Goodnight Saigon by Charles Henderson

Author:Charles Henderson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-11-08T05:00:00+00:00

EASTERN BEACHES BELOW MONKEY MOUNTAIN

“AHOY!” Al Francis shouted happily, keying the microphone on his handheld walkie-talkie. “Ahoy!”

“Blink your light three times,” a voice on the radio responded.

Al Francis took the small, pocket-sized penlight that one of the CIA agents had left with him, along with a handheld tactical radio, and flashed it three times at the green, red, and white position lights from the South Vietnamese Navy patrol boat that motored toward him and two British companions.

“We cannot risk running aground,” the voice came back on the radio. “You’ll have to swim to us.”

At just past midnight on the morning of March 30, the water washed cold on the consul general’s bare feet as he and two other stranded souls waded into the surf that washed along the beach at Monkey Mountain. As he swam the half mile to the waiting patrol boat, he thought of sharks and other frightening sea predators lurking in the black water. Hammerheads, tigers, white tips, and reefers—they all prowled this tropical sea, and sharks seemed to bite best at night. Although his joy of finally making contact with his rescuers eliminated the feelings of fatigue from his long day’s journey and desperate wait on Monkey Mountain, listening to a walkie-talkie that made no sounds until midnight, the idea of a man-eater careening from the depths and clamping him between its razor teeth helped Al Francis kick the distance with Olympic speed.

One toss of a life ring tied to a line pulled the American diplomat the final few feet to the waiting boat, where several hands pulled him aboard.

Walter Sparks learned of Al Francis’s rescue when he arrived at the American embassy in Saigon the next morning. He also learned that several other Americans had managed to drive motorboats from Da Nang to the rendezvous area and had gotten aboard the Pioneer Contender when it returned. Other Americans had also managed to escape aboard the tugboats that rode alongside the Pioneer Contender that night.

For the next few days, Sparks and his Marines pitched in and lent a hand at the embassy. Soon, along with other nonessential Americans, they caught planes to the Philippines and then on to Okinawa.

All that they had were the clothes on their backs. They had lost all their personal possessions, including their uniforms. Although Sparks issued protests, citing that their losses were due to their duties, Uncle Sam felt no sympathy for them and offered no form of reimbursement.

During the two days following Sparks and his Marines’ escape from Da Nang, other Military Sealift Command ships returned to Da Nang, rescuing more than seventy thousand Vietnamese from the coastal waters. Even one day after Da Nang’s fall, on April 1, the Contender’ssister ship, the Pioneer Challenger, sat just beyond the city’s bay taking aboard more evacuees.

An untold number of South Vietnamese people, ranging well into the thousands, also died trying to escape. Many were killed by their country’s own soldiers.

When the MSC ship, Greenville Victory, arrived on station behind the Pioneer

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