Wednesday, February 16, 1916. Russian Army blunders, Lomond established, Kermit Roosevelt Jr. born.

The Imperial Russian Army, which had been seeing success after success against the Ottomans, entered Erzurum, but botched it, allowing the retreating Ottoman Third Army to set up a new defense line less than 10 km away from the city. Losses were heavy on both sides.

Lomond, Alberta was established.

Kermit Roosevelt Jr. was born to was born to Kermit Roosevelt Sr., son of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, and Belle Wyatt Roosevelt (née Willard) in Buenos Aires.  He's later work for the OSS and CIA.

Kermit Jr, Theodore Roosevelt, and Richard Derby.

A member of the greatest dynastic American family, he died in 2000.  His father exhibited the occasionally tragic aspect of the family, dying by suicide in 1943 in Alaska.

Anyway you look at it, the Roosevelts stand apart as an American political family, although they have chosen to remain outside of politics since the 1940s.  Never tainted while in office, and highly self sacrificing, their family remains admirable to this very day.  The Adams family may rate a close second (or first?), followed by the Bush family, and perhaps the Kennedy family.  The Trump family stands a chance of being the polar opposite.

Dương Văn Minh, the last President of South Vietnam, was born in French Cochinchina.  A soldier by training and profession, he'd live until 2001.  He spent much of his post Vietnam War exile in France, but immigrated to Pasadena California to be near his daughter in his old age.  He was extremely quiet in exile, and did not produce a memoir.

A gas explosion destroyed Mexia Texas' opera house and damaged a half-block of buildings, killing nine and injuring eight.

Last edition:

Tuesday, February 15, 1916. Chivalry in Africa.

Labels: 1910s, 1916, 1916 Cochinchina uprising, Africa, Belgium, British Army, Erzurum Offensive, French Empire, German Army, German Empire, Imperial Russian Army, Senussi, Siege of Mora, Vietnam, World War One

Wednesday, April 30, 1975. The Fall of Saigon.

Saigon fell to the NVA.

Gen. Dũng received orders from the Politburo to attack and take Saigon, which was surrounded except on approaches from the sea.  Early in the morning NVA sappers tried to take the Newport Bridge but were repulsed by ARVN Airborne.  An armored battle ensued, holding the bridge.

NVA armor then attacked Tan Son Nhut, which was defended by ARVN Rangers.  An armored battle ensued there as well.  A pitch battle broke out, but the NVA overcame the ARVN.

At 10:24 South Vietnamese President Minh surrendered unconditionally, although the ARVN continued to fight at the Newport Bridge, unaware of the surrender.  They stopped fighting upon learning of the surrender.

The surrender was announced to the nation at 2:30.

I, General Duong Van Minh, president of the Saigon administration, appeal to the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam to laydown their arms and surrender unconditionally to the forces of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam. Furthermore, I declare that the Saigon government is completely dissolved at all levels. From the Central government to the local governments must be handed over to the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam.

Duong Van Minh on the transcript written by Bùi Văn Tùng

This was followed by:

We, the representatives for the forces of the Liberation Army of South Vietnam, solemnly declare that the City of Saigon was completely liberated. We accepted the unconditional surrender of General Dương Văn Minh, the president of the Saigon administration.

Bùi Văn Tùng.

In the Mekong Delta, the ARVN actually fought on for a day thereafter.  Upon learning of the unconditional surrendered, they abandoned the ARVN or surrendered to VC forces that they outnumbered.

ARVN generals Le Van Hung, 42, Tran Van Hai, 50, Le Nguyen Vy, 42, and Pham Van Phu, 46, committed suicide.

Brig Gen. Pham Duy Tat, the ARVN officer known for his hopelessly naive cheerful attitude in Ken Burn's documentary on the Vietnam War, survived but would serve 17 years in a Communist reeducation camp.  Upon being released, he relocated to the United States, passing away in 2019.

ARVN generals, Le Van Hung, Tran Van Hai,  Le Nguyen Vy, and Pham Van Phu, committed suicide.

Operation Frequent Wind concluded.

Over 7,000 people were evacuated.

Last Marines out.  Both are wearing tropical combat uniforms which have been altered to be short sleeved, something never officially authorized. The one in front carries a M1 or M2 carbine in addition to his M16A1 rifle, probably an embassy weapon.

This date has been widely marked in Vietnam this year, as well as the Vietnamese Diaspora community in the US, which naturally view it differently.  Celebrations have been taking place in Vietnam.  Indeed, a rather odd video clip of young women, very contemporarily addressed, watching a parade in Hanoi in which the Chinese Army was participating, shows them yelling catcalls at the Chinese troops of  Chinese PLA honor guards get catcalls of "老公，老公！" (husband, husband!).

I don't get it, but perhaps if a Vietnamese person stops in, they'll explain it.

Anyway, a momentous day in history, certainly for Vietnam, but also for the United States.

Haste: Operation Frequent Wind and the Fall of Saigon

April 29, 2025 by Jacob Wilson, posted in Cold War, Combat Cameramen, Films, Military, Motion Pictures, Video Recordings, Vietnam War

Monday, April 28, 1975. Ordering the ARVN to hold on.

U.S Consul Francis Terry McNamara met with ARVN Major General Nguyễn Khoa Nam about the plans to evacuate U.S consulate employees, some American civilians and some Vietnamese employees by boat. General Nam didn't want any members of the ARVN to be included, so they could remain and fight. 

A North Vietnamese air raid on Tan Son Nhut Air Base caused half of the fixed winged aircraft to be evacuated from the air base.

The RVNAF launched a helicopter attack on VC troops who were attempting to occupy the Newport Bridge, which was followed by a ground attack.

President Dương Văn Minh made an inaugural speech about the struggle of the South Vietnam military and finding ways for the peace to end the war.  He ordered the ARVN to hold all remaining ground and urged the South Vietnamese to stay in the country pending a ceasefire which he promised would keep South Vietnam separate from the north.

Last edition:

Sunday, April 27, 1975. Big Minh takes charge.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Dương Văn Minh, North Vietnamese Army, Personalities, South Vietnam, Trần Văn Hương, Vietnam War, Vietnamese Diaspora

Sunday, April 27, 1975. Big Minh takes charge.

Minh in 1964.

Duong Van Minh, "Big Minh" was unanimously elected as President of South Vietnam by the South Vietnamese National Assembly, and authorized to negotiate a peace agreement with the Viet Cong and with North Vietnam. "

Tran Van Huong refused to step aside as President, however.

A career Army office, Minh had joined the French Army early in World War Two and had been captured by the Japanese.  He subsequently joined the French supported Vietnamese National Army and became aprionser of the Viet Minh.  After the Paris Peace Accords he's advocated for Vietnam to be reunited as neither a right wing or Communist nation.  He was regarded as a friendly South Vietnamese politician by the Communists and therefore was allowed to return to his villa after the South Vietnamese surrender, which he orchestrated.  In 1983 he moved to France, and then in 1988 to the US.  He remained silent about the war after the 1975 surrender.

He died in 2001, unlamented by the Vietnamese diaspora, who blamed him for the South Vietnamese surrender.

The NVA took Nam Yet Island, Ba Ria Town, and the entire Phuoc Tuy Province.

Last edition:

Saturday, April 26, 1975. The attack on Saigon begins.

Labels: 1960s, 1968, 1970s, 1975, Growing up in the 1970s, NVA, Saigon Vietnam, South Vietnam, South Vietnamese Air Force, television, The Fall of Saigon, Vietnam War