Goodnight Saigon Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter 1 - GOODNIGHT SAIGON

  Chapter 2 - WINDS OF CHANGE

  Chapter 3 - FIRST STRIKE

  Chapter 4 - LOTUS BUDS

  Chapter 5 - THE LOTUS BLOOMS

  Chapter 6 - FATAL PANIC

  Chapter 7 - WHIRLWINDS

  Chapter 8 - CHEO REO

  Chapter 9 - A COUNTRY APART

  Chapter 10 - THE LOST BRIGADE

  Chapter 11 - COLLAPSE OF DA NANG

  Chapter 12 - ESCAPE FROM DA NANG

  Chapter 13 - THE CRUCIBLE OF DA NANG

  Chapter 14 - HANDWRITING ON THE WALL

  Chapter 15 - PANIC SPREADS SOUTH

  Chapter 16 - RACE FROM NHA TRANG

  Chapter 17 - THE NOOSE CLOSES

  Chapter 18 - THE SIEGE BEGINS

  Chapter 19 - RING OF FIRE

  Chapter 20 - FREQUENT WIND

  Chapter 21 - GOOD MORNING HO CHI MINH CITY

  Chapter 22 - REFLECTIONS

  Appendix - CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 1973-1975

  INDEX

  About the Author

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  Copyright © 2005 by Charles W. Henderson

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  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. BERKLEY CALIBER and its logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Berkley Caliber hardcover edition / January 2005

  Berkley Caliber trade paperback edition / September 2008

  Berkley Caliber trade paperback ISBN: 978-0-425-22402-1

  The Library of Congress has catalogued the Berkley Caliber hardcover edition as follows:

  Henderson, Charles, 1948-

  Goodnight Saigon / Charles Henderson.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  eISBN : 978-1-4406-3206-8

  1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975—Vietnam—Ho Chi Minh City. 2. Ho Chi Minh City

  (Vietnam)—History. 3. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975. I. Title.

  DS559.9.S24.H46 2005

  959.704’342—dc22 2004057466

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  In Memoriam for my beloved nephew, Jody Glenn Henderson.

  He lost his life trying to save others.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  WORDS FALL SHORT to express the depth of my gratitude to the many men and women who appear in this book, who took the time with me to relive some very stirring and often painful memories. Their trust in my reverence for them as human beings and my respect for the roles that they played in the historic events that led to the climax of the Vietnam War leave me humbled and sincerely thankful to each of them.

  Significantly, I thank President Gerald R. Ford for spending the hours with me talking privately about the events of the war’s end and sharing with me his feelings about those days, the situations, and the people who surrounded him at that time. His personal reflections and his candor gave me valuable insight and greatly helped me to paint a realistic picture of those events with words.

  I normally hold a great deal of cynicism toward most politicians. For me, politics and integrity seem mutually exclusive. However, after having the chance to get to know President Ford and to spend the time that I did with him, realizing the great sincerity, integrity, and stalwart honesty that lives in this man’s heart, I came away feeling only the utmost respect for this good man. I am very deeply honored to know him and to have sat in his presence.

  Another man who holds a high place on my short list of people I hold most honorable is General Al Gray, former Commandant of the Marine Corps and a man whom I have revered since I first met him more than thirty years ago. I thank him most profoundly for his time, his part of this story, and his warmth of Marine Corps brotherhood that he has always shown to me.

  Sincere appreciation and thanks go to the eight Marines who were among the eleven Marine security guards left stranded on the roof of the United States Embassy in Saigon on April 30, 1975. They accompanied me back to Vietnam and told me their stories in the city where it all happened.

  Thanks also to Lieutenant General Richard Carey for his insights and guidance and suggestions for further information. Also, my sincere thanks to former South Vietnamese Premier and Air Vice Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, for his insightful conversations and his guidance in pursuing this story.

  I also thank the men and women of the diplomatic missions of Vietnam for allowing me entrance into their country before the United States had established formal relations with them. They went out of their way to make me feel welcome and allowed me wide latitude to roam the hinterlands from one end of their nation to the other, and from borders with Cambodia and Laos to the coast. Although at times life got quite adventurous, I never felt at any great risk.

  General Tran Van Tra and Colonel Vo Dong Giang could have only given me lip service, shaken my hand, fed me a few canned tidbits, and sent me on my way. However, these gentlemen, my former enemies, graciously welcomed me and spent many hours struggling with me through chapter and verse of their perspectives of the war’s final days and the people who surrounded them. Their generosity with their time with me, patiently detailing the facts and their perspectives greatly helped me to understand their side of the story. My humble words of thanks seem so little in comparison to what they gave me in insight and knowledge.

  I also thank the host of others who sat patiently with me in Vietnam, helping me to comprehend the stories of their experiences. People like Nguyen Duc Cui, who tearfully shared their intimate memories with me, a stranger and a former enemy, leave me humbled and grateful to each of them.

  People like Huynh Thit, a former cost accountant for the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Da Nang, a woman who remained in the fallen city and then struggled under persecution year afte
r year, yet never lost her love for America and her Marines, and who shared her memories with me and then went all the way to the airport to hug my neck good-bye and to tell me she has never lost hope in America, stir my heart to this day. How can mere words thank her? Or thank people like Nguyen Manh Tuan, a former artillery commander, trained and educated in America, who endured years of imprisonment and poverty and still wonders about his friends in America?

  I hope that my honest portrayal of them in this book demonstrates my thanks better than my few words here.

  A profound thank you goes to Hoang Huy Chung, my escort and my translator. During the weeks that I spent zigzagging my way from Saigon to Hanoi, Hoang remained by my side. At Xuan Loc, when we were arrested by the local warlord’s police and held in their local stockade for a day, Hoang took the brunt of the not-so-friendly constabulary’s aggression toward us. His pleas, promises, and homage paid to the Xuan Loc chieftain finally got us freed. During those weeks, Hoang endured the dirt, rough rides, bad food, and long days and nights, and never stopped smiling.

  Then comes my friend, colleague, and fellow adventurer, Dirck Halstead. One of the world’s great photojournalists, he and I traced every battle site of the Vietnam War’s last campaign, venturing far from civilization into Vietnam’s most remote reaches. Dirck never complained nor ever winced at any adversity, but simply kept his video cameras rolling with enthusiasm.

  During those many weeks that we ventured together around the world, Dirck gave me his insights and shared his memories of Vietnam’s last days. Dirck also introduced me to people like Peter Arnett, his old friend who also accompanied us with his CNN crew to Saigon and during the trek told me his stories of the war. I thank Peter for sharing with me. Then in Bangkok, Dirck helped me cut through the ice with more of his old friends, Alan Dawson, Hubert Van Es, and Derek Williams, so that they told their tales of those days to me with clear and colorful detail.

  While I had known David Hume Kennerly from my time in Beirut in 1983, Dirck called on his long and close friendship with Kennerly to open that door wide and provide fly-on-the-wall insights of the White House and Vietnam. I am deeply grateful to David Kennerly for sharing that with us.

  However, in the end I am most profoundly thankful to Dirck Halstead not only for the doors that he opened for me, such as that with President Ford, but for his long-lasting friendship over these many years and his willingness to join me on other great adventures.

  There are few friends in this world like Dirck Halstead, and I am very blessed to count him among mine.

  Lastly, my deepest appreciation goes to my editor, who has become my friend over the years, Tom Colgan. While I languished well past the date we all thought this book would find completion, he stuck with me. He absorbed the flack and kept urging me onward. I had once compared him to Maxwell Perkins, the great editor of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tom continues to live up to that image, taking good care of his authors and cultivating their best work. I hope that Penguin USA knows what a rare gem that they have in Tom. He, along with my agent and old friend, Bob Markel, keep me going and keep me believing. My eternal thanks to them both.

  GLOSSARY OF CHARACTERS

  NORTH VIETNAMESE AND VIET CONG LEADERS

  Dang, Tra Bach, Communist Party boss for Saigon.

  Duan, Le, Communist Party First Secretary, principal mastermind of the North Vietnamese final campaign and politburo mainstay supporting the campaign to ultimate victory.

  Dung, General Van Tien, Chief of Staff, North Vietnamese Army, Supreme Commander of all Communist Forces.

  Giang, Colonel Vo Dong, Deputy Foreign Minister, North Vietnam, also known to many as Colonel Ba, a member of the Joint Military Commission in Saigon.

  Hung, Pham, politburo member and Chief Political Officer and First Secretary for the South Vietnam regions.

  Ky, Nguyen Xuan, Commander of Viet Cong forces for the Saigon region.

  Tan, General Le Truong, Vice Commander of the North Vietnamese Army, commander of Communist forces in victories over Da Nang and Xuan Loc.

  Tho, Le Duc, born Phan Dinh Khai on October 14, 1911, helped found Vietnam’s Communist Party, the Vietnam Workers’ Party, and in 1945 established the Vietnam Revolutionary League (Viet Minh) with Party Chairman Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, leading the Viet Minh rebellion against France in South Vietnam. He was the figurehead of the Viet Cong, a highly revered politburo member, and Communist South Vietnam’s chief negotiator opposite Henry Kissinger at the Paris Peace Talks. He was the corecipient with Kissinger of the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for leadership in the peace negotiations in Paris. However, Le Duc Tho refused to accept the award because he said that his country was not yet at peace. A key politburo member and leader of the Communists’ final offensive in South Vietnam in 1975, Tho died on October 13, 1990, in Hanoi.

  Thoa, Lieutenant General Hoang Minh, Deputy Chief of Staff, North Vietnamese Army.

  Tra, General Tran Van, Commander in Chief of the Viet Cong and among the senior leadership of the North Vietnamese Army, deputy commander to General Dung.

  NORTH VIETNAMESE AND VIET CONG SOLDIERS

  Can, Ha Thuc, CBS News cameraman, and was secretly a Viet Cong who used the Western press access provided by being an international journalist to gain intelligence information for the Communists.

  Cui, Nguyen Duc, Communications Officer, 320th NVA Division, carried the shoes of a dead friend in his pack for many years so that he could wear them in the victory parade in Saigon at the war’s end.

  Luong, Nguyen Thien, Viet Cong commander of forces attached to NVA 320th Division, annihilating the ARVN II Army Corps at Cheo Reo.

  Phung, Dang Quang, architect at Tan Son Nhut Air Base and Viet Cong spy.

  Reung, Le Van, Viet Cong guerrilla who fought for many years in the Central Highlands and in the southern reaches of I Corps up to Da Nang and Chu Lai and led insurgent platoon in the attack of Ban Me Thuot.

  Than, Le Cong, Vice Commander of the Forty-fourth Line Front, Viet Cong, led his units in the assaults outside Hue and Da Nang simultaneously as the assault on Ban Me Thout took place and converged his units on Da Nang as it fell.

  The, Colonel Hoang Duc, North Vietnamese Army regimental commander in the Second NVA Division attacking Hue and Da Nang.

  Thi, Truong Quang, NVA battalion commander with 320th Division, participating in the Cheo Reo massacre.

  Trung, First Lieutenant Nguyen Thanh, AFRVN, South Vietnamese Air Force pilot who defected to the Viet Cong on April 8, 1975, flying his F-5 jet fighter to Song Be Airfield at Phuoc Long after dropping the plane’s bombs on the South Vietnam Presidential Palace.

  Tuan, Nguyen Sinh, NVA soldier and documentary photographer.

  Wahn, Ky, photographer with the Saigon Associated Press, worked closely with AP Correspondent Peter Arnett; also a Viet Cong spy.

  SOUTH VIETNAMESE LEADERS AND MILITARY

  Dao, Brigadier General Le Minh, commander of the ARVN Eighteenth Division, held the NVA at Xuan Loc for thirteen days.

  Ky, Air Vice Marshal Nguyen Cao, former Premier of the Republic of Vietnam and Commander of the South Vietnamese Air Force.

  Lan, Brigadier General Bui The, Commandant of the South Vietnamese Marine Corps.

  Phu, Major General Pham Van, ARVN, Commanding General of Military Region 2 and the II Army Corps.

  Thieu, Nguyen Van, President of South Vietnam.

  Toan, Nguyen Van, ARVN III Army Corps Commanding General and Commander of Military Region 3.

  Toan, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Ngoc, Vietnamese Marine Corps, commander of the Fourth Battalion of the ill-fated 147th Brigade, lost on the beach at Tan My attempting to redeploy from Hue as it fell.

  Truong, Lieutenant General Ngo Quang, ARVN, Commanding General, Military Region 1.

  Tuan, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Manh, an artillery battalion commander in the ARVN II Army Corps, lost at Cheo Reo.

  SOUTH VIETNAMESE CIVILIANS

  Ca, Nha, one of the most widely
read novelists in South Vietnam, received acclaim for her criticism of the Vietnamese Communists, also the wife of Tran Da Tu.

  Chinh, Kieu, South Vietnamese actress, that country’s most popular motion picture star of that time.

  Nguyen, Bich-Van, second oldest daughter of Nguyen Giap Ty and Ninh Thi Tran.

  Nguyen, Vanny Low, youngest daughter of Nguyen Giap Ty and Ninh Thi Tran.

  Nguyen, Son D., younger son of Nguyen Giap Ty and Ninh Thi Tran.

  Nguyen, Tuong-Van, oldest daughter of Nguyen Giap Ty and Ninh Thi Tran, disabled with Down’s syndrome.

  Nguyen, Nam K., older son of Nguyen Giap Ty and Ninh Thi Tran.