Liberation Day as seen by American journalist

GEORGE ESPER
Updated : Sun, May 1, 2011,12:08 PM (GMT+0700)

At the entrance to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, abandoned American cars and motorcycles littered the road. Many American evacuees had been turned back at the gates by angry Vietnamese guards, firing into the air and shouting, "We want to go, too." They felt the Americans had abandoned them.

(Editor's Note: This was written by George Esper who retired from the Associated Press in 2000 after 42 years with the wire service, including 10 in Vietnam. He now teaches journalism at West Virginia University.)

Such was the chaos during the evacuation, that some Vietnamese were separated from their loved ones. One U.S. Marine thrust a tiny Vietnamese boy into the arms of a German clergyman in the U.S. embassy compound during the final evacuation, yelling over the mob: "Take it, I've got to fight."

In messages sent back to Washington, American officials overseeing the evacuation reported that "the entire scene was one of total disorganization and mounting fear." They said there was a lack of realistic planning. "It was also apparent that the American Embassy staff was not prepared for such an evacuation, especially one requiring the helilift of thousands of persons from the American Embassy," they said.

Vietnamese soldiers, police and youths stole and stripped scores of abandoned American cars across the street from the U.S. Embassy. American apartment buildings were looted by Vietnamese who helped themselves to food, bathroom fixtures, furniture, typewriters, air conditioners, radios, and stereo equipment. The stolen good turned up later on the black market and, ironically, North Vietnamese soldiers bargained with Saigonese merchants at the sidewalk stalls.

Within two hours of Saigon's surrender, North Vietnamese troops rolled into the city on tanks, armored vehicles, and camouflaged Chinese-built trucks. Hundreds of Vietnamese applauded and cheered, perhaps more out of fear than loyalty, as the North Vietnamese columns rolled down Unity Boulevard to the Presidential Palace.

There were small pockets of resistance. The clatter of automatic weapons fire could be heard between the National Assembly building and City Hall. But most of Saigon was quiet after 30 years of fighting.

The "Five O'Clock Follies," the U.S. and South Vietnamese military briefings that sought to put a positive spin on their war efforts, were held in the Rex auditorium for a time.

The Americans themselves destroyed an allied command center, "Pentagon East," at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, with thermite grenades to keep it out of North Vietnamese hands. It lay crumpled and gutted by flames. The U.S. Embassy and Ambassador Graham Martin's residence were taken over by the North Vietnamese.

They were sealed off after they were looted by the South Vietnamese. The North Vietnamese took Ambassador Martin's personal chair as a souvenir. North Vietnamese guards took up the positions once commanded by U.S. Marines.

After the American airlift came to an end, the incoming teletype at the AP Bureau in the Eden Building clicked off a message from Wes Gallagher, the AP president in New York, advising that a final helicopter evacuation might be in the works. "Any of you want to leave if it works out," he asked me and my AP colleagues, Peter Arnett and Matt Franjola.

I replied: "Gallagher. Thanks for your offer. We want to stay, but have some nervous Vietnamese want to get out, please. FYI, U.S. Embassy promised me they would take care of them, but in the chaos they were unable to get into the embassy to board helicopters. Esper." That final helicopter never came.

That night, the chandeliers in the city hall glowed. Flares lighted up the skies. Trucks loaded with North Vietnamese troops and towing artillery moved through Saigon while the city slept. When it awakened, there would no longer be the sounds of war, only the silence of peace. The war was over after 30 years of fighting.

* Material used in this report was adapted from the Associated Press and George Esper's book, "The Eyewitness History of the Vietnam War," published in 1983, and Esper's recollections.