A new documentary from Rory Kennedy examines the final days of American presence in Saigon and the heroic efforts to help evacuate 135,000 South Vietnamese.
In April of 1975, the North Vietnamese Army was closing in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance was crumbling. Approximately 5,000 Americans remained with roughly 24 hours to get out. Their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends faced certain imprisonment and possible death if they remained behind. With no official evacuation plan in place, the clock ticking, and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans took matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many people as possible. In those last days in Vietnam, 135,000 men, women and children managed to escape.
