Vietnam's 50th - And then the AP ordered its families out of Saigon.

GRUMPY OLD VIETNAM HAND.

And what a chain reaction of life-altering events that sudden order from AP’s NY Headquarters right after the Fall of Xuan Loc and resignation of South Vietnam’s President Nguyen Van Thieu had on my life. It set off a profound shift in my personal and professional life I never anticipated, even where I’d end up living the rest of my life and what’s happening to me right now back in Saigon, today’s Ho Chi Minh City, 50 years later after the collapse of South Vietnam. I am not blaming AP, but that must’ve been one scary briefing they got from the Pentagon. But much more myself really and the consequences from this one moment in time. It still hurts to remember this, quite frankly. (And again, we southerners were such naifs.)

At gathering down in Go Cong a year before Fall of Saigon, Kim-Dung left and Laura & Alexander on the right. They were ordered out by AP and so began a chain-reaction of life-changing family consequences you’ll hear more about shortly with the Fall of Saigon 50 years ago and the decades to come, personally & professionally

In this short but highly emotional excerpt from The Bite of the Lotus: an intimate memoir of the Vietnam War, here’s what happened:

And then AP in New York ordered all family dependents to leave Saigon. Neal Ulevich had his American wife, Maureen, with him, but what about AP Bureau Chief George Esper and me, whose wives were Vietnamese? ‘No, everybody’s out,’ he ordered. ‘And New York says if you don’t agree for your wife and family to leave, then you’re going too. All of you.’

And the crowd cheered! But what a venue and what timing. The Vietnam War was over. “Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war." Thanks a lot, President Ford. A true Pontius Pilate Moment for America.

This was sobering. But how dare they? I went home to break the news to Kim-Dung and began arrangements for them to move over to Bangkok. Back in the US, President Gerald Ford told a cheering crowd at Tulane University that the Vietnam War was finished ‘as far as America is concerned’. The same day, Congress voted $250 million in humanitarian aid only.

Kim-Dung was devastated. Her parents, two younger brothers and a sister drove up from Go Cong to say goodbye. Vinh was now working in the AP darkroom, and when everyone was home we grown-ups sat in the lounge room. Kim-Dung knew about the secret airlift and firmly ordered me, ‘You must get them out.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘but it’s really up to your father. It’s his decision. I won’t force him to go. He knows the political situation.’

She translated, and Father [a supporter of the Third Force] nodded.

‘When you want to go, come up and I’ll put you on a plane,’ I assured him.

But Kim-Dung commanded again, ‘Just get them out.’

I had never seen the civilian terminal at Tan Son Nhut so crowded as we arrived the next day for the flight to Bangkok. Anyone with a passport was trying to get out. The family tried hard not to cry. With my press pass, I walked her all the way up to the gate, and then held and kissed her and the children goodbye.

‘Get them out,’ she demanded one last time, tears welling in her eyes.

And then I had to get back to work.