegraph
"A long and dreadful chapter of Asian history has ended ... another, unknown chapter
is about to begin. And suddenly there is nothing left to say. The tears have been shed. A
Million words have described the agony and the horror and the bloodshed. It's over. thank
God".
"Now we only pray that the people of Vietnam will be shown the mercy they have, for
so long, been denied".
"There were to be almost twice as many casualties in South East
Asia(primarily Cambodia)
in the first two years after the fall of Siagon in 1975 than there were during the
ten years the US was involved".
(1996 Information Please Almanac)
Since the end of war , Vietnam Veterans have been fighting a private
war. Changed forever by their service in Vietnam, many have been facing health and
personal problems associated with that service. Cancer and Post Traumatic Disorder(PTSD)
being the main problems. Many of our Veterans have suicided, far above the national rate.
Many have died young. Even today there are veterans still in hospital from the war.
We ask not for sympathy - just understanding.
Australian Government Office Bearers - 1972-1975
Prime Minister
12 March 1971 - 5 December 1972 William McMahon
5 December 1972 - 13 December 1975 Edward Gough Whitlam
Minsiter for External Affairs
22 March 1972 - 5 December 1972 Nigel Hubert Bowen
5 December 1972 - 6 November 1973 Edward Gough Whitlam
6 November 1973 - 11 November 1975 Donald Robert Willese
Minister of Defence
13 August 1971 - 4 December 1972 David Eric Fairbairn
5 December 1972 - 6 June 1975 Lance Herbert Barnard
Ambassadors
United States
1 June 1970 - 7 February 1974 Sir James Plimsoll
7 February 1974 - 6 March 1976 Sir Patrick Shaw
Saigon
29 December 1970 - 26 July 1973 Arthur Malcolm Morris
26 July 1973 - 22 March 1974 Michael John Cook
22 March 1974 - 25 April 1975 Geoffrey John Price
Hanoi
28 July 1973 - 2 October 1974 Bruce William Woodberry
2 October 1974 - 13 March 1975 Graeme Calder Lewis
13 March 1975 - 4 September 1976 David George Wilson
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Last modified: June 05, 1998