... "This is where I've come after 10 years," said Warren Parker almost in tears. "See that man over there? He's a National Police official ... nothing better than a torturer." Warren Parker had been, until that morning, United States Consul in My Tho, in the Delta, where I had met him a week earlier. He was a quiet, almost bashful man who had spent 10 years in Vietnam trying to "advise" the Vietnamese and puzzling why so many of them did not seem to want his advice. He and I pushed our way into the restaurant beside the swimming pool, past a man saying, "No Veetnamese in here, no Veetnamese," where we looted a chilled bottle of Taylor New York wine, pink and sweet. The glasses had already gone, so we drank from the bottle. "I'll tell you something," he said in his soft Georgian accent, "if there ever was a moment of truth for me it's today. All these years I've been down there, doing a job of work for my country and for this country, and today all I can see is that we've succeeded in separating all the good people from the scum ... and we got the scum." .....

The helicopter's capacity was 50, but it lifted off with 70. The pilot's skill was breathtaking as he climbed vertically to 200 feet, with bullets pinging against the rotors and shredded embassy documents playing in the downdraft. However, not all the embassy's documents were shredded and some were left in the compound in open plastic bags. One of these I have. It is dated May 25, 1969 and reads, "Top Secret ... memo from John Paul Vann, counter insurgency ... 900 houses in Chau Doe province were destroyed by American air strikes without evidence of a single enemy being killed ... the destruction of this hamlet by friendly American firepower is an event that will always be remembered and never forgiven by the surviving population ..."

...Ambassador Martin had given his word he would be the last to leave. It was a lie, of course.

It was 2.30am on 30 April when Kissinger phoned Martin and told him to end the evacuation at 3.45am. After half an hour, Martin emerged with an attaché case, a suit bag and the Stars and Stripes folded in a carrier bag. He went in silence to the sixth floor where a helicopter was waiting.

"Lady Ace 09 is in the air with Code Two." "Code Two" was an American Ambassador. The clipped announcement over the tied circuit meant that the American invasion of Indo-China had ended. ..."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=7373

[ 06 March 2005: Message edited by: VanLuke ]