United States Embassy, Saigon
Encyclopedia
The United States Embassy in Saigon was first established in May 1950, and moved into a new building on a more secure compound in 1967. The embassy was the scene of a number of significant events of the Vietnam War
, most notably the Vietcong attack during the Tet Offensive which helped turn American public opinion against the war, and the helicopter evacuation during the Fall of Saigon
.
led by the Bảo Đại
government in 1950, and a U.S. embassy was established in Saigon that year.
Following the Geneva Accords of 1954 and the subsequent partitioning into North Vietnam
and South Vietnam
, the United States did not extend diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam
.
The first U.S. embassy was located at 39 Hàm Nghi Boulevard (10°46′13.82"N 106°42′17.27"E) and the original building remains there today.
).
The embassy comprised two separate compounds, a consular compound sealed off by a separate wall and steel gate and the embassy compound with the Embassy Chancery building, behind it was a parking lot, a two-story villa used as a residence by the Mission Coordinator (a civilian assistant to the United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
), a motor pool and other facilities. There were two entry gates, a pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard and a vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street.
The new Chancery was a distinctive six-story white concrete building, with a concrete lattice facade that served to both cool the building and deflect rockets and other projectiles. A small helipad was located on the roof. A concrete awning extended from the Chancery out over the pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard.
The Chancery was one of the tallest buildings in Saigon at the time of its construction. The embassy was opened in September 1967. Construction of the embassy cost US$2.6M.
The old embassy on Hàm Nghi Boulevard remained in use as an embassy annex.
; henceforth, U.S. forces would only be responsible for defending themselves and their facilities in the city. On the night of 30 January 1968, four Vietnamese police posts provided an outer line of defence for the embassy. Two military policemen from the 716th MP Battalion part of the 18th Military Police Brigade guarded the vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street, inside the Chancery building two U.S. Marines of the Marine Security Guard occupied a guard post and, due to the heightened security situation following the cancellation of the Tet truce, another Marine was stationed on the roof of the Chancery building.
Shortly after midnight on 31 January 1968, 19 Vietcong sappers from the elite C-10 Sapper Battalion gathered at a Vietcong safe house in a car repair shop at 59 Phan Thanh Gian Street to distribute weapons and conduct final preparations for the attack. The unit set off in a small truck and a taxi towards central Saigon. As the vehicles came down Mac Dinh Chi Street with their lights off after curfew, they were spotted by a Vietnamese police guard post north of the embassy, but rather than trying to stop the vehicles, the police instead took cover.
As the taxi turned from Mac Dinh Chi Street onto Thong Nhut Boulevard, the occupants opened fired on the two MPs guarding the night gate. The MPs, SP4 Charles L Daniel and PFC William E Sebast, returned fire, closed and locked the steel gate and radioed that they were under attack.
Hearing the firing on the side gate, Marine Sergeant Ronald W. Harper, who was in the rear of the embassy compound, ran back into the rear door of the Chancery across the lobby past Marine Corporal George B Zahuranic, who was calling for help. Harper pulled a Vietnamese night watchman into the building and closed and bolted the heavy teak doors to the Chancery.
Minutes later at 02:47 hours, the Vietcong blew a small hole in the perimeter wall on Thong Nhut Boulevard and gained access to the embassy compound. The first two Vietcong that crawled through the hole and into the grounds were shot and killed by SP4 Daniel and PFC Sebast in their guard post at the Mac Dinh Chi Street entrance. Daniel radioed "They're coming in! They're coming in! Help me! Help me!" before the radio went silent. Daniel and Sebast were themselves shot and killed by the Vietcong.
On the Chancery roof, Marine Sergeant Rudy A. Soto Jr saw the Vietcong sappers coming through the wall and tried to fire on them with his 12-gauge shotgun which jammed after a few rounds. He then emptied his .38 caliber revolver at the hole, but such fire was unlikely to be effective at that height and range. Inside the embassy, the Vietcong opened fire on the Chancery building with Type 56s
and RPG-2s
. Several RPGs penetrated the walls of the Chancery, wounding Corporal Zahuranic and destroying the two radio sets in the guard post. Sergeant Soto tried unsuccessfully to contact the lobby guard post and, assuming that Harper and Zahuranic were dead, he called for assistance and waited for the Vietcong to reach him.
In the villa at the rear of the embassy compound, Colonel George Jacobson, the Mission Coordinator, was awakened by the firing; searching for a weapon, he found a single M26 grenade.
An MP jeep patrol responded to the calls for help from Daniel and Sebast but as they approached the embassy they were met by automatic weapons fire from the Vietcong that were outside the wall, killing Sergeant Johnie B Thomas and SFC Owen E Mebust.
In addition to the three Marines, there were two Vietnamese and six American civilians inside the Chancery building at the time of the attack. The Americans armed themselves with .38 revolvers, Beretta M12 submachine guns and a shotgun and waited for the Vietcong to come inside.
Outside in the embassy grounds, the Vietcong were unsure of their next move as both of the sapper team's leaders, Bay Tuyen and Ut Nho, had both been killed early in the attack by Daniel and Sebast after they entered the embassy grounds. The Vietcong were armed with more than 40 pounds of C-4 explosive
and could easily have blasted their way into the Chancery had they been ordered to do so. Instead they took positions in or near the circular planters around the Chancery and returned fire at the growing numbers of Americans shooting at them.
At the Marine Guards' living quarters five blocks from the embassy, Captain Robert J. O'Brien organised the remaining Marines of the Marine Security Guard detachment into quick reaction teams and headed to the embassy. As they approached the side gate on Mac Dinh Chi Street, they found it locked and could see Vietcong inside the grounds, calling out to the MPs they were answered with fire from the Vietcong and withdrew to firing positions further down the street and laid fire on the embassy gardens.
At around 04:00, Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker
, through an aide, contacted the head of Saigon police, Lieutenant Nguyen Van Luan to ask for police reinforcements for the embassy. The First Precinct police commanding officer refused to move his men in the dark and instead asked the Americans to escort his men to the embassy. The Vietnamese police proved to have been worthless in defending the embassy with all policemen abandoning their posts when the firing began.
At 04:20, General William Westmoreland
ordered the 716th MP Battalion to clear the embassy as their first priority. Lacking armored vehicles and helicopters, the MPs moved in more troops to cordon off the Embassy. The tactical situation was confused by darkness and the poor communications within the Chancery and between the Chancery and the MPs and Marines outside the Embassy compound. Sergeant Harper and the other Americans inside the Chancery could communicate with the outside by telephone, while Sergeant Soto on the roof only had a radio.
Marine Corporal James C. Marshall climbed the roof of a small building in the Consular compound and was firing on Vietcong in the Embassy compound, when he was hit by a rocket fragment he remained in place firing on the Vietcong until he was shot and killed, he would be the last American killed at the Embassy that day.
At 05:00, a helicopter carrying troops from the 101st Airborne Division
attempted to land on the rootop helipad but was driven off by fire from the surviving Vietcong in the Embassy grounds. At 06:15, a medevac helicopter landed on the roof picked up Corporal Zahuranic and dropped off three cases of M16 rifle
ammunition, however none of the Americans in the Chancery had an M16 and so this resupply was useless.
As dawn broke on the morning of 31 January, the hole that the Vietcong had blown in the wall to gain access to the Embassy compound was located. At the same time, MPs had finally managed to shoot off the locks of the front gate on Thong Nhut Boulevard and rammed the gates open with a jeep. The MPs and Marines charged through the open gate into the Embassy grounds and within a few minutes, they easily killed all of the few surviving Vietcong for most of them by then were already dead or dying in the Embassy garden from the prolonged firefight. At the same time, a helicopter carrying troops from the 101st Airborne Division landed on the roof and proceeded to sweep the Chancery building, finding no Vietcong inside.
In his villa, Colonel Jacobson heard movement downstairs; he threw down his grenade and called out to the MPs in the grounds to throw him up a weapon. The MPs threw up an M1911 Colt pistol and a gas mask to Jacobson, CS gas
grenades were then thrown by the MPs through the ground floor windows and Jacobson proceeded to shoot a wounded Vietcong as he came upstairs.
By 09:00, the Embassy was declared secure. Of the 19 Vietcong fighters that attacked the building, 18 had been killed and one wounded fighter was captured.
The first news reports of the Embassy attack were sent by the Associated Press
at 03:15 based on fragmentary information, a later report stated that 3 Vietcong had entered the Embassy ground. The news reports from the Embassy reflected the confused tactical situation. At 07:25 the associated press carried a story stating that the Vietcong had seized part of the first floor of the Embassy building and that U.S. forces were being held back by fire from the Embassy building. This report was picked up by NBC
news who, on the 6:30pm EST Huntley-Brinkley Report
, broadcast that the Vietcong occupied the first floor of the Embassy building and that U.S. forces were in the Embassy grounds exchanging fire with them. Later news reports corrected the facts of the attack, but the initial reports had shocked the American public.
While the Embassy attack (like much of the Tet Offensive) was tactically insignificant, it had a profound political and psychological impact. The United States had been fighting in Vietnam for over two-and-a-half years, 20,000 Americans had been killed and despite the presence of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, the Vietcong had managed to penetrate the U.S. Embassy, sovereign U.S. territory and the symbol of American power.
A fire-bomb attack on the Embassy took place on 18 February 1971.
on current plans. Ambassador Martin told them that he would not tolerate any outward signs that the United States intended to abandon South Vietnam
. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (9th MAB), flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin, he later said that ‘The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador’.
On 25 April 40 Marines from the 9th MAB on the were flown in by Air America helicopters in civilian clothes to the DAO Compound to augment the 18 Marine Security Guards assigned to defend the Embassy, an additional 6 Marines were assigned to protect Ambassador Martin.
Ambassador Martin remained optimistic that a negotiated settlement could be reached whereby the United States would not have to pull out of South Vietnam
and, in an effort to avert defeatism and panic he specifically instructed Major James Kean, Commanding Officer of the Marine Security Guard Battalion and Ground Support Force Commander United States Embassy Compound, that he could not begin to remove trees and shrubbery which prevented the use of the Embassy parking lot as a helicopter Landing Zone
.
On 28 April at 18:00 Tan Son Nhut Airport was bombed by 3 A-37 Dragonfly
s piloted by former VNAF pilots who had defected to the Vietnamese People's Air Force at the fall of Da Nang. Sporadic PAVN rocket and artillery attacks also started to hit the airport, increasing to 40 rounds per hour by 04:00 on 29 April.
At 07:00, Major General Homer D Smith Jr, the senior Defence Attache advised Ambassador Martin that fixed wing evacuations should cease and that Operation Frequent Wind
, the helicopter evacuation of U.S. personnel and at-risk Vietnamese should commence. Ambassador Martin refused to accept General Smith's recommendation and instead insisted on visiting Tan Son Nhut to survey the situation for himself. Finally at 10:51 the order was given to commence Operation Frequent Wind, however due to confusion in the chain of command General Carey did not receive the execute order until 12:15.
The two major evacuation points chosen for Operation Frequent Wind were the DAO Compound
adjacent to Tan Son Nhut Airport for American civilian and Vietnamese evacuees and the Embassy for Embassy staff.
By the morning of 29 April it was estimated that approximately 10,000 people had gathered around the Embassy, while some 2500 evacuees were in the embassy and consular compounds. From 10:00 to 12:00 Major Kean and his Marines cut down trees and moved vehicles to create an LZ in the embassy parking lot behind the Chancery building. Two LZs were now available in the embassy compound, the rooftop for UH-1s and CH-46 Sea Knight
s and the new parking lot LZ for the heavier CH-53s.
Air America UH-1s began ferrying evacuees from other smaller assembly points throughout the city (including the Pittman Building, famously photographed by Hubert van Es
) and dropping them on the embassy's rooftop LZ.
At 15:00 the first CH-53s were sighted heading towards the DAO Compound at Tan Son Nhut. Major Kean contacted the Seventh Fleet to advise them of his airlift requirements, until that time the fleet believed that all evacuees had been bussed from the embassy to the DAO Compound and that only 2 helicopters would be required to evacuate the Ambassador and the Marines from the embassy.
At 17:00 the first CH-46 landed at the embassy.
Between 19:00 and 21:00 on 29 April approximately 130 additional Marines from 2nd Battalion 4th Marines
were lifted from the DAO Compound to reinforce perimeter security at the embassy, bringing the total number of Marines at the Embassy to 175.
The evacuation from the DAO Compound was completed by about 19:00 after which all helicopters would be routed to the embassy, however Major Kean was informed that operations would cease at dark. Major Kean advised that the LZ would be well lit and had vehicles moved around the parking lot LZ with their engines running and headlights on to illuminate the LZ.
At 21:30 a CH-53 pilot informed Major Kean that the Admiral Whitmire, Commander of Task Force 76
had ordered that operations cease at 23:00. Major Kean saw Ambassador Martin to request that he contact the Oval Office to ensure that the airlift continued. Ambassador Martin soon sent word back to Major Kean that sorties would continue to be flown. At the same time, General Carey met with Admiral Whitmire to convince him to resume flights to the embassy despite pilot weariness and poor visibility caused by darkness, fires and bad weather.
By 02:15 one CH-46 and one CH-53 were landing at the embassy every 10 minutes at this time the embassy indicated that another 19 lifts would complete the evacuation. At that time Major Kean estimated that there were still some 850 non-American evacuees and 225 Americans (including the Marines), Ambassador Martin told Major Kean to do the best he could.
At 03:00 on 30 April, Ambassador Martin ordered Major Kean to move all the remaining evacuees into the parking lot LZ which was the Marines' final perimeter.
At 03:27 President Gerald Ford
ordered that no more than 19 additional lifts be allowed to complete the evacuation.
At 04:30 with the 19 lift limit already exceeded, Major Kean went to the rooftop LZ and spoke over a helicopter radio with General Carey who advised that President Ford had ordered that the airlift be limited to U.S. personnel and General Carey, Commanding General, 9th MAB, ordered Major Kean to withdraw his men into the Chancery building and withdraw to the rooftop LZ for evacuation.
Major Kean returned the ground floor of the Chancery and ordered his men to withdraw into a large semicircle at the main entrance to the Chancery. Most of the Marines were inside the Chancery when the crowds outside the embassy broke through the gates into the compound. The Marines closed and bolted the Chancery door, the elevators were locked by Seabee
s on the 6th floor and the Marines withdrew up the stairwells locking grill gates behind them. On the ground floor a water tanker was driven through the Chancery door and the crowd began to surge up through the building toward the rooftop. The Marines on the rooftop had sealed the doors to the rooftop and were using mace to discourage the crowd from trying to break through. Sporadic gunfire from around the Embassy passed over the rooftop.
At 04:58 Ambassador Graham Martin
boarded a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight, call-sign "Lady Ace 09" of HMM-165
and was flown to the . When Lady Ace 09 transmitted "Tiger is out", those helicopters still flying, thought the mission was complete, thereby delaying the evacuation to the Marines from the embassy rooftop.
CH-46s evacuated the Battalion Landing Team by 07:00 and after an anxious wait a lone CH-46 "Swift 2-2" of HMM-164 arrived to evacuate Major Kean and the 10 remaining men of the Marine Security Guards, this last helicopter took off at 07:53 on 30 April and landed on at 09:30. At 11:30 PAVN tanks smashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace (now the Reunification Palace
) and raised the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (NLF) flag over the building; the Vietnam War was over.
Marine pilots accumulated 1,054 flight hours and flew 682 sorties throughout Operation Frequent Wind
, evacuating 5,000 from Tan Son Nhut and 978 U.S. and 1,120 Vietnamese and third-country nationals from the Embassy. Some 400 evacuees were left behind at the Embassy including over 100 South Korean citizens.
Lady Ace 09, CH-46 serial number 154803 is now on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum
in San Diego, California.
.
The embassy was used as the offices of PetroVietnam
throughout the 1980s.
in 1995 and the site of the former U.S. Embassy in Saigon was handed back to the U.S. government.
It was decided that the former U.S. Embassy building was unusable after more than 20 years of neglect in Vietnam's tropical climate, but it also seems likely that the history of the building itself carried such negative connotations that it did not fit with the new U.S.–Vietnam relationship. The former U.S. Embassy was demolished in May–July 1998 and the new Consulate-General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City
was built on the old consular compound adjacent to the old Embassy site.
During the demolition of the embassy the ladder leading from the embassy rooftop to the helipad was removed and sent back to the United States, where it is now on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
.
Some visible remnants of the old embassy remain, most notably the large round concrete planters which sat in front of the embassy and were used as firing positions by the Vietcong during the Tet Offensive attack. The footprint of the old embassy building can still be seen from above, the site is now a park for Consulate staff.
On 14 November 2002, a dedication ceremony was held for the replacement plaque commemorating the U.S. Marine guard and the 4 MPs who were killed defending the embassy. The original plaque was left at the embassy during the Fall of Saigon
and was subsequently on display at the War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City)
before disappearing
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, most notably the Vietcong attack during the Tet Offensive which helped turn American public opinion against the war, and the helicopter evacuation during the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
.
1950-1965
The United States granted recognition to the State of VietnamState of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
led by the Bảo Đại
Bảo Đài
Bảo Đài is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...
government in 1950, and a U.S. embassy was established in Saigon that year.
Following the Geneva Accords of 1954 and the subsequent partitioning into North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
, the United States did not extend diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
.
The first U.S. embassy was located at 39 Hàm Nghi Boulevard (10°46′13.82"N 106°42′17.27"E) and the original building remains there today.
1965-1966
On 30 March 1965, the Viet Cong detonated a car-bomb outside the embassy, killing one female embassy employee, another American, 19 Vietnamese and one Filipino and injuring 183 other people.1967-1968
Due to security concerns following the 1965 bombing, it was decided that a new embassy with greater protection would be constructed. The site selected was a 3.18 acres (12,869 m²) site known as the Norodom Compound at No 4 Thong Nhut (now Le Duan) Boulevard at the corner of Thong Nhut and Mac Dinh Chi Street (10°46′58.12"N 106°42′3.66"E). The embassy was next door to the French embassy, opposite the British embassy and located near to the Presidential Palace (now the Reunification PalaceReunification Palace
Reunification Palace formerly known as Independence Palace , built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...
).
The embassy comprised two separate compounds, a consular compound sealed off by a separate wall and steel gate and the embassy compound with the Embassy Chancery building, behind it was a parking lot, a two-story villa used as a residence by the Mission Coordinator (a civilian assistant to the United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
United States Ambassador to South Vietnam
After World War II, France attempted to regain control of Vietnam, which they had lost to Japan in 1940. Following the First Indochina War, the country was split into two parts, the north and the south. The southern part was named The State of Vietnam under the leadership of Bảo Đại...
), a motor pool and other facilities. There were two entry gates, a pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard and a vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street.
The new Chancery was a distinctive six-story white concrete building, with a concrete lattice facade that served to both cool the building and deflect rockets and other projectiles. A small helipad was located on the roof. A concrete awning extended from the Chancery out over the pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard.
The Chancery was one of the tallest buildings in Saigon at the time of its construction. The embassy was opened in September 1967. Construction of the embassy cost US$2.6M.
The old embassy on Hàm Nghi Boulevard remained in use as an embassy annex.
Tet Offensive
On 15 December 1967, as a sign of their confidence in the Vietnamese military, U.S. forces turned over responsibility for the defence of Saigon to the ARVNArmy of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
; henceforth, U.S. forces would only be responsible for defending themselves and their facilities in the city. On the night of 30 January 1968, four Vietnamese police posts provided an outer line of defence for the embassy. Two military policemen from the 716th MP Battalion part of the 18th Military Police Brigade guarded the vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street, inside the Chancery building two U.S. Marines of the Marine Security Guard occupied a guard post and, due to the heightened security situation following the cancellation of the Tet truce, another Marine was stationed on the roof of the Chancery building.
Shortly after midnight on 31 January 1968, 19 Vietcong sappers from the elite C-10 Sapper Battalion gathered at a Vietcong safe house in a car repair shop at 59 Phan Thanh Gian Street to distribute weapons and conduct final preparations for the attack. The unit set off in a small truck and a taxi towards central Saigon. As the vehicles came down Mac Dinh Chi Street with their lights off after curfew, they were spotted by a Vietnamese police guard post north of the embassy, but rather than trying to stop the vehicles, the police instead took cover.
As the taxi turned from Mac Dinh Chi Street onto Thong Nhut Boulevard, the occupants opened fired on the two MPs guarding the night gate. The MPs, SP4 Charles L Daniel and PFC William E Sebast, returned fire, closed and locked the steel gate and radioed that they were under attack.
Hearing the firing on the side gate, Marine Sergeant Ronald W. Harper, who was in the rear of the embassy compound, ran back into the rear door of the Chancery across the lobby past Marine Corporal George B Zahuranic, who was calling for help. Harper pulled a Vietnamese night watchman into the building and closed and bolted the heavy teak doors to the Chancery.
Minutes later at 02:47 hours, the Vietcong blew a small hole in the perimeter wall on Thong Nhut Boulevard and gained access to the embassy compound. The first two Vietcong that crawled through the hole and into the grounds were shot and killed by SP4 Daniel and PFC Sebast in their guard post at the Mac Dinh Chi Street entrance. Daniel radioed "They're coming in! They're coming in! Help me! Help me!" before the radio went silent. Daniel and Sebast were themselves shot and killed by the Vietcong.
On the Chancery roof, Marine Sergeant Rudy A. Soto Jr saw the Vietcong sappers coming through the wall and tried to fire on them with his 12-gauge shotgun which jammed after a few rounds. He then emptied his .38 caliber revolver at the hole, but such fire was unlikely to be effective at that height and range. Inside the embassy, the Vietcong opened fire on the Chancery building with Type 56s
Type 56 Assault Rifle
The Type 56 assault rifle is a Chinese copy of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle, which has been manufactured since 1956. It was produced by State Factory 66 from 1956-73, then by Norinco from 1973 onwards.-Service history:...
and RPG-2s
RPG-2
The RPG-2 was the first rocket-propelled grenade launcher designed in the Soviet Union.-Development:The RPG-2 , was a man-portable, shoulder-launched rocket-propelled grenade anti-armor weapon...
. Several RPGs penetrated the walls of the Chancery, wounding Corporal Zahuranic and destroying the two radio sets in the guard post. Sergeant Soto tried unsuccessfully to contact the lobby guard post and, assuming that Harper and Zahuranic were dead, he called for assistance and waited for the Vietcong to reach him.
In the villa at the rear of the embassy compound, Colonel George Jacobson, the Mission Coordinator, was awakened by the firing; searching for a weapon, he found a single M26 grenade.
An MP jeep patrol responded to the calls for help from Daniel and Sebast but as they approached the embassy they were met by automatic weapons fire from the Vietcong that were outside the wall, killing Sergeant Johnie B Thomas and SFC Owen E Mebust.
In addition to the three Marines, there were two Vietnamese and six American civilians inside the Chancery building at the time of the attack. The Americans armed themselves with .38 revolvers, Beretta M12 submachine guns and a shotgun and waited for the Vietcong to come inside.
Outside in the embassy grounds, the Vietcong were unsure of their next move as both of the sapper team's leaders, Bay Tuyen and Ut Nho, had both been killed early in the attack by Daniel and Sebast after they entered the embassy grounds. The Vietcong were armed with more than 40 pounds of C-4 explosive
C-4 (explosive)
C4 or Composition C4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.-Composition and manufacture:C4 is made up of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer and usually marker or odorizing taggant chemicals such as 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane to help detect the explosive and...
and could easily have blasted their way into the Chancery had they been ordered to do so. Instead they took positions in or near the circular planters around the Chancery and returned fire at the growing numbers of Americans shooting at them.
At the Marine Guards' living quarters five blocks from the embassy, Captain Robert J. O'Brien organised the remaining Marines of the Marine Security Guard detachment into quick reaction teams and headed to the embassy. As they approached the side gate on Mac Dinh Chi Street, they found it locked and could see Vietcong inside the grounds, calling out to the MPs they were answered with fire from the Vietcong and withdrew to firing positions further down the street and laid fire on the embassy gardens.
At around 04:00, Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker
Ellsworth Bunker
Ellsworth F. Bunker was an American businessman and diplomat...
, through an aide, contacted the head of Saigon police, Lieutenant Nguyen Van Luan to ask for police reinforcements for the embassy. The First Precinct police commanding officer refused to move his men in the dark and instead asked the Americans to escort his men to the embassy. The Vietnamese police proved to have been worthless in defending the embassy with all policemen abandoning their posts when the firing began.
At 04:20, General William Westmoreland
William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland was a United States Army General, who commanded US military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak , during the Tet Offensive. He adopted a strategy of attrition against the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam and the North Vietnamese Army. He later served as...
ordered the 716th MP Battalion to clear the embassy as their first priority. Lacking armored vehicles and helicopters, the MPs moved in more troops to cordon off the Embassy. The tactical situation was confused by darkness and the poor communications within the Chancery and between the Chancery and the MPs and Marines outside the Embassy compound. Sergeant Harper and the other Americans inside the Chancery could communicate with the outside by telephone, while Sergeant Soto on the roof only had a radio.
Marine Corporal James C. Marshall climbed the roof of a small building in the Consular compound and was firing on Vietcong in the Embassy compound, when he was hit by a rocket fragment he remained in place firing on the Vietcong until he was shot and killed, he would be the last American killed at the Embassy that day.
At 05:00, a helicopter carrying troops from the 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
attempted to land on the rootop helipad but was driven off by fire from the surviving Vietcong in the Embassy grounds. At 06:15, a medevac helicopter landed on the roof picked up Corporal Zahuranic and dropped off three cases of M16 rifle
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
ammunition, however none of the Americans in the Chancery had an M16 and so this resupply was useless.
As dawn broke on the morning of 31 January, the hole that the Vietcong had blown in the wall to gain access to the Embassy compound was located. At the same time, MPs had finally managed to shoot off the locks of the front gate on Thong Nhut Boulevard and rammed the gates open with a jeep. The MPs and Marines charged through the open gate into the Embassy grounds and within a few minutes, they easily killed all of the few surviving Vietcong for most of them by then were already dead or dying in the Embassy garden from the prolonged firefight. At the same time, a helicopter carrying troops from the 101st Airborne Division landed on the roof and proceeded to sweep the Chancery building, finding no Vietcong inside.
In his villa, Colonel Jacobson heard movement downstairs; he threw down his grenade and called out to the MPs in the grounds to throw him up a weapon. The MPs threw up an M1911 Colt pistol and a gas mask to Jacobson, CS gas
CS gas
2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile is the defining component of a "tear gas" commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent...
grenades were then thrown by the MPs through the ground floor windows and Jacobson proceeded to shoot a wounded Vietcong as he came upstairs.
By 09:00, the Embassy was declared secure. Of the 19 Vietcong fighters that attacked the building, 18 had been killed and one wounded fighter was captured.
The first news reports of the Embassy attack were sent by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
at 03:15 based on fragmentary information, a later report stated that 3 Vietcong had entered the Embassy ground. The news reports from the Embassy reflected the confused tactical situation. At 07:25 the associated press carried a story stating that the Vietcong had seized part of the first floor of the Embassy building and that U.S. forces were being held back by fire from the Embassy building. This report was picked up by NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
news who, on the 6:30pm EST Huntley-Brinkley Report
Huntley-Brinkley Report
The Huntley-Brinkley Report was the NBC television network's flagship evening news program from October 29, 1956 until July 31, 1970. It was anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City, and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C...
, broadcast that the Vietcong occupied the first floor of the Embassy building and that U.S. forces were in the Embassy grounds exchanging fire with them. Later news reports corrected the facts of the attack, but the initial reports had shocked the American public.
While the Embassy attack (like much of the Tet Offensive) was tactically insignificant, it had a profound political and psychological impact. The United States had been fighting in Vietnam for over two-and-a-half years, 20,000 Americans had been killed and despite the presence of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, the Vietcong had managed to penetrate the U.S. Embassy, sovereign U.S. territory and the symbol of American power.
1968-1975
On 4 November 1968 Ambassador Bunker presented a scroll of appreciation to LTC Tyler H. Fletcher, Commanding Officer of the 716th Military Police Battalion for their role in defending the Embassy. Ambassador Bunker also dedicated a plaque in the Chancery lobby commemorating the 4 MPs and 1 Marine who died defending the Embassy.A fire-bomb attack on the Embassy took place on 18 February 1971.
Fall of Saigon and Operation Frequent Wind
On 12 April, the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (MAB), which was to supply helicopters and a security force for the evacuation, sent a delegation to consult with Ambassador Graham MartinGraham Martin
Graham Anderson Martin succeeded Ellsworth Bunker as United States Ambassador to South Vietnam in 1973. He would be the last person to hold that position. Martin previously served as ambassador to Thailand and as U.S. representative to SEATO....
on current plans. Ambassador Martin told them that he would not tolerate any outward signs that the United States intended to abandon South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (9th MAB), flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin, he later said that ‘The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador’.
On 25 April 40 Marines from the 9th MAB on the were flown in by Air America helicopters in civilian clothes to the DAO Compound to augment the 18 Marine Security Guards assigned to defend the Embassy, an additional 6 Marines were assigned to protect Ambassador Martin.
Ambassador Martin remained optimistic that a negotiated settlement could be reached whereby the United States would not have to pull out of South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
and, in an effort to avert defeatism and panic he specifically instructed Major James Kean, Commanding Officer of the Marine Security Guard Battalion and Ground Support Force Commander United States Embassy Compound, that he could not begin to remove trees and shrubbery which prevented the use of the Embassy parking lot as a helicopter Landing Zone
Landing Zone
A Landing Zone or "LZ" is a military term for any area where an aircraft can land.In the United States military, a landing zone is the actual point where aircraft land...
.
On 28 April at 18:00 Tan Son Nhut Airport was bombed by 3 A-37 Dragonfly
A-37 Dragonfly
The Cessna A-37 Dragonfly, or Super Tweet, is a United States light attack aircraft developed from the T-37 Tweet basic trainer in the 1960s and 1970s...
s piloted by former VNAF pilots who had defected to the Vietnamese People's Air Force at the fall of Da Nang. Sporadic PAVN rocket and artillery attacks also started to hit the airport, increasing to 40 rounds per hour by 04:00 on 29 April.
At 07:00, Major General Homer D Smith Jr, the senior Defence Attache advised Ambassador Martin that fixed wing evacuations should cease and that Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind was the evacuation by helicopter of American civilians and 'at-risk' Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, on 29–30 April 1975 during the last days of the Vietnam War...
, the helicopter evacuation of U.S. personnel and at-risk Vietnamese should commence. Ambassador Martin refused to accept General Smith's recommendation and instead insisted on visiting Tan Son Nhut to survey the situation for himself. Finally at 10:51 the order was given to commence Operation Frequent Wind, however due to confusion in the chain of command General Carey did not receive the execute order until 12:15.
The two major evacuation points chosen for Operation Frequent Wind were the DAO Compound
Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
The U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, MACV, , was the United States' unified command structure for all of its military forces in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.-History:...
adjacent to Tan Son Nhut Airport for American civilian and Vietnamese evacuees and the Embassy for Embassy staff.
By the morning of 29 April it was estimated that approximately 10,000 people had gathered around the Embassy, while some 2500 evacuees were in the embassy and consular compounds. From 10:00 to 12:00 Major Kean and his Marines cut down trees and moved vehicles to create an LZ in the embassy parking lot behind the Chancery building. Two LZs were now available in the embassy compound, the rooftop for UH-1s and CH-46 Sea Knight
CH-46 Sea Knight
The Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight is a medium-lift tandem rotor transport helicopter, used by the United States Marine Corps to provide all-weather, day-or-night assault transport of combat troops, supplies and equipment. Assault Support is its primary function, and the movement of supplies and...
s and the new parking lot LZ for the heavier CH-53s.
Air America UH-1s began ferrying evacuees from other smaller assembly points throughout the city (including the Pittman Building, famously photographed by Hubert van Es
Hubert van Es
Hubert van Es was a Dutch photographer and photojournalist who took the well-known photo on 29 April 1975, which shows South Vietnamese civilians scrambling to board a CIA Air America helicopter during the U.S. evacuation of Saigon...
) and dropping them on the embassy's rooftop LZ.
At 15:00 the first CH-53s were sighted heading towards the DAO Compound at Tan Son Nhut. Major Kean contacted the Seventh Fleet to advise them of his airlift requirements, until that time the fleet believed that all evacuees had been bussed from the embassy to the DAO Compound and that only 2 helicopters would be required to evacuate the Ambassador and the Marines from the embassy.
At 17:00 the first CH-46 landed at the embassy.
Between 19:00 and 21:00 on 29 April approximately 130 additional Marines from 2nd Battalion 4th Marines
2nd Battalion 4th Marines
2nd Battalion, 4th Marines is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The battalion, nicknamed the Magnificent Bastards, is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and are a part of the 5th Marine Regiment and 1st Marine Division.-Early years:2nd Battalion, 4th...
were lifted from the DAO Compound to reinforce perimeter security at the embassy, bringing the total number of Marines at the Embassy to 175.
The evacuation from the DAO Compound was completed by about 19:00 after which all helicopters would be routed to the embassy, however Major Kean was informed that operations would cease at dark. Major Kean advised that the LZ would be well lit and had vehicles moved around the parking lot LZ with their engines running and headlights on to illuminate the LZ.
At 21:30 a CH-53 pilot informed Major Kean that the Admiral Whitmire, Commander of Task Force 76
Task Force 76
Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN/Task Force 76 is a United States Navy task force. It is at one and the same time operationally a Task Force of the United States Seventh Fleet and administratively, the USN's only permanently forward-deployed Expeditionary Strike Group...
had ordered that operations cease at 23:00. Major Kean saw Ambassador Martin to request that he contact the Oval Office to ensure that the airlift continued. Ambassador Martin soon sent word back to Major Kean that sorties would continue to be flown. At the same time, General Carey met with Admiral Whitmire to convince him to resume flights to the embassy despite pilot weariness and poor visibility caused by darkness, fires and bad weather.
By 02:15 one CH-46 and one CH-53 were landing at the embassy every 10 minutes at this time the embassy indicated that another 19 lifts would complete the evacuation. At that time Major Kean estimated that there were still some 850 non-American evacuees and 225 Americans (including the Marines), Ambassador Martin told Major Kean to do the best he could.
At 03:00 on 30 April, Ambassador Martin ordered Major Kean to move all the remaining evacuees into the parking lot LZ which was the Marines' final perimeter.
At 03:27 President Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
ordered that no more than 19 additional lifts be allowed to complete the evacuation.
At 04:30 with the 19 lift limit already exceeded, Major Kean went to the rooftop LZ and spoke over a helicopter radio with General Carey who advised that President Ford had ordered that the airlift be limited to U.S. personnel and General Carey, Commanding General, 9th MAB, ordered Major Kean to withdraw his men into the Chancery building and withdraw to the rooftop LZ for evacuation.
Major Kean returned the ground floor of the Chancery and ordered his men to withdraw into a large semicircle at the main entrance to the Chancery. Most of the Marines were inside the Chancery when the crowds outside the embassy broke through the gates into the compound. The Marines closed and bolted the Chancery door, the elevators were locked by Seabee
Seabee
Seabees are members of the United States Navy construction battalions. The word Seabee is a proper noun that comes from the initials of Construction Battalion, of the United States Navy...
s on the 6th floor and the Marines withdrew up the stairwells locking grill gates behind them. On the ground floor a water tanker was driven through the Chancery door and the crowd began to surge up through the building toward the rooftop. The Marines on the rooftop had sealed the doors to the rooftop and were using mace to discourage the crowd from trying to break through. Sporadic gunfire from around the Embassy passed over the rooftop.
At 04:58 Ambassador Graham Martin
Graham Martin
Graham Anderson Martin succeeded Ellsworth Bunker as United States Ambassador to South Vietnam in 1973. He would be the last person to hold that position. Martin previously served as ambassador to Thailand and as U.S. representative to SEATO....
boarded a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight, call-sign "Lady Ace 09" of HMM-165
HMM-165
Marine Medium Tilt Rotor Squadron 165 is a United States Marine Corps Tilt-rotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Osprey transport aircraft...
and was flown to the . When Lady Ace 09 transmitted "Tiger is out", those helicopters still flying, thought the mission was complete, thereby delaying the evacuation to the Marines from the embassy rooftop.
CH-46s evacuated the Battalion Landing Team by 07:00 and after an anxious wait a lone CH-46 "Swift 2-2" of HMM-164 arrived to evacuate Major Kean and the 10 remaining men of the Marine Security Guards, this last helicopter took off at 07:53 on 30 April and landed on at 09:30. At 11:30 PAVN tanks smashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace (now the Reunification Palace
Reunification Palace
Reunification Palace formerly known as Independence Palace , built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War...
) and raised the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam (NLF) flag over the building; the Vietnam War was over.
Marine pilots accumulated 1,054 flight hours and flew 682 sorties throughout Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind
Operation Frequent Wind was the evacuation by helicopter of American civilians and 'at-risk' Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, on 29–30 April 1975 during the last days of the Vietnam War...
, evacuating 5,000 from Tan Son Nhut and 978 U.S. and 1,120 Vietnamese and third-country nationals from the Embassy. Some 400 evacuees were left behind at the Embassy including over 100 South Korean citizens.
Lady Ace 09, CH-46 serial number 154803 is now on display at the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum
Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum
The Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum is located at Building T, 4203 Anderson Avenue, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, California. The museum contains exhibits and artifacts relating to the history and legacy of United States Marine Corps Aviation...
in San Diego, California.
1975-1995
North Vietnamese intelligence officials scoured the Embassy shortly after taking Saigon, they apparently were able to piece together classified documents that had been shredded but not burnt and used these to track down South Vietnamese employees of the Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
.
The embassy was used as the offices of PetroVietnam
Petrovietnam
PetroVietnam is the trading name of Vietnam Oil and Gas Group . PetroVietnam has developed rapidly since it was established in 1977, and its activities, through its various companies and wholly owned subsidiaries, now cover all the operations from oil and gas exploration and production to...
throughout the 1980s.
1995 to present
Following the establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam, a new U.S. embassy was opened in HanoiHanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
in 1995 and the site of the former U.S. Embassy in Saigon was handed back to the U.S. government.
It was decided that the former U.S. Embassy building was unusable after more than 20 years of neglect in Vietnam's tropical climate, but it also seems likely that the history of the building itself carried such negative connotations that it did not fit with the new U.S.–Vietnam relationship. The former U.S. Embassy was demolished in May–July 1998 and the new Consulate-General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City
Consulate-General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City
The Consulate General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City is located at 4 Le Duan Boulevard in District 1. It provides consular services and deals with diplomatic affairs in Ho Chi Minh City and the rest of southern Vietnam...
was built on the old consular compound adjacent to the old Embassy site.
During the demolition of the embassy the ladder leading from the embassy rooftop to the helipad was removed and sent back to the United States, where it is now on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum is part of the Presidential Libraries System of the National Archives and Records Administration, a federal agency. Unlike most other presidential libraries and museums, Ford's are two geographically separate buildings. The Gerald R. Ford Presidential...
.
Some visible remnants of the old embassy remain, most notably the large round concrete planters which sat in front of the embassy and were used as firing positions by the Vietcong during the Tet Offensive attack. The footprint of the old embassy building can still be seen from above, the site is now a park for Consulate staff.
On 14 November 2002, a dedication ceremony was held for the replacement plaque commemorating the U.S. Marine guard and the 4 MPs who were killed defending the embassy. The original plaque was left at the embassy during the Fall of Saigon
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front on April 30, 1975...
and was subsequently on display at the War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City)
War Remnants Museum (Ho Chi Minh City)
The War Remnants Museum is a war museum at 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It primarily contains exhibits relating to the American phase of the Vietnam War....
before disappearing
See also
- Consulate-General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh CityConsulate-General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh CityThe Consulate General of the United States in Ho Chi Minh City is located at 4 Le Duan Boulevard in District 1. It provides consular services and deals with diplomatic affairs in Ho Chi Minh City and the rest of southern Vietnam...
- United States Ambassador to South VietnamUnited States Ambassador to South VietnamAfter World War II, France attempted to regain control of Vietnam, which they had lost to Japan in 1940. Following the First Indochina War, the country was split into two parts, the north and the south. The southern part was named The State of Vietnam under the leadership of Bảo Đại...
External links
- American Embassy Saigon, Vietnam Marines and Civilians
- Fall of Saigon Marines
- ITN News footage of the Fall of Saigon.
- Saigon Facilities Map, 1969
- Scenes from Operation Frequent Wind.
- Tet Offensive 1968, U.S. Embassy & Saigon fighting. CBS News footage of fighting in Saigon during the Tet Offensive.
- U.S. Consulate, Ho Chi Minh City, official website
- "White Christmas: The Fall of Saigon" - Dirck Halstead, The Digital Journalist.