SAIGON
Captain Ned Hogan was Commander of the USS KAWISHIWI (AO 146) when it steamed through the South China Sea as part of the Seventh Fleet Task Force executing "Frequent Wind", April 1975, the evacuation of Saigon. 
You may have seen the Kawishiwi on TV then - Vern did.

See landing on: USS Hancock CVA-19
The EVACUEES were mostly civilian and the remnants of South Vietnam military hierarchy.
We were not being pushed into the sea; we had already departed in a negotiated  peace settle- ment; which returned our POW's  and committed South Vietnam to winning  its own war. Which was a preordained defeat  for our former allies.
What is written here are excerpts from Ned's
 
former web page - http://www.usna54.net/hogan5.htm.

Crew Members Remember
See other links:
Military Analysis
Subic Bay...Scarface-
After refueling principal participants in the operation,  I went out of the area to consolidate fuel as the helo's were transporting the brass out of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and light aircraft and small boats were bringing out the first wave of displaced persons fleeing the tyranny that was predictable.

When I returned to the operating area later in the day, the sea was empty except for small craft containing the initial cadre of refugees who were willing to risk their lives to the pirates and sharks of the South China Sea rather than staying in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mobs of Vietnamesee scale the wall of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, trying to get to the helicopter pickup zone on April 29, 1975.
I picked up close to 400 Vietnamese of all ages and genders and brought them back to Subic Bay in the Philippines, where Grande Island, at the harbor entrance, had become the Ellis Island of the 1970's.

From my perspective, we did not loose the war in Vietnam. We won every campaign, every battle. We simply had no achievable, defined political objective. Which was not the fault of our combat troops, but, rather, was do to the betrayal and deceit of our leadership, political and military, in Washington; which has been so candidly detailed by H.R.

Fortunately, the Naval Academy did produce two men of honesty and integrity who have chronicled the Vietnam experience and its "homecoming" in a meaningful and thoughtful way. Jim Webb(68), "Fields of Fire" (and, more recently his movie "Rules of Engagement") and Bob Timberg (64) "The Nightingales Song", both combat veterans, tell it like it is and was and do us proud as fellow alumni of the old boat school.

They are two guys who will ensure that - " When reaching Heaven's scene we will find the streets are guarded by the United States Marines".