Charles Henderson - Goodnight Saigon
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The true story of the final days of the Vietnam War from the author of Marine Sniper. Culled from extensive interviews and research, Goodnight Saigon is the achingly dramatic story of the end of the Vietnam War as told from both sides of the conflict. Included are never-before-revealed accounts from people of every level involved in the war: NVA and Viet Cong soldiers, U.S. embassy personnel, guerilla commanders, civilians, generals, double agents? and leaders from both sides including former president Gerald Ford and North Vietnamese military commander General Tran Van Tra. From the first hints of the final offensive from the north, to the gut-wrenching hours before the fall of Saigon when a brave pilot defied his orders to return to base and rescued the last five Marines from the rooftop of the U.S. embassy, Goodnight Saigon is an unforgettable narrative of war, and those who live with its aftermath. Winner: American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award, General Nonfiction, 2006
Charles Henderson: author's other books
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Table of Contents
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In Memoriam for my beloved nephew, Jody Glenn Henderson.
He lost his life trying to save others.
He lost his life trying to save others.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
WORDS FALL SHORT to express the depth of my gratitude to the many men and women who appear in this book, who took the time with me to relive some very stirring and often painful memories. Their trust in my reverence for them as human beings and my respect for the roles that they played in the historic events that led to the climax of the Vietnam War leave me humbled and sincerely thankful to each of them.
Significantly, I thank President Gerald R. Ford for spending the hours with me talking privately about the events of the wars end and sharing with me his feelings about those days, the situations, and the people who surrounded him at that time. His personal reflections and his candor gave me valuable insight and greatly helped me to paint a realistic picture of those events with words.
I normally hold a great deal of cynicism toward most politicians. For me, politics and integrity seem mutually exclusive. However, after having the chance to get to know President Ford and to spend the time that I did with him, realizing the great sincerity, integrity, and stalwart honesty that lives in this mans heart, I came away feeling only the utmost respect for this good man. I am very deeply honored to know him and to have sat in his presence.
Another man who holds a high place on my short list of people I hold most honorable is General Al Gray, former Commandant of the Marine Corps and a man whom I have revered since I first met him more than thirty years ago. I thank him most profoundly for his time, his part of this story, and his warmth of Marine Corps brotherhood that he has always shown to me.
Sincere appreciation and thanks go to the eight Marines who were among the eleven Marine security guards left stranded on the roof of the United States Embassy in Saigon on April 30, 1975. They accompanied me back to Vietnam and told me their stories in the city where it all happened.
Thanks also to Lieutenant General Richard Carey for his insights and guidance and suggestions for further information. Also, my sincere thanks to former South Vietnamese Premier and Air Vice Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky, for his insightful conversations and his guidance in pursuing this story.
I also thank the men and women of the diplomatic missions of Vietnam for allowing me entrance into their country before the United States had established formal relations with them. They went out of their way to make me feel welcome and allowed me wide latitude to roam the hinterlands from one end of their nation to the other, and from borders with Cambodia and Laos to the coast. Although at times life got quite adventurous, I never felt at any great risk.
General Tran Van Tra and Colonel Vo Dong Giang could have only given me lip service, shaken my hand, fed me a few canned tidbits, and sent me on my way. However, these gentlemen, my former enemies, graciously welcomed me and spent many hours struggling with me through chapter and verse of their perspectives of the wars final days and the people who surrounded them. Their generosity with their time with me, patiently detailing the facts and their perspectives greatly helped me to understand their side of the story. My humble words of thanks seem so little in comparison to what they gave me in insight and knowledge.
I also thank the host of others who sat patiently with me in Vietnam, helping me to comprehend the stories of their experiences. People like Nguyen Duc Cui, who tearfully shared their intimate memories with me, a stranger and a former enemy, leave me humbled and grateful to each of them.
People like Huynh Thit, a former cost accountant for the First Marine Aircraft Wing in Da Nang, a woman who remained in the fallen city and then struggled under persecution year after year, yet never lost her love for America and her Marines, and who shared her memories with me and then went all the way to the airport to hug my neck good-bye and to tell me she has never lost hope in America, stir my heart to this day. How can mere words thank her? Or thank people like Nguyen Manh Tuan, a former artillery commander, trained and educated in America, who endured years of imprisonment and poverty and still wonders about his friends in America?
I hope that my honest portrayal of them in this book demonstrates my thanks better than my few words here.
A profound thank you goes to Hoang Huy Chung, my escort and my translator. During the weeks that I spent zigzagging my way from Saigon to Hanoi, Hoang remained by my side. At Xuan Loc, when we were arrested by the local warlords police and held in their local stockade for a day, Hoang took the brunt of the not-so-friendly constabularys aggression toward us. His pleas, promises, and homage paid to the Xuan Loc chieftain finally got us freed. During those weeks, Hoang endured the dirt, rough rides, bad food, and long days and nights, and never stopped smiling.
Then comes my friend, colleague, and fellow adventurer, Dirck Halstead. One of the worlds great photojournalists, he and I traced every battle site of the Vietnam Wars last campaign, venturing far from civilization into Vietnams most remote reaches. Dirck never complained nor ever winced at any adversity, but simply kept his video cameras rolling with enthusiasm.
During those many weeks that we ventured together around the world, Dirck gave me his insights and shared his memories of Vietnams last days. Dirck also introduced me to people like Peter Arnett, his old friend who also accompanied us with his CNN crew to Saigon and during the trek told me his stories of the war. I thank Peter for sharing with me. Then in Bangkok, Dirck helped me cut through the ice with more of his old friends, Alan Dawson, Hubert Van Es, and Derek Williams, so that they told their tales of those days to me with clear and colorful detail.
While I had known David Hume Kennerly from my time in Beirut in 1983, Dirck called on his long and close friendship with Kennerly to open that door wide and provide fly-on-the-wall insights of the White House and Vietnam. I am deeply grateful to David Kennerly for sharing that with us.
However, in the end I am most profoundly thankful to Dirck Halstead not only for the doors that he opened for me, such as that with President Ford, but for his long-lasting friendship over these many years and his willingness to join me on other great adventures.
There are few friends in this world like Dirck Halstead, and I am very blessed to count him among mine.
Lastly, my deepest appreciation goes to my editor, who has become my friend over the years, Tom Colgan. While I languished well past the date we all thought this book would find completion, he stuck with me. He absorbed the flack and kept urging me onward. I had once compared him to Maxwell Perkins, the great editor of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tom continues to live up to that image, taking good care of his authors and cultivating their best work. I hope that Penguin USA knows what a rare gem that they have in Tom. He, along with my agent and old friend, Bob Markel, keep me going and keep me believing. My eternal thanks to them both.
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