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When we left San Diego in November of 1974 the war in Vietnam, for all intents and purposes, was over for Americans… But the war was NOT over. My name is Paul G. Fusco. I was stationed on the USS Blue Ridge, Electronics Technician 3rd class ETN-3, with a crypto job code. This would be my third cruise to the Western Pacific and although not the most dangerous it would be the most memorable. Westpac 1 was our most eventful. Our time was spent steaming up and down the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea. Steaming in the Gulf (Yankee Station) was occupied by broadcasting propaganda tapes to the North Vietnamese. We were fired on many times from artillery located on various islands in the Gulf of Tonkin and returned fire, but action was hard to see from my general quarters stations at various locations throughout the hull of the ship. During the Easter invasion of 72 we were once again on the line in the South China Sea (Dixie Station) in defense of Da Nang. Fortunately the ARVN held out in Da Nang and Blue Ridge was used for Command and Communications only. The night sky and the sound of explosions on shore were our reminders that the war was still on. Blue Ridge spent 30 to 63 days at a time steaming Yankee and Dixie stations. Westpac 2 was before during and after the peace talks and the signing of the treaty that ended American involvement. Our mission on this cruise was to aid the South Vietnamese in whatever limited way we could. By Westpac 3 we had the feeling that steaming in the far east would not include much of Vietnamese waters. We were wrong. As early as February we could see there were going to be problems that might involve the Blue Ridge. By April it was for sure. Early in April we were ordered back to the South China Sea for possible evacuation. I as did YN1 Miller (author of the article below) volunteered for the "Rescue and Assistance Team" at the beginning of the cruise. All we knew at the time was that we could be involved in evacuation or rescue operations while on this cruse. Late at night on 28 April when the first Chinook landed with a 50 cal mounted in the starboard side door and I gazed down the barrel of that awesome weapon I realized this was for real. The next morning when the words, "Now muster the Rescue and Assistance Team on the main deck!" were announced, they did not warn us that the color of the sky for that day would be Huey Green. The next 24 hours would be quite a ride. The next 5 days would be, "WHAT NOW!" The article below was written immediately following the evacuation and has been reprinted in complete text directly from the USS Blue Ridge Cruise Book "WestPac III. I could not have put it any better. The pictures in the photo album are as follows:
The following article is the complete text of an ‘Immediate Release" filed from USS BLUE RIDGE by YN1 (JO) Rick Miller. The initial visit of BLUE RIDGE to Vietnam was brief — we were there to aid in the movement of Vietnamese from their northern provinces to safer enclaves in the south. That task completed, it rapidly became evident South Vietnam’s days were numbered, and evacuation of Americans, citizens of other countries and those Vietnamese who might be endangered due to their close association with the US, was going to be necessary. What followed was a chaotic journey into a combat environment. For some, it was a sobering introduction to terror and war. For others it was yet another trip back to ‘Nam. But for all, it was an emotion filled experience. In Navy Journalist Rick Miller’s words, this is how it all took place. Before it ended, boys became men, and men got a little older.ABOARD THE USS BLUE RIDGE, South China Sea — It all started in the early morning hours of April 28th when an American-made Chinook helicopter came streaking over the horizon from the doomed city of Saigon. Piloted by a Vietnamese, the chopper circled BLUE RIDGE a couple of times desperately looking for a place to land. The pilot had never landed on a ship before, and to make things worse it was in the dead of night. However this was not to stop the determined pilot from doing what he knew he had to do; save the lives of his family and the family of his copilot. He slowly lowered the huge aircraft to the seemingly small flight deck of this amphibious command ship. Fearful of hitting communications antennas, he rested the helo as far aft on the ship as he could go, leaving only inches to spare. Thus began the human drama which was about to unfold before BLUE RIDGE and her crew.Calm seas and clear skies at midmorning, April 30th was to be the setting for spectacular events which were about to take place. All eyes were once again turned to the horizon. Two more helos were making their ways to BLUE RIDGE. They were Air America helicopters, full of women, children and what few belongings they could gather before fleeing Saigon. The passengers were unloaded and sent through evacuee processing stations set up on the main deck. In order to make more room, the first helicopter was lifted from the main deck and flown a couple hundred feet from BLUE RIDGE where it was ditched. Boat crews picked up the pilot and brought him safely aboard the ship.Suddenly the sky seemed to be full of helicopters. All of them were crammed with terror stricken people, knowing they would have to return to Saigon if they couldn’t find a place to land. With rotors turning, the second Air America helo was preparing to return to Saigon for more evacuees. One South Vietnamese helo, hovering only a few feet away disregarded flight deck crewmen’s orders to move away. He was coming in despite the frantically waving crewmen’s arms trying to ward him off. At the last possible moment, men started heading for cover, knowing what was going to happen. People were yelling, "Hit the deck! Hit the deck!", and everyone dove for the deck, covering their heads for protection. Sailors threw themselves on Vietnamese children, protecting them with their bodies. The South Vietnamese craft set down on the very edge of the port side, but there was still not enough room. Rotor blades clashed together and exploded into thousands of flying pieces. The helo jumped and twisted viciously as pieces of its blades hit the flight deck. Teetering precariously on the edge of the ship, refugees started jumping from the aircraft even before the blades had stopped turning. At least thirty BLUE RIDGE crewmen jumped up from the main deck and ran to the battered craft where they started carrying children and helping terror stricken people to safety. Two sailors carried one woman who had apparently been injured in the crash. Hospital corpsmen began working on her immediately on the flight deck.From then on the helos battled for air space, trying to get aboard so they could discharge their human cargoes. As soon as the helicopters were unloaded, they were flown off the ship and ditched in the sea. There was no room to keep the helos aboard. Their doors were chopped off to allow the pilots an easy exit. One brave Vietnamese pilot repeatedly faced death as he climbed into the cockpit and dropped himself and five different choppers into the sea. Each time, he was picked up by boat crews and returned to the ship. The ditchings were spectacular. Some pilots settled their aircraft into the sea while others jumped while their helo was still in the air. One pilot bailed out of his helo while it was still about 100 feet in the air. Ditching the aircraft this way caused potential danger to waiting boat crews. There was no way to tell which way the helo would go once the pilot had bailed out. In still another instance, a pilot seemed to be having difficulty controlling his chopper just before ditching. He was coming drastically close to the ship and everyone feared he could collide with it. In a last minute decision, he jumped out of the helo. When it hit the water, the rotor blades exploded and debris slammed into the side of the ship. A piece of the blades flew from the front of the ship, over the top of it and landed near the back on the flight deck. Again, no one was injured. An Air America helo, its pilot in the water, swooped around the bow of the ship and careened into its side forward on the starboard side. It missed an open hatch into a mooring station by scant feet; again, no injuries. A U. S. Marine helicopter, loaded with evacuees radioed BLUE RIDGE it was nearly out of fuel. The flight deck was already occupied by another helo at the time. The helo crash alarm began screaming the alert of a coming disaster as the aircraft began losing altitude. All hope for a shipboard landing was thought to be lost when the chopper packed with newsmen and other evacuees began settling into the water. The pilot quickly switched to emergency fuel as he began to descend. Water was pouring into the helo drenching its passengers. Finally when the engines received the last bit of fuel, there was hope of getting the chopper aboard. Flight deck crews rushed to the helo already on the main deck and tipped it on its edge hoping to allow enough room for the incoming aircraft. With an air of relief, the huge twin-rotored helo settled on the flight deck without incident with only inches to spare. Crewmen immediately began unloading the frightened people.Throughout all of these events it was a wonder that no one was injured. Not one pilot nor any crewmen working on the deck was hurt in the holocaust. If the helos were not ditched, they were pushed over the side of the ship. As safety nets and antennas became damaged, that became the desired way to get rid of excess helos. All through the frantic landings and ditchings, the Commanding Officer, Captain William D. Hart — watch yourselves and stay cool." These events were just the introduction to the main event — "Operation Frequent Wind", so named because of the blowing effect caused by the helicopters’ rotor blades. Over 40 ships and 70 helicopters took part in the world’s largest helicopter evacuation. Supporting the Commander of the operation, Rear Admiral Donald B. Whitmire, BLUE RIDGE was the hub of the massive airlift. Thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were brought out of the beleaguered city of Saigon in 595 sorties.by YN1 (JO) Rick Miller BLUE RIDGE received the entire Saigon Press Corps during the evacuation. Representatives of AP, UPI, ABC, NBC, CBS, BBC and many other news agencies came to, stayed aboard and departed from BLUE RIDGE. US Ambassador Graham Martin departed Vietnam via BLUE RIDGE as did many high ranking South Vietnamese officials. One man familiar to news readers who followed the Vietnamese conflict, former Vice President and Air Vice Marshall Nguyen Gao Ky arrived unheralded aboard BLUE RIDGE. Regardless of the station of the arriving evacuees, every effort was made to show compassion and concern and to allow them maximum dignity in their terrible moments.I and the 3 Seaman assigned to me would spend the next 5 sleepless days and nights caring completely for 81 South Vietnamese refugees including former Vice President Ky. On the 6th day all refugees were transported to Merchant vessels and the evacuees remained on board to Subic Bay, PI. I was allowed uninterrupted sleep for the next 2 days only to wake and find that 20 of the refugees I had cared for had been killed on the Merchant vessel when a bulkhead collapsed.
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