Marine Colonel Thomas Holden flew the last Ch-46 helicopter in ìOperation Frequent Windî as part of the final evacuation of Saigon in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War.

He presented at the Commemorative Air Force-Heart of America Wing September meeting, Saturday, September 17. He helped transport thousands of Americans and Vietnamese to safety in the final hours before the fall of Saigon.

ìYour actions honor the memories, îhe said. ìYou remind us today that we leave no marine behind.î He flew the last ship out that rescued Marine Corps guards from the American Embassy, after 24 hours of continuous mercy flights. Holden joined the Marine Corps in 1962 and served for 34 years.

ìIt was the best part of my life,îhe said. ìIt was a great time and they paid me for it. I donít know if I deserved it.î After graduation, he went to flight school and graduated from flight school in Pensacola, Florida in 1967.

ìI am probably not the best pilot in the world,îhe said.

Holden said his helicopter training wasnít very good.

ìInstructor said I didnít expect to see you again,îhe said.

Holden was sent to Vietnam in 1969, and even though he thought he would be there to finish the war he was sent home. The Marine Corps sent him back to the Western Pacific in 1974.

Holden said intelligence today is much better than it was back then and part of the plan from. Ingress was to supply and support South Vietnam, but they didnít.

ìIt was a trigger event,îhe said. ìAnd Nixon was busy with Watergate. The speed of advancing was faster than we thought it would be.î On April 4, he said was sent home and then went to Okinawa, Japan. From there they flew out to Midway.

ìWe were told to go down there and make the evacuation and come right back,îhe said. ìI said, ëYeah Right, Generalí.î Holden said he made it to Midway and in May they sent a bunch of aircraft but we short on pilots.

ìEveryone was flying,îhe said. ìYoung captains with Vietnam experience especially.î He said the next day they had order for the U.S.S. Hancock.

Holden said he was one of the first men across the river and a lot was left behind because they could k my carry four to five people at a time.

Two different squadrons with no squadron commanders and leadership spent two days at sea on the U.S.S. Hancock.

ìWe werenít allowed to fly much and we complained about it,îhe said.

Holden said the AirForce operates differently than the Marines.

Holden said they circled around for quite awhile at a 100 to 110 mile radius. They took Marines into a soccer field and loaded up Embassy people onto the helicopters.

ìWe flew in on the beach,îhe said. ìIt was a search and rescue and wonderful operation. It saved 289 people. î

î Holden said on April 28 at 0330 in the morning ìOperation Babyliftî was to begin when a rocket hit the guard post that instantly killed two marine corporals, and then artillery strikes hit the runways.

Holden said on April 29 at 0700 ìOperation Frequent Windî began.

ìThe problems in those days was communications,îhe said. ìIt was going to be search and rescue again. We were waiting, waiting, waiting. And late getting started. We launched at 3:15p.m.î Holden said there was lots of confusion and the Intel was bad.

ìWe didnít know how many people evacuated, the armed resistance or if we could fly at night,îhe said. ìThe other big danger was the weather. It was not complimentary.î Holden said they could carry a big load of 77 people standing up and pushed in.

ìIt looked like it would never stop,îhe said. ìThey just kept coming. We had 78 aircraft and it felt like not enough. Just an endless line of people kept coming in.î Holden said it was orderly and there was a lack of panic.

ìWe kept bringing them to the U.S.S. Hancock,îhe said. ìCrews were flying 12 to 15 hour shifts.î Holden said they started shutting everything down.

ìPresident Ford gave the order to get the heck out of dodge,îhe said. ìTiger is Out was the command for getting the commander out of the Embassy.î Holden said they needed to go back to Saigon and one aircraft on deck was ready to go.

ìYou always keep one ready to go,îhe said. ìWe took off and weíre directed into Saigon. There was one mile of squall line of weather that was pretty severe. We almost didnít make it in.î Holden said they couldnít fly higher than 6,000 feet.

ìThere were 11 Marines waiting for us that got on board,îhe said. ìOne guy was slow and had one step in the aircraft and one step out. He fell out. But we got him on and got out of there. At 0800 we were back to Okinawa. Holden said 395 Americans were evacuated and 978 from the Embassy for a total of approximately 1300 Americans. 5,000 plus Vietnamese lives were saved.

Holden said they lost one Cobra to the Sea because they didnít have enough fuel points out in the Pacific Ocean.

ìThe Cobra ran out of gas and the pilots escaped and were rescued by the U.S.S. Kirk,îhe said.

Holden said lessons he learned were at certain points you just have to go to bed and you should never have to investigate an accident within your own command.

He said bad intel, not flying at night and not having enough pilots to man the aircrafts were all setback challenges.

ìThe Vietnamese veterans flying was the saving grace,îHolden said.

Once they stopped listening to the Air Force and got off their frequency, he said, operations went smooth.

ìIf we hadnít Iíd still be flying out there today,îHolden said. ìThe decision not to fly at night was the wrong decision.î He said the biggest concerns at the end were how to feed and hydrate people while being out to Sea.

They dry docked for 30 days in the Philippines and spent 30 days at the pool drinking San Miguel beers and eating hotdogs.

For more information you can visit FallofSaigon.org.