Escaping Saigon

Vietnamese struggle to get aboard evacuation ships that will take them  to the United states.

On April 29, 1975 Bich Nguyen and her father, grandmother, sister, and two uncles fled Vietnam, the night before the city fell. That night everyone was trying desperately to leave. People were doing everything they could to get away from the North Vietnamese. Bich's family found a ship and jumped on it not knowing exactly where they were going, just somewhere in the United States.

On the morning of April 29 the last helicopters rose from the roofs of the American Embassy.

There were many different ways to leave South Vietnam before the communists took over. One way was the United States initiated Operation Babylift which airlifted children out of Vietnam. Over the course of April it would carry away more than two thousand children. The United States also had another program called Operation New Life, this was for Vietnamese refugees to be relocated to the United States. Wealthy Vietnamese used bribes to get any possible way out. Airports were mobbed. People would do anything to try and leave, some went to the point of giving their babies away to American soldiers who were departing. Escaping Saigon was difficult to do and if accomplished, still left people in countries unfamiliar to them and for many, with little money or possessions.

For more information about things mentioned in the blog visit: http://www.adoptvietnam.org/adoption/babylift.htm
http://www.vnafmamn.com/black_april.html

Bich and her family were just one of many people who fled Saigon during that time. To read or watch different people's stories about it visit:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/content/vietnamese-immigrant-recalls-story-her-escape
http://www.refugeestories.org/stories/
http://archives.cbc.ca/society/immigration/topics/524/