00:01By 1974, North Vietnamese troops had violated the Paris Peace Accords and renewed their assault on the South.
00:10It was clear the Republic of Vietnam would fall.
00:15In April of 1975, North Vietnamese troops approached the southern capital of Saigon.
00:22President Gerald Ford ordered all U.S. troops and citizens out of the country.
00:27Permit the movement of refugees to the area of their choice.
00:32And on April 29th, Armed Forces Radio began playing White Christmas to signal an evacuation was underway.
00:41I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.
00:49Captain Gerald Berry was assigned to rescue U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin.
00:55The mission evolved into an 18-hour day of shuttling people to an armada of ships waiting in the South
01:01China Sea.
01:02And as Berry flew toward the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, he could see enemy tanks approaching the city.
01:09So I land behind the embassy, said, I'm here to get the ambassador.
01:14Because I'm thinking somebody told him I was coming to get him.
01:17Well, then somebody else gets on the phone and said, well, the ambassador isn't coming.
01:23I said, well, really?
01:25I said, I'm supposed to get him.
01:27Well, no, he's not.
01:28So take a lift of these.
01:29So they loaded Vietnamese arms.
01:34In the early hours of April 30th, despite multiple flights with hundreds of evacuees and with time running out,
01:41Berry uttered three words that meant it was imperative for the U.S. diplomat to leave.
01:47I'm not leaving the roof until the ambassador's on board.
01:52And out of nowhere, I just, I said, the president sends.
01:56Two minutes later, the ambassador's up with his whole staff to come out.
02:00That's all we needed.
02:01Probably needed, I could have said that at 12 in the afternoon.
02:04So he comes up, gets on.
02:05We fly out with the ambassador.
02:07And you make the call, you know, tiger, tiger, tiger.
02:10That means the ambassador's out.
02:12Personally, I'm embarrassed.
02:14I'm embarrassed that we've, the United States of America is being humiliated and is leaving an area that we had
02:25come to defend.
02:27And we've been defeated.
02:30Yes, we've chosen to leave, but we've chosen to leave because it's no longer defendable with the resources that we
02:37have chosen to commit.
02:42And the limits that we have put on our involvement in South Vietnam.
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