The Vietnam War was a long conflict beginning in 1955 and ending in 1975 that centered around the United State’s mission to subvert the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Throughout the conflict, the Republic of South Vietnam Arm Force (VN) and American military forces worked together to thwart the North Vietnamese Army (NVA).
Suc Le has worked in the 76th Metrology Calibration Flight at Tinker Air Force Base for the past 17 years, but he remembers his days in the VN Airborne Division as clear as if they were yesterday.
Le enlisted in the military after he finished high school in 1971, going to officer school to become a platoon leader. After completing his training, he joined the Airborne Division in 1972. The U.S. Military formed Task Force Advisors called “Team 162” from the 82nd Airborne Division that provided advisors for VN elite Airborne Division. However, a few months after Le joined the Airborne Division, American troops withdrew.
“I spent most of my time in the military on the battle front lines or in the hospital for treated the wounds”. Le said “I was wounded four times. Once got shot that broke my left arm. Two other times was by mortar shell that hit everywhere in my body, and the last one I had in 1974 was in my head. A lot of my Brothers in arm got killed in action.”
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, when North Vietnam took over the South during the Fall of Saigon.
“At that time my unit was on the front line and we were the last line of defense for the capital,” Le said.
He said that morning April 30, 1975, his unit, armed with two American M-48 tanks, was informed that the NVA was heading to their capital with a column of Soviet made T-54 tanks. Although the American tanks were able to take out one of the T-54s, and a soldier at his left blow up other T-54 with M-72. The NVA was prepared with an entire column of tanks heading straight into Saigon and they keep shooting at us with the machine guns from T-54 Tanks.
“I looked back and saw my commander get in the jeep and head back to the other side of the Saigon river, so I told my guys to get out the fox-holes and run,” Le said.
At about 10:30 a.m., Le heard a radio message from newly formed VN Arm Force Commander informing us to lay down their weapons, and cease fight to avoid the bloodshed.
“At that time I had about 60 men under my command and [was] trying to contact my commander, then I heard from people who ran away from others fighting zone, they said that when the NVA coming, they first to kill the Airborne, the second is Northern people and then Catholic people. I knew we were going to be killed. At that point, I lost contact with my commanders, and I didn’t know what to do.”
Le, still in his military uniform, walked until he found a naval shipyard containing a disabled ship attempting to leave the country with more than 1,000 civilians on board. The Navy mechanics attempting to fix it. They managed to get one of the engines running that afternoon and they set sail to ocean looking for freedom, at that time NVA already controlled of Saigon.
He joined with the people on the ship and asked for an extra pair of clothes and threw his uniform into the river, keeping only his handgun and boots.
Eventually, they made it to Subic Bay, Philippines then refugee camp at Guam Island then Ft. Chaffee in Arkansas where they stayed for a couple of months to go through paperwork and processing. After getting a sponsor from Oklahoma City and leaving Ft. Chaffee, Le relocated to Oklahoma City in Sept. 1975.
However, it was only this past October that another chapter of the Vietnam War was closed with the interment of the remains of 81 Airborne soldiers that were shot down in a mission in late 1965 along with a crew members of 4 American Air Force C-123 plane. Due to the lack of a flight manifest and the Hanoi government refusing to take the remains to properly bury them in Vietnam, they had been stored in a military facility in Hawaii for the past 33 years.
“They’re soldiers without a country,” Le said.
On Oct. 26, 2019, those soldiers received their proper interment during a ceremony at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster, California, which has a large Vietnamese-American population. Hundreds gathered for the ceremony in California and a ceremony honoring the 81 Airborne and 4 American crews was held at Vietnamese American Memorial Monument in Military Park in Oklahoma City that day as well.
“I planned to go to California to attend the interment, but my flights was cancelled, So I had the opportunity to join the ceremony here in Oklahoma City,” Le said. “People felt pride. We feel lucky and very happy to get our comrades in arms final rest in the USA.”