On April 29, 1975, I 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. 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 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 commander of aircraft 1. I was aboard aircraft 2, commanded by Capt. Greg Chase. The third aircraft, C-130E 72-1297, was commanded by Capt. Larry Wessel. Aircraft 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 offloaded 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 onloading 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 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., the last American casualties in Vietnam.
