CHAPTER 11

The Evacuation

9th MAB-The DAO Compound-The Embassy

On Monday morning, 28 April, Major James E. Livingston, RLT 4 operations officer, and Major Morris W. 'Moose' Lutes, ProvMAG-39 executive officer, climbed on board an Air America helicopter bound for the DAO Compound. One of the numerous daily shuttles flown by Air America to enable the 9th MAB to conduct evacuation preparations at the DAO without exceeding the Paris Accords' limit of a maximum of 50 military personnel in South Vietnam, this flight carried Livingston and Lutes into Tan Son Nhut for a liaison visit with the DAO evacuation planners. Their mission that day included a review of the evacuation plan and a reconnaissance of the DAO, Air America Compound, the Embassy, and the Newport Pier area. Earlier in the week Lieutenant Colonel William E. McKinstry, the officcr-in-charge of the Evacuation Control Center (located in his office in the DAO building), had accompanied Colonel Alfred M. Gray, Jr., the regimental commander, on a similar reconnaissance.'

Ambassador Graham A. Martin had instructed Major General Homer D. Smith, Jr., USA, that he did not want to exceed the '50' limit and as a consequence he expected every visitor to return to the task force no later than midnight each day. This restriction placed a tremendous burden on the Air America pilots who were tasked with providing transportation in the unfamiliar circumstances of night shipboard operations. Despite their lack of experience and expertise in landing on a ship at night, these pilots displayed remarkable skill and courage in safely delivering their passengers. Due to the high demand for outbound seats, on occasion visitors would be bumped from a flight and forced to remain overnight. On the evening of 28 April, a Vietnamese general and an Army colonel acquired the scats that Majors Livingston and Lutes planned to use to return to the Blue Ridge, forcing them to remain in the DAO Compound overnight. That evening, the NVA subjected Tan Son Nhut and the adjoining 'Pentagon East' to a rocket attack, launching a series of events which ended with the decision the next morning to execute Operation Frequent Wind. Major Livingston, still in the compound as a result of his involuntary stay, talked by radio with his commander, Colonel Gray, and provided him a firsthand account of the situation in the DAO. He also made recommendations as to the size of the force necessary to secure the landing zones for the impending operation.2

Very early the next morning, approximately 0500 29 April, in a room behind an unmarked door, three officers met and discussed the preceding night's events. Having just returned from their individual trailers where they had stolen a couple of hours of sleep, these members of the Special Planning Group (SPG) concluded that today would be 'the day.' A few minutes

Capt Anthony A. Wood, seen here as a lieutenant colonel, helped devise the evacuation routes used to move third-country nationals from downtown Saigon to the DAO. Since he named the routes after western trails, fellow officers dubbed him the 'Wagonmaster.' Photo courtesy of Col Anthony A. Wood, USMC