A second Cessna O-1 was also recovered by USS Midway that afternoon. 29 Apr 1975 - 30 Apr 1975 Mayaguez 15-May-1975 El Salvador 1 Jan 1981 - 1 Feb 1992 Lebanon 1 Jun 1983 - 1 Dec 1987 Grenada Operation URGENT FURY 23 Oct 1983 - 21 Nov 1983 Libya EL DORADO CANYON 12 Apr 1986 - 17 Apr 1986 Persian Gulf EARNEST WILL 24 Jul 1987 - 1 Aug 1990 Elbert, CO 80106, Colonel William B. Davis, USMC (Retired) Bio, View by Tank Companies & Ontos Battalions, Randy Browning Memorial Awarded the Navy Cross, Authorization for wear: E.O. [21]:67 From the billowing incinerator on the embassy roof floated intelligence documents and US currency, most charred; some not. c. Engagement Stars. Caption: Operation Frequent Wind, April 29, 1975 A Vietnamese Air Force HU-1 Huey Helicopter is deliberately ditched near USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), as one of the ship's boats stands by to pick up. At 10:00 Ambassador Martin confirmed General Smith's assessment and at 10:48 he contacted Washington to recommend Option 4, the helicopter evacuation. The note read "Can you move these helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly 1 hour more, we have enough time to move. [10]:199 At that time Major Kean estimated that there were still some 850 non-American evacuees and 225 Americans (including the Marines), and Ambassador Martin told Major Kean to do the best he could. Click on unit logos above for eligibility. space thereof, between 4 July 1965 and 28 March 1973, and 2 Per reference (b) above, paragraph 14 (Page 2-20) of said reference states: (1). during the period for which that ship is listed as eligible, are Bronze Arrowhead (Army), For current prices select the image or one of the following links, Military Medals and Military Ribbons links, Official Military Ribbons-- provides information and links for. [6] Originally codenamed "Talon Vise", the operation was renamed "Frequent Wind" when the original codename was compromised. [6]:9899 USAF aircraft operating out of Nakhon Phanom Air Base, Korat Air Base and U-Tapao Air Base in Thailand were also overhead for the duration of the helicopter evacuation. When Lady Ace 09 transmitted "Tiger is out", those helicopter crews still flying thought the mission was complete, and delayed evacuating the Marines from the embassy rooftop. At 07:00 the AC-119 was firing on PAVN to the east of Tan Son Nhut when it too was hit by an SA-7 and fell in flames to the ground. The operation ended at 0900 on April 30, and by noon that day, Communist flags waved over Saigon's Presidential Palace. [21]:78, At 04:58 Ambassador Martin boarded a USMC CH-46 Sea Knight, call-sign Lady Ace 09 of HMM-165 and was flown to USS Blue Ridge. This directive was subsequently reversed; some operators had ignored it anyway. Around 12:00 five or six RVNAF UH-1Hs and one of the stolen ICCS UH-1Hs, were circling around Blue Ridge. (a) Shore Duty. SECNAVINST 1650.1F, Dated 8 August 1991. NHHC Photograph Collection, Navy Subject Files. (d) Public Law 107-314 of 2 December 2002 stipulates that personnel who were awarded the Armed Forces Expeditioanry Medal (AFEM) for their participation in Operation FREQUENT WIND, during the period 29 to 30 April 1975, may elect the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM) in lieu of the Armed Forces Expeditioanry Medal (AFEM) for such service. [9] Workers from Pacific Architects and Engineers visited each of the 13 LZs to remove obstructions and paint H's the size of a UH-1 Huey helicopter's skids. ), VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL: http://www.amervets.com/replacement/vn.htm#isrHUMANITARIAN SERVICE MEDAL: http://www.amervets.com/replacement/hum.htm#isrUSN/USMC/USCG COMBAT ACTION RIBBON: http://www.amervets.com/replacement/car.htm#isr, NOTE: Eligible personnel should ensure these Service Period acknowledgments arelisted on your current 201A Military Award Report:http://www.amervets.com/201areq.htm (or amervets.com/201a), Contact Person for this posting: Roger Simpson, PIOPublic Information Office: http://www.13105320634.comThe American War Library: http://www.amervets.com/16907 Brighton AvenueGardena CA 90247-5420Phone / Fax: 1-310-532-0634, -- Otis Willie (Ret.) XI. XVIII. [6]:121, Midway deck crew surround Major Buang and his family, At the same time as the aerial evacuation, tens of thousands of South Vietnamese fled towards TF-76 aboard junks, sampans, and small craft. This operation was also the debut combat deployment of the F-14 Tomcat aircraft. Only one award per operation is authorized. Marine corporals McMahon and Judge, killed at the DAO compound, were the only members of US forces killed in action during the operation and they were the last US ground casualties in Vietnam. [20]:2728 The scene was famously captured on film by Hubert van Es. The system worked so efficiently that the buses were able to make three return journeys rather than the expected one. Send the form to: Bureau of Naval Personnel Liaison Office Room 5409, 9700 Page Avenue St. Louis, MO 63132-5100 To obtain information about unit awards earned, contact the Chief of Naval Operations, Awards and Special Projects Branch at the address below. Operations. [9] Thirteen Marines from the Marine Security Guard (MSG) detachment were deployed to the DAO Compound on 13 April to replace eight Marine guards who had been providing security after they were withdrawn from the closed Da Nang and Nha Trang consulates. should be submitted to CNO/CMC, via the commander who exercised Scroll down to commemorate this event. The fixed-wing evacuation was terminated and Operation Frequent Wind began. An embassy official said that more than five million dollars were being burned. [20]:30, At 14:06 two UH-1E Huey helicopters carrying General Carey and Colonel Alfred M. Gray Jr. (commander of Regimental Landing Team 4 (RLT4)) landed at the DAO Compound. She began her deployment heading West and . [10]:201 CH-46F Swift 1-4 of HMM-164 from USS Hancock flown by Captain William C. Nystul[31] and First Lieutenant Michael J. Shea[32] crashed into the sea on its approach to the ship after having flown a night sea and air rescue mission. [20]:21 At some point during the morning RVNAF personnel took five ICCS UH-1H Hueys and one Air America Bell 204 from the Air America ramp. Some 400 evacuees were left behind at the embassy including over 100 South Korean citizens; among them was Brigadier General Dai Yong Rhee, the intelligence chief at the South Korean Embassy in Saigon. period for which that ship is eligible. [24] Major Buang became the first RVNAF fixed-wing pilot to ever land on a carrier. When the evacuation is ordered, the code will be read out on Armed Forces Radio. Ambassador Martin refused to accept General Smith's recommendation and instead insisted on visiting Tan Son Nhut to survey the situation for himself. The U.S. Air Force played a key role in Operation FRE-QUENTWIND. Tet Counter-offensive 30 Jan 68 to 01 Apr 68 A Silver Star, 3/16 inch in diameter, is authorized for wear in place of five (5) Bronze Stars when a total of five (5) campaigns have been recognized. Operation Frequent Wind ship disposition 1975 - Recreated map.svg. One AC-119 gunship had spent the night of 28/29 April dropping flares and firing on the approaching PAVN. In addition, the Vietnamese relatives of American citizens and senior Government of Vietnam officials and their dependents (about 600,000 people) were also identified as potential evacuees, along with Vietnamese formerly employed by the U.S. and their dependents. Consolidation I1 01 Dec 71 to 29 Mar 72 The history and Technology of Submarines (Grade 5), To the Ends of the Earth and Beyond (Grades 5-8), The Date that Lives in Infamy: Pearl Harbor (High School), Codes and Signals: Breaking the Spy Games of World War II and Vietnam, Damage Control Mission Brief: (Blue Navy) A Study Based on the Battle of Okinawa, Damage Control Mission Brief: (Green Navy) A Study Based on the Battle of Okinawa, Author Talk: The Suffragist Playbook: Your Guide to Changing the World with Rebecca Boggs Roberts and Lucinda Robb, Family Art Workshop: Kites and Observation, Talk: The Washington Navy Yard During the Civil War, A Conversation with Historians Dr. Regina Akers and Dr. Eddie Valentin: From Benjamin Drummond to Doris Miller: Race, Identity, and the Struggle Against Discrimination in the U.S. Navy, Virtual Book Talk: When Giants Ruled the Sky: the Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship, with John J. Geoghegan and Curator, Gordon Calhoun, April 29, 1975 Operation Frequent Wind, April 18, 1906 -- San Francisco, California, December 16, 1922 Rescue of Vinh-Long Passengers, September 6, 1930 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, December 1948-January 1949-Beirut, Lebanon and Port Said, Egypt, 1954-1955 Vietnam (Operation Passage to Freedom), October 13, 1954 -- Haiti (Hurricane Hazel), February 7, 1955: Evacuation of Chinese from Tachen Islands, October 1955: Tampico, Mexico (Hurricane Janet), October 1959 Nagoya, Japan (Typhoon Vera), November 3, 1961 - Belize, British Honduras (Hurricane Hattie), August 1969 Mississippi (Hurricane Camille), October-December 1973 Colombia and Haiti, February 1975 Mauritius (Cyclone Gervaise), 1980-1989 Rescue of Vietnamese Refugees, September 21, 1981 Rescue of Datu Kalantiaw, January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger, April-August 1989 - Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, September-October 1989 Charleston, South Carolina, January 1990 Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 5, 1990 Liberia (Operation Sharp Edge), 1991-1996 - Iraq (Operation Provide Comfort), 1992-1993 Somalia (Operation Restore Hope), 1992-1996 Yugoslavia (Operation Provide Promise), March 1997 - Albania (Operation Silver Wake), January-March 1998 Kenya (Operation Nobel Response). MARINES THAT WERE AWARDED THE ARMED FORCES EXPEDITIONARY MEDAL FOR PARTICIPATING IN OPERATION FREQUENT WIND FROM 29-30 APRIL 1975 ARE NOW ENTITLED TO EXCHANGE IT FOR THE VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL PER SECTION 542 IN PUBLIC LAW 107-314. It was carried out on 2930 April 1975, during the last days of the Vietnam War. (e). [3] The evacuation took place primarily from the Defense Attach Office compound, beginning around 14:00 on the afternoon of 29 April, and ending that night with only limited small arms damage to the helicopters. [6]:97 The second wave of 12 CH-53s from HMH-463 landed in the DAO Compound at 15:15 bringing in the rest of the BLT. consecutive or 60 nonconsecutive days, except that the time These altitudes were also high enough to avoid small arms and artillery fire. of service between 1 July 1958 and 3 July 1965, inclusive, in an Once completed, the new defensive perimeter encompassed only LZ 36 and the Alamo. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. Ships and units [8], On 1 April an evacuation control center manned by U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force (USAF) and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) personnel began operating at the Defense Attach Office (DAO) compound on 12-hour shifts, increasing to 24-hour shifts the next day. A flotilla of 26 Republic of Vietnam Navy and other vessels concentrated off Long Sn Island southwest of Vng Tu with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board. Vietnam Counter-offensive VII 01 Jul 70 to 30 Jun 71 Operation Frequent Wind and Vietnam Service Medal All personnel who participated in Operation Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Saigon) are now automatically authorized the Vietnam Service. Click on red bar for more info. Major Kean contacted the Seventh Fleet to advise them of his airlift requirements; until that time the fleet believed that all evacuees had been bussed from the embassy to the DAO Compound and that only two helicopters would be required to evacuate Ambassador Martin and the Marines from the embassy. of the United States in Thailand, Laos, or Cambodia or the air Campaign Stars are authorized for Ain-country personnel@ for periods as indicated below: 16605 Forest Green Terrace 21st SOS Frequent Wind and Mayaguez Incident gallery, Video clip: Footage of evacuation operations underway aboard USS Midway, including historic Cessna O-1 landing by VNAF pilot Major Buang, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Frequent_Wind&oldid=1131016156, Option 1: Evacuation by commercial airlift from, Option 2: Evacuation by military airlift from Tan Son Nhut and other South Vietnamese airports as required, Option 3: Evacuation by sea lift from Saigon port, Option 4: Evacuation by helicopter to US Navy ships in the, This page was last edited on 2 January 2023, at 03:59. [6]:37 President Ford, in an address to the American public on 11 April, promised to evacuate Vietnamese civilians of various categories. As the imminent collapse of Saigon became evident, the U.S. Navy assembled Task Force 76 off the coast near Vng Tu to support a helicopter evacuation and provide air support if required. [41][42], The operation was the subject of the 2014 PBS documentary Last Days in Vietnam.[43]. [6]:80, At dawn the RVNAF began to haphazardly depart Tan Son Nhut Air Base as A-37s, F-5s, C-7s, C-119s and C-130s departed for Thailand while UH-1s took off in search of the ships of TF-76. Despite receiving sporadic PAVN AAA fire, USAF and USN aircraft made no attacks on AAA or SAM sites during the evacuation. Persian Gulf Operation (Operation Vigilant Sentinel) December 1, 1995 to February 1, 1997. . both awards for service in an area for which the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM) has been Company G occupied the eastern section of the Annex, while Company H assumed control of the western section. Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saigon. Note: A Bronze Star, 3/16 inch in diameter, is authorized to be worn on the suspension ribbon and ribbon bar of the Vietnam Service Medal (VSM) for each of the following campaigns. A South Vietnamese pilot lands his Huey helicopter on the deck of USS Hancock (CV-19). [21]:6, Inside the embassy, the evacuees had found whatever space was available inside the embassy compound and evacuees and some staff proceeded to take alcohol from the embassy's stores. The U.S. Embassy in Saigon was intended to only be a secondary evacuation point for embassy staff, but it was soon overwhelmed with evacuees and desperate South Vietnamese. Squadrons or units embarked in a ship, The SeaCobras could also serve as Forward Air Controllers. English: Map showing the disposition of U.S. Navy ships at the start of "Operation Frequent Wind", in April 1975. Only one award per operation is authorized. [6]:40 The Frequent Wind plan set out four possible evacuation options:[6]:9, With Option 4, the helicopter evacuation would be expected to be similar to Operation Eagle Pull, the American evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 April 1975. VII .Vietnam Counter-offensive IV 02 Apr 68 to 30 Jun 68 Shown: A Vietnamese woman, carrying her son, is given a numbered tag as she arrives onboard USS Hancock (CV-19). Evacuation of Phnom Penh and Saigon, April 29, 1975. [6]:24 On 4 April, a C-5A aircraft carrying 250 Vietnamese orphans and their escorts suffered explosive decompression over the sea near Vng Tu and made a crash-landing while attempting to return to Tan Son Nhut; 153 people on board died in the crash. XVI . 127-GVB-279-A150894: Operation Frequent Wind. Normal performance of duty or a large number of combat missions does not in itself justify the award. An award will not be made to a unit for action of one or more of its component parts, unless such unit performed as a total team in a manner justifying the award. Sanctuary Counter-offensive 01 May 70 to 30 Jun 70 Helicopters began to clog ship decks and eventually, some were pushed overboard to allow others to land. Most of the Marines were inside the chancery when the crowds outside the embassy broke through the gates into the compound. Awarded to all members of the Armed Forces of the United States serving at anytime between 03Jul1965 and 28Mar1973 in the area defined under the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) for Vietnam. At the beginning of the operation, pilots in the first wave reported the weather as 2,000 feet (610m) scattered, 20,000 feet (6,100m) overcast with 15 miles (24km) visibility, except in haze over Saigon, where visibility decreased to one mile. The table below lists approved operations for award of the HSM. In any case this effectively marked the end of the commercial airlift from Tan Son Nhut. Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam prior to the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese Army It was carried out on 29-30 April 1975, during the last days of the Vietnam War. This will be followed by the playing of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas. All personnel who participated in Operation Frequent Wind (the. Commander Task Force 76 received the order to execute Operation Frequent Wind (initially Talon Vise), the evacuation of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese who might suffer as a result of their past service to the Allied effort. The biggest problem occurred when the ARVN unit guarding the main gate at Tan Son Nhut refused to allow the last convoy of buses into the DAO Compound at about 17:45. This office can identify awards earned by Navy units. [10]:201, During the demolition of the embassy, the metal staircase leading from the rooftop to the helipad was removed and sent back to the United States, where it is now on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. Chief of Naval Operations RVNAF F-5s took off in pursuit, but they were unable to intercept the A-37s. Moments later a RVNAF UH-1H attempted to land on the helipad, locked rotors with the Air America Bell, almost pushing it overboard. The command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) was located approximately 28 km from Vung Tau, Vietnam, at 1500 hrs on 29 April 1975. Personnel in clandestine or special operations such as reconnaissance and SEAL teams are eligible when the risk of enemy fire was great and was expected to be encountered. General Carey's threat to use the AH-1J SeaCobra helicopter gunships flying overhead may have played a role in the ARVN commander's decision. [6]:46 The fall of Xun Lc on 21 April and the resignation of President Nguyn Vn Thiu on 21 April brought greater crowds seeking evacuation to the DAO Compound as it became apparent that South Vietnam's days were numbered. Disposition 1975 - Recreated map.svg was terminated and Operation Frequent Wind ship disposition -... U.S. Air Force played a role in Operation FRE-QUENTWIND PAVN AAA fire, and! Forward Air Controllers use the AH-1J SeaCobra helicopter gunships flying overhead may have a... 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