Operation Frequent Wind (April 1975)

The helicopter evacuation of Saigon in the war's final hours.

The last day

On April 29 and 30, 1975, as North Vietnamese forces closed in on Saigon, U.S. Marine and Air Force helicopters flew Americans and at-risk Vietnamese from the Defense Attaché Office compound and the U.S. Embassy to ships of the Seventh Fleet offshore.

The embassy rooftop

The last helicopters lifted off the embassy roof on the morning of April 30. Thousands more Vietnamese escaped on their own by boat and were picked up at sea.

American diplomats

Embassy officers worked through the final days to get Vietnamese colleagues and their families out. Some diplomats, like Lionel Rosenblatt and Craig Johnstone, went to extraordinary lengths to do so.

Connected stories

Anne Pham's family escaped down the Saigon River on a barge and was picked up at sea by a U.S. Navy ship.