The Foreign Service Journal, April 2015

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2015 43 Amidst the chaos of the last days in Saigon, U.S. government personnel risked their lives to save Vietnamese. BY ANNE D. PHAM Anne D. Pham is currently a senior State Department adviser in the Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources. Prior to that, she served as director of the Office of Strategic Planning and Evaluation, and worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and the Office of the Secretary. Overseas, she has worked in the U.S. missions in Laos and Vietnam. Previously, Ms. Phamwas a faculty member in the National Security Studies department at Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now the Eisenhower School), National Defense University. M y journey to America began 40 years ago, when I was plucked out of the Pacific Ocean during the last days of the VietnamWar. While that tumultuous period is fraught with tragedy, there were alsomany instances of hope and heroism. Indeed, I would not be where I am today were it not for the courage, kindness and compassion of countless person- nel from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, members of the military and others who risked their lives to save endangered Vietnamese amidst the war’s chaotic denouement. The war in Vietnamwas a hot conflict that had emerged from the ColdWar global confrontation between the superpowers. It was a war by proxy: China and the Soviet Union funded Com- munist North Vietnam, while the United States supported South Vietnam and served as its key ally. Canada, Australia, South Korea, Finding My Heroes, Finding Myself: From Refugee Child to State Department Official FOCUS ON THE FOREIGN SERVICE IN VIETNAM Philippines and Japan also assisted with various aspects of the U.S.-led effort. Many South Vietnamese, my father among them, had worked in various capacities in support of the American effort to ensure the freedom and independence of the Republic of Vietnam, a dem- ocratic country. Such individuals were at grave risk as North Viet- namese communist forces advanced, yet the U.S. was concerned about the appearance of abandonment that could come with overt evacuation planning. Nevertheless, many American civilian and military personnel scrambled to save the lives of these endangered individuals, sometimes defying orders from their superiors and disregarding their own safety to follow their conscience. Among themwere Foreign Service officers Lionel Rosenblatt and L. Craig Johnstone, who brought attention to the need for evac- uation of South Vietnamese employees and associates at risk. After being denied permission to go to Saigon in the spring of 1975, these young diplomats took personal leave, purchased tickets with their own resources and saved several hundred people. Other FSOs, such as KenMoorefield and LacyWright, alsomade significant efforts to gather people fromvarious locations throughout the city. 15 Minutes to Flee My father, JosephThinh Pham, came home on the evening of April 29, 1975, and toldmy mother that we needed to flee for our lives. He had just learned from an American at his workplace that the airport was under rocket fire, and that most roads in and out of Saigon were closed due to the fighting that would soon envelop the capital. The day before, he had witnessed smoke billowing from