The Last Flight Out of Vietnam: 50 Years After Escaping Saigon

Miki: 00:00:00

the last thing I see my dad, as I turned around, was he, him, you

Miki: 00:00:04

know, hovering away from from the ship.

Miki: 00:00:05

started in this new world with absolutely nothing, a pair of shirt and boxer shorts.

Scott: 00:00:09

people were jumping and your mom had to like basically just drop, drop your

Scott: 00:00:14

sister to a sailor that's catching people.

Miki: 00:00:16

one of the things I do remember is tasting military peanut butter in

Miki: 00:00:20

the can that you, you know, rolled up.

Miki: 00:00:22

Sure, yeah.

Miki: 00:00:23

And chicklettes chicklettes, military chit,

Miki: 00:00:25

they were res the first thing he said when he got on the ship, it wasn't

Miki: 00:00:29

like, where's my wife and kids?

Miki: 00:00:30

He's like, give me a cigarette.

Miki: 00:00:31

Oh my gosh.

Jenn: 00:00:34

This is something people need to know.

Jenn: 00:00:35

It's real.

Jenn: 00:00:36

It happened.

Jenn: 00:00:37

It happened to your family specifically, really is great

Jenn: 00:00:39

for you to tell this story.

Jenn: 00:00:40

And like you said, it's the 50th anniversary

Jenn: 00:00:43

You know, it's one of those that truth is braver than fiction,

Scott: 00:00:47

Thank you so much for joining us.

Scott: 00:00:48

We are talking to author Mickey Nguyen.

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He's actually the son of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Ba, his father

Scott: 00:00:57

was a Vietnamese, a South Vietnamese pilot who escaped Vietnam with his

Scott: 00:01:03

family when Saigon, when, when the country was falling to the communists

Scott: 00:01:07

that were coming down from the north.

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His father's heroic actions, including a daring helicopter escape in April of 1975,

Scott: 00:01:15

was featured in the 2015 Oscar nominated film, Last Days in Vietnam, and are

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chronicled in the new memoir, which we're going to talk about, The Last Flight Out.

Scott: 00:01:25

With the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon approaching here in 2025, Mickey

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aims to connect with audiences interested in this we really enjoyed this interview

Scott: 00:01:37

with Mickey he had some incredible stories to tell and I really hope you guys stick

Scott: 00:01:43

around for it this story and the story of what mickey's father did in getting

Scott: 00:01:48

his family out of the country Yeah.

Jenn: 00:01:53

So let's talk with history.

Scott: 00:02:56

We are here with Mickey Nguyen.

Scott: 00:02:59

Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Scott: 00:03:00

Yes.

Scott: 00:03:01

That's right.

Scott: 00:03:02

And you are here talking about a book that's really about your father and you've

Scott: 00:03:07

been carrying on this, this message and just as we were talking before we started

Scott: 00:03:12

recording here, you, you've been doing these interviews and I, you know, there's.

Scott: 00:03:16

been Oscar nominated films with your father who was part of that storyline and

Scott: 00:03:21

all this really, really interesting stuff.

Scott: 00:03:24

So, so Mickey, for our listeners and for those watching, can you tell

Scott: 00:03:30

us a little bit about your book?

Scott: 00:03:33

Kind of your, your journey with your father.

Scott: 00:03:35

There's a whole lot of stuff for us to cover here.

Scott: 00:03:37

So I'll let you jump into things that you think will resonate with folks who

Scott: 00:03:42

might be interested in your, in your book.

Miki: 00:03:44

Yeah.

Miki: 00:03:45

Thank you.

Miki: 00:03:45

Yeah.

Miki: 00:03:45

Thank you, Scott and Jen for the the opportunity to be on here

Miki: 00:03:48

to share my my family story.

Miki: 00:03:50

And again, I, I come at it.

Miki: 00:03:52

This is my family's story.

Miki: 00:03:53

Every family's got their own unique stories and everyone's got their own

Miki: 00:03:57

unique history but this one involved my father who passed away about 10 years

Miki: 00:04:01

ago but what he did 50 years ago, coming up here, April 29th, April 30th, 1975

Miki: 00:04:09

was very heroic, so much so that he shared, you know, as with any military

Miki: 00:04:14

folks post activity, post you know, we'd share his story of how he got to

Miki: 00:04:18

America here with his other, you know, Vietnamese veteran buddies here in the U.

Miki: 00:04:22

S. as well as around dinner tables when I was younger and hearing his

Miki: 00:04:27

story and experienced it myself as a six and a half year old boy in 1975.

Miki: 00:04:33

And so, gosh, long story short, the U. S. Navy in 2009 mind you the incident

Miki: 00:04:40

that happened 50 years ago we never got the name of the, the ship, which

Miki: 00:04:46

is the USS Kirk, nor the name of the, the captain Captain Paul Jacobs.

Miki: 00:04:51

After we, you know, got onto the ship because they had to continue to stay

Miki: 00:04:58

around the Gulf of Tonkin to, you know, continue their, their activity mission

Miki: 00:05:02

and and then our family had to, you know, get whisked off to another boat

Miki: 00:05:06

and ship and start a new life in America.

Miki: 00:05:10

And so, flash forward to 2009, finally, the the U.

Miki: 00:05:16

S. Navy Mr. Jan Herman did a he is a U. S. Navy historian.

Miki: 00:05:21

And did some research on the activities in 1975 and the you know, Operation

Miki: 00:05:27

Frequent Wind, which was the evacuation of U. S. personnel and, and others within

Miki: 00:05:33

supporting the U. S. military efforts in, in South Vietnam, Saigon area.

Miki: 00:05:37

Yeah.

Miki: 00:05:37

Had to quickly flee as the the communists came down and, and took took over Saigon.

Miki: 00:05:42

And and so, so when, when the, when Mr. Jan Herman did the did the

Miki: 00:05:48

research, found out, you know, this pilot who ditched his helicopter

Miki: 00:05:52

after his family jumped onto the ship.

Miki: 00:05:55

Finally the story was shared you know, with the community, the

Miki: 00:05:59

Vietnamese community, and it ended up that my mom got an email saying,

Miki: 00:06:03

Hey, we're looking for this pilot.

Miki: 00:06:04

And my mom sent me the, the email and she said, Hey, take a look at it.

Miki: 00:06:09

And then it just I was at work and the, the full, the full life story of our

Miki: 00:06:16

family circled around where, wow, the the U S Navy, you know, reached out

Miki: 00:06:20

and tried to find this, this pilot.

Miki: 00:06:23

And I said, Hey, if you're looking for the pilot that ditched the Chinook at,

Miki: 00:06:26

you know, this approximate time afternoon That's that's more than likely my dad.

Miki: 00:06:31

Oh, wow.

Miki: 00:06:31

So, back then 10 years ago of 15 years ago.

Miki: 00:06:34

He Dementia Alzheimer's so he wasn't able to you know, communicate and so

Miki: 00:06:40

I spoke on on his behalf but myself my mom family just extremely happy to

Miki: 00:06:49

reconnect back with the the captain and everyone and so I'll, I'll get

Miki: 00:06:55

more into the, the, the dramatic story, but so much so that the, the U.

Miki: 00:07:00

S. Navy put together, Jan Herman, the team there put together

Miki: 00:07:04

a documentary themselves.

Scott: 00:07:07

Oh, cool.

Miki: 00:07:08

And and then eventually a couple years later, we, in 2010,

Miki: 00:07:14

a year later my family, dad, mom, sister flew out to Washington DC to

Miki: 00:07:20

do a reunion with the the USS Kirk.

Miki: 00:07:24

And the documentary, we got a chance to see the US Navy documentary.

Miki: 00:07:28

It was called the Lucky Few.

Miki: 00:07:30

Hmm.

Miki: 00:07:30

Okay.

Miki: 00:07:31

And there first time interviewing with, NPR.

Miki: 00:07:35

Oh, yeah.

Miki: 00:07:36

And, was able to not only share the story through, through NPR, but also got the

Miki: 00:07:41

chance to shake the hand of the captain, thanked him, thanked the crew members.

Miki: 00:07:46

They took a big risk themselves standing underneath the Chinook

Miki: 00:07:52

helicopter to catch us as we jumped.

Miki: 00:07:56

And so, the story continued to snowball a year later or two, got a phone call from

Miki: 00:08:03

a production team, that was American, part of the NPR network, and said that a a film

Miki: 00:08:10

company, L. A. Wants to do, want to work with, produce a, you know, Their version

Miki: 00:08:15

of it and it just so happened that the the director the producer was Rory Kennedy

Miki: 00:08:21

and her company Moxie film and so Rory Kennedy youngest daughter of Robert F.

Miki: 00:08:28

Kennedy.

Miki: 00:08:28

Her brother is JFK Yeah, jr. If I got and so

Miki: 00:08:39

Yeah, so in 2013 got the chance to talk about it and you know in the the

Miki: 00:08:43

last days last days of Vietnam, yeah, and Out the, you know, we didn't know,

Miki: 00:08:50

but it, it got shortlisted, got out of 130, I was told about 130 documentaries

Miki: 00:08:57

submitted for 2014, 2015 to Oscars.

Miki: 00:09:00

Yeah, it got shortlisted down to five.

Miki: 00:09:02

So, just amazing from that standpoint.

Miki: 00:09:05

Yeah.

Miki: 00:09:05

That, that's

Scott: 00:09:06

absolutely amazing.

Scott: 00:09:07

And, and just to kind.

Scott: 00:09:08

And I just wanted to step back for, you know, I looked a little bit at some

Scott: 00:09:12

of the links that you had sent us and there's been some new stories and, and,

Scott: 00:09:17

and for, for our listeners and what I'll do is I'll, I'll cut in some of the

Scott: 00:09:20

some of the new stories and reels, you know, in the, in the earlier part of the

Scott: 00:09:24

interview, so they get that foundation, but really you said you were six and

Scott: 00:09:28

a half when you guys were basically evacuating out of the Saigon area.

Scott: 00:09:32

So

Miki: 00:09:32

should I should I get into the story?

Jenn: 00:09:36

Make you when you're like, that's probably my father how many

Jenn: 00:09:39

helicopters ditched Leaving Saigon.

Jenn: 00:09:43

Was there more than one?

Miki: 00:09:45

Well, like you you know It's you see in time left magazine in

Miki: 00:09:48

video many of the smaller Huey.

Miki: 00:09:51

Sure.

Miki: 00:09:51

Yeah,

Jenn: 00:09:52

absolutely They landed

Miki: 00:09:53

on the deck is a small enough to land on this particular deck.

Miki: 00:09:55

Yeah, he was this Kirk Yeah, and then they pushed it over there, you know,

Miki: 00:09:59

okay side So then they would push him to

Jenn: 00:10:01

get more on because they're not going to like put them in a hanger.

Jenn: 00:10:03

They're just going to push them off.

Jenn: 00:10:04

And then the next one would land.

Jenn: 00:10:06

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:10:06

Okay.

Jenn: 00:10:07

But your father is the only one that actually ditched his aircraft.

Jenn: 00:10:10

Like he was the pilot.

Jenn: 00:10:11

He flew it into the water.

Jenn: 00:10:12

And ditched it.

Jenn: 00:10:13

Like he, he didn't.

Jenn: 00:10:14

Simply because

Miki: 00:10:14

it was just too big to land.

Miki: 00:10:15

There's

Scott: 00:10:15

no room.

Scott: 00:10:16

Oh yeah, Chinooks are big.

Scott: 00:10:17

I've flown in Chinooks before.

Scott: 00:10:19

Those are large aircraft.

Jenn: 00:10:20

Way too big for a frigate.

Jenn: 00:10:22

But there was no other pilot that did that.

Jenn: 00:10:24

So when you're like, it's probably my dad, it's probably because he's

Jenn: 00:10:27

the only one who ditched an aircraft.

Jenn: 00:10:30

Well,

Miki: 00:10:32

as far as, as far as I know now, if there's others that have

Miki: 00:10:34

done that out there, it wasn't, it wasn't at least shared in the

Miki: 00:10:38

community or talked about very much.

Miki: 00:10:39

So I, I don't, I don't know, but I do know about my dad.

Miki: 00:10:42

Okay,

Jenn: 00:10:43

cool.

Jenn: 00:10:43

Okay.

Jenn: 00:10:43

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:10:43

I just wanted to make sure.

Jenn: 00:10:44

Cause you're like, that's probably my dad.

Jenn: 00:10:45

I'm like, wow.

Jenn: 00:10:46

I was wondering how many.

Jenn: 00:10:47

I know that they pushed the aircraft off.

Jenn: 00:10:49

I know they were just getting the aircraft out and and getting

Jenn: 00:10:52

people out as quickly as possible.

Jenn: 00:10:54

But when I read about your father actively ditching, something that we

Jenn: 00:10:58

practice now in the Navy, but probably something he never practiced, and he just

Jenn: 00:11:01

did it off of what he knew as a pilot.

Jenn: 00:11:04

It's so interesting because from what the Navy probably saw him do, they're

Jenn: 00:11:08

probably like, okay, now we're going to train people to do that because it worked.

Miki: 00:11:14

Well, yeah, fortunately it did rise either, either

Miki: 00:11:18

death or survival in this case.

Miki: 00:11:20

But from, from what I've, I've heard and in talking with other, other Navy folks,

Miki: 00:11:25

you know, I, I think they, they train.

Miki: 00:11:27

them to just hover over and then kill the prop and then let

Miki: 00:11:31

it, you know, sink and roll.

Jenn: 00:11:33

But like, just like your father did, you get everybody out

Jenn: 00:11:36

of the aircraft but the pilot.

Jenn: 00:11:37

Just like your father did.

Jenn: 00:11:39

Same scenario, right?

Jenn: 00:11:41

You, you, that's the highest chance for survival is to get everyone out.

Jenn: 00:11:45

And let the pilot do an active ditch.

Jenn: 00:11:48

And because then you can control it.

Jenn: 00:11:50

So I think that's really cool.

Jenn: 00:11:51

Your dad was like a, a trend center.

Jenn: 00:11:53

He was a groundbreaker there.

Miki: 00:11:55

Yeah, just survival.

Miki: 00:11:57

Do what you had to do.

Miki: 00:11:58

Think quick.

Miki: 00:11:59

Quick, quick on your feet, you know?

Miki: 00:12:01

Yeah.

Miki: 00:12:01

So had to, yeah.

Miki: 00:12:03

So let's tell

Jenn: 00:12:03

the story.

Jenn: 00:12:03

Let's tell the story of from you're six and a half, what's

Jenn: 00:12:07

happening in Vietnam at the time.

Jenn: 00:12:09

Your father is a South Vietnamese.

Jenn: 00:12:12

officer.

Jenn: 00:12:12

He's a pilot.

Jenn: 00:12:14

Vietnam is falling.

Jenn: 00:12:15

What's going on with South Vietnamese people and tell us the

Jenn: 00:12:19

story of your family survival.

Miki: 00:12:21

So yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll try to condense it as much as possible, but

Miki: 00:12:24

there, but there are fun parts in there that it's like you know, yeah, there's

Miki: 00:12:29

just some, some interesting parts in there, but for, for those that, you know,

Miki: 00:12:33

May not know the full history of Vietnam.

Miki: 00:12:35

It was a country highly desired in terms of where its location close to the

Miki: 00:12:38

water, been occupied by China, French occupation for hundreds of years, you

Miki: 00:12:44

know, through its history and most recent, you know, up leading up to 1975

Miki: 00:12:51

was the the desire to be independent, you know, the way that independent

Miki: 00:12:57

from the French and other things.

Miki: 00:12:59

But in this particular case the communists wanted to, you know,

Miki: 00:13:03

gain control of the country.

Miki: 00:13:06

And my dad being from the South with support from the U S. was involved

Miki: 00:13:13

trained with America, with Americans in the early 60s, he had a chance a

Miki: 00:13:18

couple of times to come over to Alabama and to Texas for flight training.

Miki: 00:13:23

And so, , you know what, he decided to focus more around helicopters

Miki: 00:13:28

and get training around that.

Miki: 00:13:30

And so, fast forward to The last few months leading up to April 29, 1975,

Miki: 00:13:36

the communists were coming down and encircling the the city of Saigon.

Miki: 00:13:40

And at this moment in time, I was, again, you know, six, six and a half So I'm

Miki: 00:13:45

sharing the story from my perspective, but as we talk about the, you know, the book

Miki: 00:13:51

itself, he wrote many of these stories himself and, but the, the way that I'll

Miki: 00:13:58

narrate it is from my perspective, but knowing, knowing that the the communists

Miki: 00:14:07

was about to come down, he knew that it was, it was time to start making,

Miki: 00:14:11

you know, option A or option B and Perhaps option C, if if things didn't,

Miki: 00:14:17

didn't, you know, didn't turn out well.

Miki: 00:14:20

But as we all know they did, the communists did come down and the last few

Miki: 00:14:24

nights my family, my mom and I, younger brother, younger sister had to, you

Miki: 00:14:32

know, go to our grandma's house, which is basically in the middle of of Saigon.

Miki: 00:14:35

Okay.

Miki: 00:14:36

And he told us to go there and he told us that, you know, in the event of,

Miki: 00:14:39

of things just falling apart I'm going to come and get you somehow, someway.

Miki: 00:14:43

We'll figure out this out, we'll go, we'll figure out option B. Because

Miki: 00:14:46

if, if he would have gotten caught or captured, it would have been many years

Miki: 00:14:49

of re education camp, which is hell.

Miki: 00:14:52

Sure.

Miki: 00:14:53

You know, his buddies and, and family members who didn't get the chance to

Miki: 00:14:56

leave had to, you know, deal with that concentration, that, that camp activity.

Miki: 00:15:01

But, in this, in this particular case, knowing what he knew hearing

Miki: 00:15:06

intelligence in the radio and in his superiors and his commanding officers

Miki: 00:15:11

and everybody else simply knowing that it's, you know, there is no other option.

Miki: 00:15:15

They took off, they took off with their family.

Miki: 00:15:17

He waited for orders until the very last moment where at this time, there was

Miki: 00:15:21

no further orders for him to, you know, to execute this or execute that because

Miki: 00:15:25

again, his superiors took off themselves.

Jenn: 00:15:28

Yeah, everybody was.

Jenn: 00:15:29

Trying to save their families.

Jenn: 00:15:30

Exactly.

Miki: 00:15:31

Exactly.

Miki: 00:15:33

And so, at this point he you know, he had what he called his, his horse, right?

Miki: 00:15:41

His Chinook.

Miki: 00:15:42

It's the only thing that he can ride in and out of.

Miki: 00:15:44

They bombed the the main airport, Tangshanyuek airport.

Miki: 00:15:48

Okay.

Miki: 00:15:48

And so you couldn't take a big, you know, plane in or out.

Miki: 00:15:52

So he flew the Chinook helicopter into the the city towards my grandma's

Miki: 00:15:56

house and mind you this was like, you know any metropolitan major

Miki: 00:16:00

city and Just let you know Jen, you know Chinooks right the c 47.

Miki: 00:16:06

It's loud thunderous.

Miki: 00:16:07

You can hear that from miles away Oh, yeah, and it causes a commotion But

Miki: 00:16:12

it then that net here is he landed that thing in front of a my grandma's

Miki: 00:16:16

playfield little school yard or a playfield in the front and obviously,

Miki: 00:16:22

you know, caused a lot of commotion in the neighborhood and many of the

Miki: 00:16:27

homes back then had tin roofs and blew many of those things up in a way, but

Miki: 00:16:33

told his co pilot his lower the the back hatch and we all ran in and

Miki: 00:16:40

to the back of the Chinook and You know, took that thing up quickly.

Miki: 00:16:43

There are folks that are military police around there.

Miki: 00:16:46

You know, rushing towards him And so we had to get the heck out of there.

Jenn: 00:16:49

Sure So let me ask you this So did your you went to your grandma's house?

Jenn: 00:16:52

I would assume because of the protection as it's more central to the city.

Jenn: 00:16:56

It's going to It's going to take longer for the North Vietnamese to

Jenn: 00:16:59

get into the center of the city.

Jenn: 00:17:01

So he's like, get there for protection.

Jenn: 00:17:03

Plus he has the LZ there, so he has a landing zone picked

Jenn: 00:17:06

out because of the playground.

Jenn: 00:17:08

Now, were you the only family to get on board?

Jenn: 00:17:11

I mean, did other families see this and want to try to save themselves too?

Miki: 00:17:15

Yeah, my dad's side has a lot of oldest, you know, son in the family.

Miki: 00:17:19

He had a lot of brothers, my aunts and uncles.

Miki: 00:17:23

But they, you know, as we were running into the Chinook, my mom

Miki: 00:17:26

would look back, Hey, come on with us.

Miki: 00:17:27

But they they said, yeah, go with, go with your husband.

Miki: 00:17:31

Okay.

Miki: 00:17:32

From that same point.

Miki: 00:17:33

And the reason why we were at my grandma's house was because we were

Miki: 00:17:36

living in Binwa, which was about half hour away, a military base.

Miki: 00:17:40

And obviously the military base was probably too hot of a zone to be there.

Miki: 00:17:44

So that's why he moved moved our family to grandma.

Jenn: 00:17:48

So it's just immediate family.

Jenn: 00:17:49

No uncles or aunts came.

Jenn: 00:17:51

Your grandmother didn't come.

Jenn: 00:17:53

No cousins.

Jenn: 00:17:53

It was just you guys.

Jenn: 00:17:55

Okay.

Jenn: 00:17:55

Yeah.

Miki: 00:17:55

No, many, many of them back then, you know, who was to say where, where

Miki: 00:18:00

my dad would go and how we would end up.

Miki: 00:18:02

And so nobody knew what was happening.

Miki: 00:18:04

So perhaps some regret hearing there from the family members, not, not

Miki: 00:18:09

going, but eventually some of them, you know, had the chance to, to, to leave.

Jenn: 00:18:13

Yeah.

Miki: 00:18:13

So basically got out of, got out of Saigon, got out of that, that area

Miki: 00:18:18

and headed further south just to get away from the the city and to consolidate

Miki: 00:18:23

with his other you know, other pilots trying to figure out the next and the

Miki: 00:18:28

thought was to get ration, get food, gas just gear up and try to find a a

Miki: 00:18:36

remote island further south, just lay low and then figure out from there.

Miki: 00:18:40

And that's what that's what we did.

Miki: 00:18:42

That's what that's what my dad did was just met up with, you know, radioed the

Miki: 00:18:45

other, the other folks, other folks, other pilots and met at a location and

Miki: 00:18:51

if figure out what, what the next thing to do was, but he heard on the radio,

Miki: 00:18:55

a lot of us communication chatter.

Miki: 00:18:56

He also knew many of the us ships that were still out.

Miki: 00:19:00

In the Pacific there and the thought was maybe go out there and check it

Miki: 00:19:05

out and if there's a ship that was big enough, maybe they land on it and,

Miki: 00:19:08

and get, get, get out of town, right?

Miki: 00:19:12

So that's what, that's what he did.

Miki: 00:19:13

He flew out towards the, the ocean.

Miki: 00:19:16

There was no, there was not an exact point.

Miki: 00:19:18

He just flew out there to see what, check it out.

Miki: 00:19:21

And mind you, Jen, you probably know they don't, you know, they don't have flotation

Miki: 00:19:26

devices or any life jackets, you know, at least with this Chinook that my dad had.

Miki: 00:19:32

And so it was it was a risky effort to go out there not knowing exactly, you

Miki: 00:19:37

know, what's going to be out there and if, if maybe he had enough gas to make

Miki: 00:19:40

it out or to, to figure all that out.

Miki: 00:19:42

But, eventually Flew out there and on the distant.

Miki: 00:19:45

He saw, you know a ship and Headed in that direction.

Miki: 00:19:51

Oh and as he got close to it eventually, you know throttled back a little bit

Miki: 00:19:56

He didn't want to look too aggressive.

Miki: 00:19:58

Sure, obviously kids, you know, the the American Navy men below they were

Miki: 00:20:05

everybody's heightened heightened tension right not knowing that

Miki: 00:20:07

this was a communist plane coming out and doing wrong to the ship.

Miki: 00:20:13

So, as he approached it, you know, my mom, him and others, there's like about.

Miki: 00:20:18

15, 16 people somewhere on the in the Chinook, our family.

Miki: 00:20:24

And he had a co pilot and his gunner and maintenance guy and their, their

Miki: 00:20:30

girlfriends and things like that.

Miki: 00:20:32

So, hovered up there and we can see the, the ship below continuing

Miki: 00:20:36

to, you know, maintain its course.

Miki: 00:20:38

All right, just three or five knots, and he kept hovering it and circling around

Miki: 00:20:43

it, while at the same time that you can see the folks below holding, you know,

Miki: 00:20:48

holding big guns up at him, just did like, hey, you know, we got our eye on you.

Miki: 00:20:53

And so, like a warning.

Miki: 00:20:55

Yeah, just exactly.

Miki: 00:20:57

And so, my dad with his broken English, you know, that he can speak was able to

Miki: 00:21:01

communicate with the captain in the ship.

Miki: 00:21:03

And finally the Captain Paul Jacobs you know, talked with his crew and

Miki: 00:21:09

started to figure out, you know, how, how to, how are we going to do this?

Miki: 00:21:12

Is it how are we gonna, you know, help Help this guy in, in

Miki: 00:21:17

the, the folks in the Chinook.

Miki: 00:21:19

And so in the video, there's a video in the in the film where you can see

Miki: 00:21:24

my mom holding up Mina, my, my yeah.

Miki: 00:21:27

Baby sister, six month old, up to the window and say, Hey, there's, there's

Miki: 00:21:30

women and, you know, kids on board here.

Miki: 00:21:32

Yeah.

Miki: 00:21:33

We need help.

Miki: 00:21:34

And so with the the compassion and the the

Miki: 00:21:40

the, the heart of the, the, you know, Mr. Paul Jacobs, quickly just

Miki: 00:21:45

scrambling to figure things out.

Miki: 00:21:46

And so, finally, you know, okay, guys, we got we got to help this the pilot

Miki: 00:21:51

up there in the Chinook up there.

Miki: 00:21:53

And so basically the what my dad did was, and again, the the ship had

Miki: 00:22:00

to maintain a steady course, right?

Miki: 00:22:02

Instead of maintain a steady course.

Miki: 00:22:03

And so he He hovered the the Chinook towards the the stern, the, the rear side.

Miki: 00:22:10

And obviously this particular USS Kirk found out.

Miki: 00:22:13

Later on was a a submarine, a destroyer type where it was looking for sonar

Miki: 00:22:19

and just a lot of expensive equipment, very high tech back then, antennas,

Miki: 00:22:25

radars, all of the surveillance.

Miki: 00:22:27

And so he didn't want to.

Miki: 00:22:29

My dad didn't want to get too close to the all the, the mass and the

Miki: 00:22:34

equipment because he can put that ship out of commission quickly.

Miki: 00:22:37

Anything could have happened, you know, wind or a swell could have knocked you

Miki: 00:22:41

know, the Chinook into the to the boat.

Miki: 00:22:46

And so he hovered, he hovered behind, falling behind, he hovered the Chinook

Miki: 00:22:50

behind the ship and, on the starboard.

Miki: 00:22:54

Door open the door and hovered it lowered it down and we can we can see Hovered it

Miki: 00:23:02

about 10 13 feet above the the deck and we can see the American Navy men below hands

Miki: 00:23:08

up and Jump right one by one we jump.

Scott: 00:23:13

Holy cow.

Miki: 00:23:14

Yeah and the last few that left the the Chinook, my mom had

Miki: 00:23:20

to drop a seven month old baby, you know, onto the hand below.

Miki: 00:23:26

That gentleman who caught my sister, his name is Mr. Mr. Chipman, met

Miki: 00:23:30

him in Washington, D. C. Oh, wow.

Miki: 00:23:32

Yeah, Texan.

Miki: 00:23:33

That's amazing.

Miki: 00:23:33

And just amazing reunion.

Miki: 00:23:36

But Mr. Chipman and, and others down there, you know, brave, brave Navy men

Miki: 00:23:41

risked their life as well just to, to help us out and so we all got down,

Miki: 00:23:46

we, I jumped down and the only injury was one of the, one of the girlfriends

Miki: 00:23:52

of one of the crew member sprained her ankle, but fortunately everyone was okay.

Miki: 00:23:57

They quickly ushered us, pushed us in inside, didn't want any kids or

Miki: 00:24:02

anybody running out on the deck, right?

Jenn: 00:24:03

Sure.

Miki: 00:24:04

And so the last thing I see my dad, as I turned around, was he, him, you

Miki: 00:24:08

know, hovering away from from the ship.

Miki: 00:24:12

And so, went inside and that was it for my own eyes.

Miki: 00:24:17

That was the last time I saw my dad.

Miki: 00:24:19

Everything else was just hearing stories of him telling it and eventually seeing

Miki: 00:24:23

all of the photos and everything else from the U S Navy many years later.

Miki: 00:24:28

But as I share this with you through, through what my dad shared

Miki: 00:24:31

with me through dinner tables, you know, as we grew up, he.

Miki: 00:24:35

Hovered away from the ship, 100 yards or so, and hovered the you know, hovered the

Miki: 00:24:42

Chinook on the water so he can take off all of his gear and his gun, his sidearm

Miki: 00:24:47

and, you know, the flat jacket, right?

Miki: 00:24:50

I mean, it's hard to put that on, let alone take that off while he's hovering.

Miki: 00:24:53

Get all the

Jenn: 00:24:53

weight off, yeah.

Miki: 00:24:55

Shoes, boots, you know, unstrapping all that.

Miki: 00:24:58

He's only a regret.

Miki: 00:24:59

But his only regret in this whole experience was and, and the only reason

Miki: 00:25:03

why I found out was because of the book, you know, the, the section that he wrote.

Miki: 00:25:08

But the regret was that he should have asked his co pilot to at least

Miki: 00:25:11

hold the rudder so he can take all of his stuff out once he's down, then

Miki: 00:25:15

tell the co pilot to jump, right?

Miki: 00:25:18

So he, yeah, he laughingly said, you know, next time if I have to do this

Miki: 00:25:21

again, I'm going to tell the co pilot to just give me like five minutes.

Miki: 00:25:24

And also the other regret was not keeping his military ID.

Miki: 00:25:27

Yeah.

Miki: 00:25:27

All of the ID stuff.

Miki: 00:25:29

Everything was gone.

Miki: 00:25:29

I'm telling you.

Miki: 00:25:30

Sure.

Miki: 00:25:31

Started, started in this new world with absolutely nothing, a

Miki: 00:25:34

pair of shirt and boxer shorts.

Jenn: 00:25:35

That's amazing.

Miki: 00:25:37

So down to his, down to his undergarment and hovered there kicked

Miki: 00:25:41

the the port door and the left side out.

Miki: 00:25:46

Yep.

Miki: 00:25:46

And basically with his With his right leg, pushed the rudder so that it would, you

Miki: 00:25:54

know, lean towards the the right as he jumped over to his left into the water.

Miki: 00:26:02

And he said, you know, the stories around the dinner table tried to dive into the

Miki: 00:26:06

ocean, but Tried it two or three times, but the saltwater is very buoyant.

Miki: 00:26:11

You kept pushing them back up.

Miki: 00:26:12

That was his biggest fear was a shrapnel or a blade or something.

Miki: 00:26:16

Just, you know, in the water, right?

Miki: 00:26:18

Or the dynamics of the Chinook could have been a, it could have flipped back on him.

Miki: 00:26:23

Sure.

Miki: 00:26:23

Because you can't really jump too far, you know, just from this huge, huge aircraft.

Miki: 00:26:32

But fortunately, you know, it leaned over to the right.

Miki: 00:26:35

He was on the left.

Miki: 00:26:36

And quickly on the third, third attempt diving, he dove down.

Miki: 00:26:41

And finally.

Miki: 00:26:43

You know, as I said in the film, he pops back up and he's alive

Miki: 00:26:47

and it's like just huge relief.

Miki: 00:26:50

They came there, they sent the little skiff to come out and grab him.

Miki: 00:26:54

And we can see the video of him sitting in the boat, just like probably thinking,

Miki: 00:26:58

God, thank God almighty, I made it.

Miki: 00:27:00

You know, and the first thing, the first thing he said when he got on the ship,

Miki: 00:27:05

it wasn't like, where's my wife and kids?

Miki: 00:27:07

He's like, give me a cigarette.

Miki: 00:27:08

Oh my gosh.

Miki: 00:27:10

It's called that nerve down.

Miki: 00:27:12

Absolutely.

Miki: 00:27:13

So funny.

Miki: 00:27:13

That's

Jenn: 00:27:14

so 70.

Jenn: 00:27:15

I can't imagine.

Jenn: 00:27:17

Yeah.

Miki: 00:27:18

Exactly.

Jenn: 00:27:20

It's such a pilot thing.

Jenn: 00:27:21

It's awesome.

Jenn: 00:27:21

Oh my gosh.

Jenn: 00:27:22

So a couple things, like I want to remind people, this is a frigate.

Jenn: 00:27:25

It's 15 feet off the water.

Jenn: 00:27:27

If he's hovering about 10 feet off the frigate, he's 25 feet off the ground.

Jenn: 00:27:31

The frigate has to maintain a course, even a low course, just to keep it steady.

Jenn: 00:27:36

Yep.

Jenn: 00:27:37

Because those South China Seas are so big.

Jenn: 00:27:41

that if you were to stop, like, you're like, why doesn't he

Jenn: 00:27:43

just stop and they can hover?

Jenn: 00:27:44

It's going to rock so much that it's going to be, he's going to be unable

Jenn: 00:27:48

to hover, especially at the side.

Jenn: 00:27:50

He has to hover to the side.

Jenn: 00:27:51

He's not hovering straight on.

Jenn: 00:27:53

He's hovering to the side to open the door, to let people jump out.

Jenn: 00:27:57

And because he's doing that, he's probably looking over his

Jenn: 00:27:59

shoulder to maintain the hover.

Jenn: 00:28:01

And you have to maintain some kind of speed on the ship to

Jenn: 00:28:05

keep it as steady as possible.

Jenn: 00:28:07

So.

Jenn: 00:28:08

And he's doing 15 people.

Jenn: 00:28:10

So this is taking some time.

Jenn: 00:28:12

This is not just like two seconds.

Jenn: 00:28:14

This is taking some time to do.

Jenn: 00:28:16

And

Scott: 00:28:16

what people don't realize too, right?

Scott: 00:28:18

You know, if, if you've ever spent time on a ship, and right, have both

Scott: 00:28:21

of us haven't been in the Navy you know, those, those, the sea state

Scott: 00:28:25

has, has a lot to do with that.

Scott: 00:28:27

You know, there's multiple things that, a factor here, right?

Scott: 00:28:30

Chinook, if you're, if our listeners don't quite know what a Chinook

Scott: 00:28:34

is, or can't picture it in their head, picture that classic M.

Scott: 00:28:37

A. S. H. helicopter, right?

Scott: 00:28:39

Dual, dual rotors, a little bit longer.

Scott: 00:28:42

And so that, that's, that's what he's flying, that CH 46.

Scott: 00:28:45

And then on the ocean, you'll have swells sometimes, depending on the, like I said,

Scott: 00:28:50

depending on the sea state, that are, that are changing how high the ship is,

Scott: 00:28:55

by like 5 to 6 feet, and sometimes it's even 10 to 15 feet, just on the swell.

Scott: 00:29:00

So the ship, so you can fly the helicopter steady.

Scott: 00:29:03

But you also have to keep an eye on the ship because the

Scott: 00:29:05

ship is the thing that's moving.

Scott: 00:29:07

It's actually the, the helicopter is actually a little

Scott: 00:29:09

bit easier to keep steady.

Scott: 00:29:10

Whereas the ship, again, depending on the sea state.

Scott: 00:29:13

So that's an incredibly dangerous thing to do.

Scott: 00:29:16

And it's, it's, it's a miracle, you know, praise God that, that everybody came out.

Scott: 00:29:20

Okay.

Scott: 00:29:21

And then.

Scott: 00:29:21

You know, people were jumping and your mom had to like basically just drop, drop your

Scott: 00:29:26

sister to a sailor that's catching people.

Scott: 00:29:28

Like if our listeners can picture that in their head and then your father

Scott: 00:29:33

flying off to the side, rolling it one way and jumping off the other, all

Scott: 00:29:37

of this stuff is happening, I'm sure in a relatively short period of time.

Scott: 00:29:41

Your dad is a excellent

Jenn: 00:29:42

pilot.

Jenn: 00:29:43

And then, I want people to remember that the deck of a ship is steel.

Jenn: 00:29:49

So people are jumping down onto a steel deck.

Jenn: 00:29:51

And you guys are probably rushed into the hangar, right behind there,

Jenn: 00:29:54

because to get people off the deck, clear the deck as quick as possible to

Jenn: 00:29:56

get more people on, as there's people on the deck catching these people.

Jenn: 00:30:01

And I love that your mom held up your sister, because it's like an

Jenn: 00:30:04

international symbol of peace, a child.

Jenn: 00:30:07

Yeah,

Miki: 00:30:08

help.

Miki: 00:30:08

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:30:10

So I think, I love, I love all that.

Jenn: 00:30:11

So, so we're leading into that.

Jenn: 00:30:13

Your father has Ditch the aircraft, which I think is amazing.

Jenn: 00:30:16

Like you said, you're not gonna jump away from the aircraft.

Jenn: 00:30:18

You're basically jumping beside the aircraft.

Jenn: 00:30:21

You don't have, like, this long lateral distance.

Jenn: 00:30:23

Like, and you have to get over the cyclic.

Jenn: 00:30:25

Like, he has to get his leg over the cyclic, and then jump over

Jenn: 00:30:29

the collective into the water.

Jenn: 00:30:31

So he's taking off all his weight, so he can dive, like you said.

Jenn: 00:30:35

And and hopefully the aircraft will row.

Jenn: 00:30:37

All the weight of a helicopter's in the top.

Jenn: 00:30:40

So hopefully the helicopter will roll because the weight will pull it

Jenn: 00:30:43

over and like you said, he'll dive to hit all of the, everything flying

Jenn: 00:30:47

off of it because it's an active rotor at the time as it's going in.

Jenn: 00:30:50

And I just think it's great that he, he gets rescued with nothing but his, like,

Jenn: 00:30:55

skivvies on and then asks for a cigarette.

Jenn: 00:30:58

He's like, I did it.

Jenn: 00:30:59

It's such a pilot thing.

Jenn: 00:31:01

Like, look, I did the most badass thing.

Jenn: 00:31:03

You know what?

Jenn: 00:31:03

None of you pilots did this and I got a cigarette.

Scott: 00:31:07

Oh my war.

Scott: 00:31:08

So are

Jenn: 00:31:08

you gonna see him again on the ship?

Jenn: 00:31:10

Like are you guys reunited as a family on the ship and then

Miki: 00:31:13

Yes.

Jenn: 00:31:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jenn: 00:31:15

And then transported to a bigger, a bigger ship.

Jenn: 00:31:18

'cause I'm, I'm sure the refugees coming in Yeah.

Jenn: 00:31:21

Are so high that they need to get you on a bigger ship that can handle more people.

Jenn: 00:31:25

That's right.

Jenn: 00:31:26

Because if frigate is not.

Jenn: 00:31:27

It's like a hundred and fifty people on board.

Miki: 00:31:29

Yeah.

Miki: 00:31:29

Yeah.

Miki: 00:31:29

We were only on there for less than 24 hours before we were, another

Miki: 00:31:33

ship came by to offload, right?

Miki: 00:31:34

And that, and the USS Kurt stayed stayed in the, in the area.

Jenn: 00:31:38

Yeah, and a frigate too.

Jenn: 00:31:39

I mean, I was on a frigate for my first deployment.

Jenn: 00:31:42

They can get closer to shore.

Jenn: 00:31:45

The draft is smaller.

Jenn: 00:31:46

So the draft of a ship is how much it sticks underneath the water.

Jenn: 00:31:49

A frigate, because it's smaller, because it's the lower crew,

Jenn: 00:31:52

you can get closer to the water.

Jenn: 00:31:54

So they like to get the frigates You know, close and to offer some support.

Jenn: 00:31:59

So I think that's another reason why the curt was probably closer

Jenn: 00:32:02

for your dad when he was coming out.

Jenn: 00:32:04

But I think that's great.

Jenn: 00:32:05

And I, if I remember correctly, the commanding officer was

Jenn: 00:32:08

like a six for three big guy.

Miki: 00:32:10

Oh, just a big, big heart, big guy.

Miki: 00:32:14

I just I got goose pimples thinking about him.

Miki: 00:32:16

He passed away a few years ago in his 90s.

Miki: 00:32:20

Wow.

Miki: 00:32:20

But what a wonderful gentleman, wonderful crew, big, big heart,

Miki: 00:32:26

towards the last few years in 2016.

Miki: 00:32:31

2015, 16, 17 we were trying, you know, with his help and others

Miki: 00:32:38

that we were trying to get the U.

Miki: 00:32:41

S. Navy to formally recognize his humanitarian and compassionate, you

Miki: 00:32:46

know, effort towards not only our family, but hundreds and hundreds of of other

Miki: 00:32:51

families that basically did the same thing was, you know, fly various planes

Miki: 00:32:56

and helicopters out to to help and, Mr. Paul Jacobs, Captain Paul Jacobs,

Miki: 00:33:00

I'll, I'll keep repeating that until the day I die, was one of those gentlemen

Miki: 00:33:04

that just, you know, put aside any sort of protocols or any of this and

Miki: 00:33:08

that, and just from one human to the next human, I'm going to help you out.

Jenn: 00:33:13

Yeah.

Miki: 00:33:14

And for that, myself, my, my family, and my dad fully appreciate that.

Miki: 00:33:20

100%.

Jenn: 00:33:21

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:33:21

That's what we love about the U. S. Navy, too, you know, so that's great.

Jenn: 00:33:24

And where, where was Jacobs from?

Jenn: 00:33:26

Do you know?

Miki: 00:33:27

Virginia.

Jenn: 00:33:27

Virginia.

Jenn: 00:33:28

Okay.

Miki: 00:33:28

I think so.

Miki: 00:33:29

Yeah.

Miki: 00:33:29

Around the D. C. area.

Jenn: 00:33:31

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:33:31

Very cool.

Miki: 00:33:32

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:33:32

Okay.

Jenn: 00:33:33

Okay.

Jenn: 00:33:33

So.

Jenn: 00:33:34

You're on the ship and how long until you get to America and I think

Jenn: 00:33:38

you go to Washington State, right?

Miki: 00:33:40

Yeah.

Miki: 00:33:41

So, there's so many, so many parts of the story that I, I have to

Miki: 00:33:45

filter myself because we can sit here and talk for hours and hours, but

Miki: 00:33:49

yeah, again, on there for 24 hours.

Miki: 00:33:50

And then, and then another another ship came by to, to offload

Miki: 00:33:55

us with hundreds of others.

Miki: 00:33:57

And from one ship to, from there, we went to Wake, Guam.

Scott: 00:34:02

Mm

Miki: 00:34:02

hmm.

Miki: 00:34:03

Yeah, and then eventually Hawaii.

Miki: 00:34:04

Yep, and then went into a Camp Pendleton, Marine Yeah, Camp Pendleton in San Diego.

Miki: 00:34:10

Yeah, and was there for a month or so and then a Cross of Christ Lutheran Church

Miki: 00:34:18

again, so many amazing people along the journey to help, you know to help us

Miki: 00:34:25

Cross of Christ Lutheran Church here in Bellevue, which is about 45 30 minutes

Miki: 00:34:30

away from Seattle Sponsored our family And it helped us resettle from there.

Miki: 00:34:36

Yeah.

Scott: 00:34:37

Yeah, that's amazing.

Scott: 00:34:38

Now, for, for you, I mean, being six and a half, you know, all this stuff

Scott: 00:34:43

going on, do you have a lot of kind of, like, specific memories yourself?

Scott: 00:34:47

Like, I know for me, if I try to think back to, to my youth, usually

Scott: 00:34:51

it's like I'll remember one specific thing about something that happened.

Scott: 00:34:54

Like, oh my gosh, look at this ship.

Scott: 00:34:56

Someone gave me, you know, ice cream or something like that.

Scott: 00:34:59

Like, I mean, do you have any memories like that of like being on the ship

Scott: 00:35:02

yourself and interacting with the sailors as you're leaving and can come into

Scott: 00:35:07

Guam and then Hawaii and everything?

Miki: 00:35:09

Yeah, that's a, that's a great question because, you know, we all, we

Miki: 00:35:13

all reflect back on our childhood and their moments and memories where it's

Miki: 00:35:16

like, it stands out for me, six and a half growing up on a military base and playing

Miki: 00:35:22

with, you know, guns and I mean, they're guns and all bullets and heavy military

Miki: 00:35:29

just laying around the, the barrack and the, you know, playing around all that.

Miki: 00:35:32

But to answer your question on the ship itself, one of the things I do remember

Miki: 00:35:35

is tasting military peanut butter in the can that you, you know, rolled up.

Miki: 00:35:40

Sure, yeah.

Miki: 00:35:41

And chicklettes chicklettes military chit, they were res Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Miki: 00:35:46

That, I mean, specific to your, to your question.

Miki: 00:35:49

Yeah.

Miki: 00:35:49

Those were the things that I remember because, you know.

Miki: 00:35:52

Exactly, exactly on the ship.

Miki: 00:35:55

And we see, we see photos.

Miki: 00:35:58

My dad's sitting there on the ship just kinda like chilling,

Miki: 00:36:00

talking with, you know, his buddies and I'm, I'm, you know, brother

Miki: 00:36:04

running around the, the ship there.

Miki: 00:36:06

So, but yeah, I can I, that taste of that peanut butter, I can taste it right now.

Miki: 00:36:11

That's the military peanut butter ration.

Scott: 00:36:13

Yeah, I, I love stories like that because for me, you know, that's

Scott: 00:36:16

always what I. There's there's very specific things and it's not something

Scott: 00:36:20

you would ever think of, right?

Scott: 00:36:21

It's a smell that triggers an old memory or something as something you taste

Scott: 00:36:25

that's like that just takes you right back You know to 30 40 50 years prior.

Scott: 00:36:30

Yeah, and so I was thinking about that as you were telling this

Scott: 00:36:33

story I was like, I'm sure there's like one thing that he just really

Scott: 00:36:36

remembers, you know And if and it makes sense to me that for a kid, right?

Scott: 00:36:40

It's something that you're gonna taste, you know for the first

Scott: 00:36:42

time so So I absolutely love that.

Scott: 00:36:45

Now for the book, did your father write the better portions of this book and

Scott: 00:36:51

then it was finished up by, by you like towards the end or how, how did,

Scott: 00:36:56

how did that book get put together?

Miki: 00:36:58

Yeah.

Miki: 00:36:59

So, as we settled it, you know, in the saddle area here, eventually,

Miki: 00:37:04

you know, came back and worked studied electronics and eventually

Miki: 00:37:09

the mom and dad the irony landed.

Miki: 00:37:11

After a few, a few jobs here and there, he landed with Boeing, retired with Boeing,

Miki: 00:37:16

the makers of, the makers of the Chinook.

Miki: 00:37:18

My, my dad worked on the with the space program back then,

Miki: 00:37:22

Cold War, ICBMs, all of that.

Miki: 00:37:23

Mm hmm.

Miki: 00:37:23

Yeah.

Miki: 00:37:24

Program.

Miki: 00:37:24

So he had military, fortunately military, you know, support military.

Miki: 00:37:29

to, to get involved with projects like that.

Miki: 00:37:31

Sure.

Miki: 00:37:31

And in his spare time, he loved writing and he wrote in obviously Vietnamese.

Miki: 00:37:38

Still broken, broken, broken English.

Miki: 00:37:41

Had to relearn, you know, my mom had to learn English from, from scratch.

Miki: 00:37:45

Settle and, and just worked hard, sacrifice, all of that.

Miki: 00:37:48

All of that, all of those themes of having to start over again but in, in this case,

Miki: 00:37:53

he had free time and when he did have free time wrote a lot in short stories that

Miki: 00:37:58

were published in Vietnamese newspapers, not only in Seattle, but in other

Miki: 00:38:03

Vietnamese communities all over the U.

Miki: 00:38:05

S. And so, he wrote several, several stories and in the past few years,

Miki: 00:38:12

I was able to finally find many of these files were documents cool

Miki: 00:38:17

laying around and got it translated.

Miki: 00:38:20

My, you know, leaving Vietnam.

Miki: 00:38:21

I left one year old.

Miki: 00:38:24

I mean, first grade.

Miki: 00:38:25

Yeah.

Miki: 00:38:26

And so, didn't get to to go further into my own Vietnamese language and assimilated

Miki: 00:38:33

quickly into America, into into, you know, living in a, in a new country.

Miki: 00:38:38

And so, yeah, in the past year here was able to compile all of this.

Miki: 00:38:41

And one of the things my mom told me.

Miki: 00:38:45

was that his dream was to actually put his own book together, right?

Miki: 00:38:48

Of all the short stories that he had.

Miki: 00:38:50

Unfortunately with all, you know, Alzheimer's took, took him early and

Miki: 00:38:55

and, and didn't get a chance to do that.

Miki: 00:38:57

And so I wanted to, honor him.

Miki: 00:39:00

And that timing was right in terms of 50 years since in 2025 here.

Miki: 00:39:06

That we reflect back 50 years of the fall of of Saigon.

Miki: 00:39:09

And so the timing was right and hence you know, putting all this together, the book.

Scott: 00:39:14

That's great.

Scott: 00:39:14

Oh, that's amazing.

Scott: 00:39:15

I love that you were able to do that because that's you get to re experience

Scott: 00:39:19

some of that, you know, I'm sure as you're, as you're collecting those stories

Scott: 00:39:22

together and then reading back through them, putting them together that anything

Scott: 00:39:27

you do like any project like that, all right, and I'm preaching to the choir,

Scott: 00:39:31

you're really going to get into that and really know how he felt and what

Scott: 00:39:35

an what an amazing opportunity for you

Jenn: 00:39:38

Yeah, and it's a, I mean, this is a historically significant story, right?

Jenn: 00:39:42

This is something people need to know.

Jenn: 00:39:44

It's real.

Jenn: 00:39:45

It happened.

Jenn: 00:39:46

It happened to your family specifically, which means you can weigh in more on

Jenn: 00:39:51

the actual facts and what happened.

Jenn: 00:39:53

I mean, you're a primary source.

Jenn: 00:39:55

So it really is great for you to tell this story.

Jenn: 00:39:57

And like you said, it's the 50th anniversary and people.

Jenn: 00:40:01

You know, people are sometimes so confused about Vietnam.

Jenn: 00:40:03

They're so confused about what happened there and, and what was it about.

Jenn: 00:40:06

And I think this is, these kind of stories need to be told by people.

Jenn: 00:40:11

Like, we need to understand what was happening there and what

Jenn: 00:40:14

happened to the people there.

Jenn: 00:40:15

And that, you know, what America tried to do to help.

Jenn: 00:40:18

And like, even your family coming to America and, you know, assimilating

Jenn: 00:40:24

and being welcomed with open arms and being so You know a country

Jenn: 00:40:28

that was able to help in and give you guys a new life from nothing.

Jenn: 00:40:32

Yes.

Jenn: 00:40:33

From underwear, right?

Jenn: 00:40:34

Yes.

Jenn: 00:40:35

But the heroic thing your father did to do that is just amazing.

Jenn: 00:40:41

And I think, I think more stories like this need to be told.

Jenn: 00:40:44

Yeah.

Jenn: 00:40:44

And I think this is a fantastic, real, historic story.

Scott: 00:40:49

They could make this into a Hollywood movie, in my opinion, right?

Scott: 00:40:51

I mean That's, it's a culminating event, but a lot of uncertainty at the end

Scott: 00:40:55

and, and all, all the stuff at play.

Scott: 00:40:57

So, I love that you got to put this book together.

Miki: 00:41:01

The you know, themes of leadership, survival.

Miki: 00:41:06

Overcoming obstacles, all of those things, we all go through

Miki: 00:41:10

it in our own personal way.

Miki: 00:41:12

Absolutely.

Miki: 00:41:12

This is just my dad's, you know, look at it, approach it, life with it.

Miki: 00:41:18

And so the book is filled with stories of, you know, drama, excitement,

Miki: 00:41:25

betrayal, survival, leadership.

Miki: 00:41:28

All of those things it's embodied within this book.

Miki: 00:41:32

The and as I, you know, I shared with you earlier in this conversation,

Miki: 00:41:37

this was a story that I grew up as a kid, throughout my life.

Miki: 00:41:40

Hearing my dad talk with his buddies, smoking a cigarette,

Miki: 00:41:43

drinking a beer you know.

Miki: 00:41:45

And listening in as I, you know, listening into these stories, and, and again, these

Miki: 00:41:49

were stories for many, many years, and it wasn't, it wasn't again until the U.

Miki: 00:41:53

S. Navy, all of this, you know, reconnection in, again, 2010, 2009

Miki: 00:42:00

timeframe that finally saw pictures, finally saw some of these, And I'm

Miki: 00:42:06

thinking I'm like, man, my dad was telling the truth, you know, we got pictures.

Miki: 00:42:12

It's like that.

Miki: 00:42:12

It's like that fishing story, right?

Miki: 00:42:14

Your buddy.

Miki: 00:42:14

Yeah.

Miki: 00:42:14

I caught that, you know, that 25 pound salmon.

Miki: 00:42:17

Oh yeah.

Miki: 00:42:17

Where's the picture?

Miki: 00:42:18

No picture.

Miki: 00:42:19

Not, you know what I'm saying?

Miki: 00:42:20

You know?

Miki: 00:42:20

Yeah.

Miki: 00:42:21

So we got, we got all of those.

Miki: 00:42:23

So thank you for again, Captain Kirk, Jan Herman.

Miki: 00:42:27

U. S. Navy, U. S. S. Kirk, all the crewmen, and just, and the,

Miki: 00:42:31

the, the church folks that have helped us along this whole journey.

Miki: 00:42:36

That's amazing.

Miki: 00:42:36

That's

Jenn: 00:42:36

amazing.

Jenn: 00:42:37

So, where can people get your book at?

Miki: 00:42:39

Oh Barnes Noble.

Miki: 00:42:41

Okay.

Miki: 00:42:41

Amazon.

Miki: 00:42:42

Just, it's, it's all online.

Jenn: 00:42:43

And then there's also the PBS special.

Miki: 00:42:46

Yeah, yeah, so the, the, the, the film Last Days in Vietnam, again, written

Miki: 00:42:50

and produced by Rory Kennedy and team it's on Netflix and they're, you know, yeah.

Scott: 00:42:55

We'll include links to all of that stuff in the show notes and for the video

Scott: 00:42:59

version of this podcast for you guys who are watching we'll include links to, to

Scott: 00:43:03

everything here in the video description.

Scott: 00:43:05

And Mickey, you so much, thank you so much for, you know, reaching

Scott: 00:43:08

out to us and joining us today.

Scott: 00:43:09

We love hearing stories like this, especially as, you know, a veteran

Scott: 00:43:13

and someone who's currently serving, you know, veteran one day myself and

Scott: 00:43:17

just everything that your family did in the stories that you're getting

Scott: 00:43:20

to tell of your father's heroism.

Scott: 00:43:22

We, we really do appreciate you, you coming on and joining us and,

Scott: 00:43:26

and telling your part of the story.

Scott: 00:43:28

And I love the little anecdotes there.

Scott: 00:43:30

You know, about the peanut butter and the chiclets.

Scott: 00:43:32

It just, it just makes me smile,

Miki: 00:43:34

I wanted to fulfill my dad's dream, number one, with

Miki: 00:43:38

the book and to honor him.

Miki: 00:43:40

It's the least I can do for him, giving so back, so much to myself and my family.

Miki: 00:43:46

And to continue to share his his story.

Miki: 00:43:49

This is, you know, the history, right?

Miki: 00:43:51

His story.

Miki: 00:43:52

Yeah, that's right.

Miki: 00:43:52

This is my dad's story.

Miki: 00:43:54

Yeah.

Miki: 00:43:54

And so, Yeah, thank you both Scott and Jen for the opportunity for me to be on

Miki: 00:43:59

your platform and share my family's story.

Scott: 00:44:02

Yeah, well we're excited to get this out there and to share

Scott: 00:44:04

this with our audience and hopefully people go check out the book.

Scott: 00:44:08

Remind me of the official name of the book.

Miki: 00:44:10

Oh, The Last Flight Out?

Scott: 00:44:13

The Last Flight Out.

Scott: 00:44:14

And

Miki: 00:44:14

is that the

Jenn: 00:44:16

helicopter?

Miki: 00:44:17

That's that's him.

Miki: 00:44:18

That's wow.

Jenn: 00:44:19

Yeah.

Scott: 00:44:20

All right.

Scott: 00:44:20

So so folks check out the go go to their show notes and check out

Scott: 00:44:24

the last flight out and Mickey.

Scott: 00:44:25

Thank you so much for joining us.

Jenn: 00:44:27

Yeah.

Miki: 00:44:27

Thank you.

Miki: 00:44:28

God bless you.

Miki: 00:44:29

Thank you.

Scott: 00:44:33

Jen, I enjoyed his story so much.

Scott: 00:44:36

It was, I, it was hard to fathom and then hearing him tell it from,

Scott: 00:44:41

his perspective as a six and a half year old was just riveting.

Jenn: 00:44:45

You know, it's one of those that truth is braver than fiction,

Jenn: 00:44:49

you know, like what his father did is, is stuff that movies are made out of.

Jenn: 00:44:53

It's stuff you see in movies that you're like, there's no way that could happen.

Jenn: 00:44:56

There's no way that would work.

Jenn: 00:44:58

And it did in his case and what his dad did without any training.

Jenn: 00:45:03

He just did it.

Jenn: 00:45:04

I mean, a father's heart to get his family safe and out of a country that's

Jenn: 00:45:08

about to fall like it was just amazing.

Jenn: 00:45:11

And to celebrate this on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

Jenn: 00:45:15

More people need to understand what's happening in Vietnam and the

Jenn: 00:45:18

repercussions of that and what a refugee crisis looks like in this case.

Jenn: 00:45:22

It was just, it was amazing to tell the story.

Jenn: 00:45:24

It

Scott: 00:45:24

was amazing.

Scott: 00:45:25

I loved some of the anecdotes that he told us about the

Scott: 00:45:27

peanut butter and the chiclets.

Scott: 00:45:29

If you guys are interested in this book, please look in the video description

Scott: 00:45:32

or the podcast show notes description for a link to The Last Flight Out.

Scott: 00:45:37

This has been a Walk With History production.

Scott: 00:45:39

Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

Scott: 00:45:42

Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

Scott: 00:45:44

Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

Scott: 00:45:48

Talk With History is supported by our fans at thehistoryroadtrip.

Scott: 00:45:52

com.

Scott: 00:45:53

Our eternal thanks to those providing funding to help keep us going.

Scott: 00:45:56

to Doug McLiverty, Larry Myers, and Patrick Bennie.

Scott: 00:46:01

Make sure you hit that follow button in your podcast player,

Scott: 00:46:03

and we'll talk to you next time.