This morning my smartphone brought me the typical History update. This time it was a little more personally meaningful. On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces. (AP)
I was a black shoes sailor in the US Navy on that day. Serving on the USS Okinawa LPH-3 as a Journalist PO3rd class (despite the uniform in the picture on the left - taken the year before while on "liberty" in Hong Kong).
I ran the ship's CC-TV (closed circuit TV) system as well as the Ship's daily newspaper (when out at sea), and the ship's radio station. And I was the editor of the ship's Cruise Book (think HS annual).
Those of you who may have seen the play "Miss Saigon" will remember that helicopter leaving at the end of the play. That helo was headed (in reality) to the USS Okinawa - or, the "Oki Boat" as those of us serving on board often referred to the old grey lady. And yes, as we were often told/screamed at: there are no "boats" in the Navy.
I served December 1972 through October 1975. Did 2 WestPacs: 11 months and then 13 months.
In 1975 USS Okinawa evacuated 287 U.S. personnel from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, during Operation Eagle Pull.
Immediately following this operation, Okinawa conducted the largest helicopter operation in history – Operation Frequent Wind. Over 1200 Americans were swiftly evacuated from South Vietnam. The ship was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for her role.
I did both of those operations. My job was to entertain our "guests" who were given all of our sleeping compartments. I slept in my TV Studio space, along with other friends. There were 2400 Marines and 600 Sailors. We had over 1000 guests after each operation. I played cartoons (the only universally understood programming I had) 24/7 for days and days. With the help of my friends.
The pictures and videos of helicopters being tossed over the sides of US warships that you may have seen before - I have personal photos (35mm slides) of that happening time after time. After we filled up our hold and we couldn't hold any more. I saw Marine guards toss motorcycles and other large items into the sea as evacuees came off of the helicopters that landed on our deck - and most often we're not ours -well, we gave the South Vietnamese those copters - and they were just returning them - as they escaped a worse fate. It was sometimes very hard to watch - desperate people seeing their most prized possessions being tossed overboard - because we just didn't have room for it all.
The photo?
That guy with the "stash" in the photo next to me was standing in the stairwell from the Hong Kong Ferry boat to the terminal - when I passed him - and then turned around and asked if I could have my picture taken with him. With his moustache really. I had never seen before nor have seen such a grand moustache since.
One of my favorite photos from back in those days.
The ship?
Okinawa was decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 17 December 1992. She was transferred to MARAD and laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in Suisun Bay, Benicia, Calif.
The ship was sunk as a target in a COMSUBPAC ship sinking exercise (SINKEX) on 6 June 2002, off the coast of Southern California, in 2,020 fathoms (3,700 m) at 031°27′N 119°42′WCoordinates: 031°27′N 119°42′W. After being hit by several Maverick, Harpoon missiles, and general-purpose bombs, the ex-Okinawa was finally sunk by a Mk 48 torpedo fired by Portsmouth (SSN-707).
Not a very noble end. Except for being a reef now for marine life.
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