Virginia Legionnaire Dick Cole shares insight into Operation Frequent Wind, including being on the last fixed-wing aircraft to leave Saigon on April 30.
On April 29-30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces brought the Vietnam War to an end when they took control of South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon.
Over the course of those two days, and with 800 U.S. Marines providing security, U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Army helicopters evacuated more than 7,000 people from Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base, the U.S. embassy and other locations via Operation: Frequent Wind.
We asked for Legionnaires who were still in and around Saigon to share what those final two days of the war were like. And now we’re sharing those stories with you.
Today, read the first-person account of Retired U.S. Air Force Major Richard M. “Dick” Cole, public relations officer for American Legion Post 284 in Colonial Heights, Va. Cole was on the last U.S. C-130 out of Saigon before the city fell to the forces of the Communist North on April 30.
A Mission Under Fire
I was sent in as part of "Operation Frequent Wind" as a member of the 374th Tactical Airlift Wing to assist in documenting the participation of our crews and to carry out as many documents as I could. (I was the enlisted wing historian at the time.)
We left home at Clark AB in the Philippines at "0 dark 30" as a flight of three aircraft and arrived at Tan Son Nhut AB between 0300 and 0330. Capt. Art Milano was the aircraft commander of aircraft one. I was aboard aircraft two commanded by Capt. Greg Chase. The third aircraft, C-130E 72-1297, was commanded by Capt. Larry Wessel. Aircraft number 3 was TDY from the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing at Little Rock to assist in the evacuation efforts. All three aircraft carried high explosives (BLU-82, 15,000-pound bombs nicknamed "Daisy Cutters" for making helicopter landing areas in the dense jungle). We had to unload the bombs in the ordnance storage area north of the Tan Son Nhut runways. Once we off-loaded the bombs, we taxied to the area near the passenger terminal to begin on-loading evacuees and the whole sky lit up.
At 0358, Capt. Milano's aircraft was loaded with passengers and getting ready to depart when rockets and mortars began hitting the field with accuracy. They weren't just firing to scare us. They immediately hit a fuel truck, they hit the control tower, and they hit the last of our C-130Es as the aircraft I was aboard taxied toward the passenger terminal. We waited just long enough for Capt. Wessel and his crew to jump on, and Capt. Chase decided it was time to "di di." We took off right behind Capt. Milano, never on-loading passengers other than Capt. Wessel's crew. We went to military power and took off, with the rockets hitting right behind us, right in front of us, right on the sides. We ended up being the last American fixed-wing aircraft out of Tan Son Nhut. All of the rest of the evacuation was done by Air Force, Marine and Air America (CIA's airline) helicopters.
At almost the same moment, another salvo of rockets landed in the Defense Attache Office complex at Tan Son Nhut. One of the first rounds killed two young Marines on guard outside; Lance Cpl. Darwin Judge of Marshalltown, Iowa, and Cpl. Charles McMahon, Jr., of Woburn, Mass., were the last American casualties in Vietnam.
After leaving Tan Son Nhut, we flew to U-Tapao Royal Thai Naval Base in Thailand. I witnessed numerous Vietnamese Air Force aircraft arriving at U-T all day following our arrival. Whole families were crammed into small airplanes. Lots of C-130s, C-119s, O-1s, OA-37s, A-1s, and C-47s. It was a crazy day!
I remained at U-T with my wing commander, then Col. James I. "The Bagger" Baginski while our folks also participated in the recovery of the crew of the SS Mayaguez a few days later by dropping one of those "daisy cutters" on Koh Tang Island. The Bagger passed away in late 2013. He retired as a two-star.
Still in His Dreams
Leaving Saigon seems a lifetime ago now, and I guess it was, but as this anniversary approaches each year, I always relive it in my dreams.
My participation in Operation Eagle Pull, the United States military evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 April 1975, Frequent Wind on 30 April, and the recovery of the SS Mayaguez, led to The Bagger recommending me for my commissioning program.
We began flying 20 sorties a day pulling people out of South Vietnam a week before Saigon fell, taking them to Clark AB in the Philippines where our unit was based. By the time all was said and done, we assisted in getting 50,493 people out of Tan Son Nhut, often with more than 250 people on a C-130 at a time!
Editor’s note: Last year, Cole was invited by the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs to do an online presentation about his experiences leaving Tan Son Nhut and the similarities to the evacuation of Afghanistan. That presentation was recorded and posted online by the Air Force Public Affairs Association and can be viewed here.
- Honor & Remembrance