Last Days in Vietnam

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Alec B 12/13/2023 A historical documentary with surprising emotional power and the reason is that it has no real desire to make any kind of statement (for those who were troubled by this fact, I can only say that most people are well aware the Vietnam war was a debacle, so restating it has no impact) other than to tell the facts. I had no idea so much raw footage of those few weeks existed. See more 01/11/2021 I have a very different perspective of this alleged "documentary" because, at age 25, I was the Navy Airborne Electronic Warfare Officer who made the assessment and sent the first message calling for the evacuation of Vietnam, Operation Frequent Wind, to begin. I watched as far into this ridiculous travesty as I could and endured watching and listening to the outright lies of individuals whom I had personally and briefed about the evolving situation. Because my squadron's direct tasking was to gather intelligence, assess the intelligence and then determine, using a list of defined criteria, at what point the efforts to evacuate should begin my disgust with this propagandistic effluent was and remains palpable. What it does not tell you is that prior to the evacuation effort the North Vietnamese had been rounding up and arresting government officials, police officers, military officers and the families of those individuals with the intent of placing them in "reeducation camps." Once the North Vietnamese realized that a large-scale evacuation was underway they perceived they were pressed for time and started murdering those targeted people wholesale. Valid estimates based on gathered intelligence is that they killed as many as 10,000 people. On my aircraft I had six radios - two UHF, two VHF and two HF, as well as dedicated intercept radios. I and other members of my aircrew intercepted and heard numerous radio calls in English, French and Vietnamese pleading for help. By my personal experience several of the calls I intercepted ended in screams and gunfire. Following the evacuation and my eventual return to my home base on Guam I worked with the Vietnamese refugees there who were awaiting final clearance for transport to the States in Operation New Life. I had multiple opportunities to verify what I had surmised based on my intercepts of intelligence sources. Is this still a sensitive topic? Yes, most definitely. My squadron still exists and still performs the same intelligence gathering missions worldwide. However, you will find no mention of the squadron's assignment to or involvement in the evacuation of Vietnam contained in the squadron history online. On the Wikipedia history of VQ-1, Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE, you will find the following which I submitted and inclusion of which VQ-1 opposed: "In April 1975, two VQ-1 EP-3E aircraft and three aircrews were tasked and deployed to NAS Cubi Point, Philippines, in support of the pending evacuation of Vietnam as part of CTF 72. VQ-1 was assigned the responsibility of providing 24-hour-a-day overlapping coverage in the Vietnam Combat Zone with supporting maintenance, intelligence and operations personnel temporarily located at the VQ-1 Detachment at NAS Cubi Point. Given a specific list of criteria, VQ-1 personnel made the first call to recommend the start of Operation Frequent Wind. Those squadron aircrew members directly involved in the flight operations were recognized as serving in the Vietnam Combat Zone and were eventually awarded a Meritorious Unit Commendation, Humanitarian Action Medal, and Vietnam Service Medal when in 2003 Operation Frequent Wind was reclassified as the 18th and final campaign of the Vietnam War." I cannot really blame Rory Kennedy because she depended on sources who knowingly and profusely lied to her to protect themselves and their reputations. However, I feel completely justified in the half-star rating because the "documentary" cannot legitimately be called such based on the fact that the overwhelming amount of the content is false and historically inaccurate. See more 07/01/2018 There are stories that are best told by those who went through those events, protecting their perspective emotional value from the risk of the cinematic treatment with actors acting out the emotions. That way, stories are passed down and spread to a wider range of listeners finding out about what they had experienced, and reflect on how it can teach and inspire others about the subjected value. This emotionally-affecting documentary unveiled a hidden epilogue to the Vietnam War with harrow and the negative kind of thrill out of apparent hopelessness while hoping for something to turn up, sympathizing with the affected people, both mainly the South Vietnamese and the conflicted soldiers, through the perfect chronicling accounts and archives for the visual and emotional impacts with amazing results. (A-) (Full review TBD) See more 09/03/2017 Love this documentary, well told See more 08/29/2017 intriguing account of survivors including soldiers who were there to witness the tragic fall of the US Embassy in Saigon and the evacuation of 130K plus civilians fighting to escape the communist attacks See more 02/06/2017 A well made documentary about an aspect of the Vietnam conflict I did not know a lot about. Worth a watch for history buffs. See more Read all reviews

Last Days in Vietnam

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