Word: tannings
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...ATTACK. At about 4 a.m. Tuesday, the Communists launched a massive rocket and artillery assault on already beleaguered Tan Son Nhut air base. Some 150 rockets and 130-mm. shells whined in, forcing an immediate halt in the ongoing evacuation of Americans and Vietnamese. From the sanctuary of the Continental Palace Hotel, Western correspondents and cameramen listened to an account of the attack on the UHF frequency used by the U.S. mission: "The ices [International Commission for Control and Supervision] compound is burning . . . The back end of the gymnasium's been hit . . . My God, control, we've got two Marine...
During the preceding eight days, U.S. planes had evacuated almost 40,000 American and South Vietnamese refugees from Tan Son Nhut airbase near Saigon. But by last week, the airlift was growing increasingly dangerous. Artillery shells and rockets closed Tan Son Nhut airport Monday morning. Next day a U.S. C-130 transport was hit by a rocket on the runway and burst into flames as the crew escaped. A short tune later, two U.S. Marine corporals guarding the U.S. defense attache's compound at Tan Son Nhut were killed by Communist artillery...
...whether conditions might permit a resumption of the military airlift. If not, they would have to go to a fourth option, the riskiest of all: evacuation in Marine helicopters. Scarcely two hours after the meeting ended with no decision, Ford learned that two C-130s attempting to land at Tan Son Nhut had been waved off; the airport was blocked by thousands of panicky South Vietnamese. By then all of Ford's advisers, including Martin, agreed that it had to be "Option Four." At 10:45 p.m., the President ordered Operation Frequent Wind to begin...
...Ford to report that a fleet of 81 helicopters was about to embark on its mission, then, at 1:08 a.m. Tuesday, he called again with the news that the evacuation had begun. In Saigon, the center of activity for much of the day was the landing zone at Tan Son Nhut airport, a tennis court near the defense attache's compound. Landing two at a time, the helicopters unloaded their squads of Marines-860 in all, who reinforced 125 Marines already on the scene-and quickly picked up evacuees (see box following page...
...nightfall, the mission had been completed at Tan Son Nhut, but the evacuation of the embassy was still to be accomplished. Sheets of rain were pelting the city, and visibility had dropped to barely a mile. Some choppers had to rely on flares fired by Marines within the embassy compound to find landing zones; others homed in on flashlights...