Vietnamese Refugees on Guam at War's End

 My short reflection for a Villanova on-line course on immigrants and immigration:

In late April 1975, Saigon was overrun by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops.  Thousands of South Vietnamese fled apparently fearing the revenge of their former enemies.  Some Vietnamese on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon managed to obtain helicopter rides out to the U.S. 7th Fleet in the nearby Pacific.  Eventually, so many helicopters landed on vessels that some helicopters were pushed overboard into the ocean to make landing room for more arriving.

 

My ship, the USS Parsons, was the only one in the 7th Fleet, based in Japan, that did not steam to the South Pacific to participate in the evacuation.  We were told that we needed to stay close to Japan in case the Soviets or others took advantage of the chaos that was Vietnam.  About a month after the fall of Saigon, we went on what I like to call a “pleasure cruise”, a voyage to Sydney, Australia. It was early June when we refueled in Guam.

 

Guam had become a chaotic tent city resided by thousands of Vietnamese.   Two of us from Parsons drove a Navy pickup through the refugee camp.  A young Vietnamese woman in a traditional dress and hat stopped us.  Nearby was a young child.  She showed us a picture of an American serviceman and asked if we knew him.  I assumed he may have been her partner and the father of the nearby child.  Over the decades since, I have often wondered if she ever found the serviceman in her picture.