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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
The Marines with War Correspondent Peter Arnett.
U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius thanking each of them.
U.S. Ambassador Ted Osius addressing the assembled Marines.
The Story of the Last Marines Off of the Roof of the U.S. Embassy
[Received from Mike McNally on May 8, 2015]
From: Rick Fredericksen
Date: April 23, 2015
[Facebook Posting]
Some really neat vignettes contained in this well written article.
Forty years on from the fall of Saigon: witnessing the end of the Vietnam war
From: Ann Kelsey
Date: April 22, 2015
Subject: Last Days in Vietnam
There is an all day program at the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Saturday. Some of the surviving crew from the C5A crash and many of the now adult children who were on the Babylift flights will be there with their families.
See http://www.njvvmf.org for details. It'll be a big day for us too.
Ann
From: Joe Ciokon
Date: April 22, 2015
Subject: Last Days in Vietnam
We will be showing it on the flight deck Saturday evening. At noon, there will be a forum on Operation Frequent Wind with some of the refugees, the Captain and the Air Boss. The Half-scale Wall comes aboard tomorrow for 14-hour public access through next Thursday. Busy week for the Volunteers, staff, and me.
Joe
From: Terry Oliver (Forwarded by Bob Morecook
Date: April 22, 2015
Subject: Last Days in Vietnam
Just watched the previews of Last Days in Vietnam at a KNPB event. The program airs on PBS on April 28 at 8pm central and 9pm KNPB. It is heart-wrenching, emotional, human, with heroes and tragedies--must-watch TV. This is why we have public TV.
Terry
From: Mike Goucher
Date: January 18, 2015
Subject: Last Days in Vietnam
Quite a few of us viewed this documentary recently at the AFVN Reunion. It was amazingly well done, narration and pictorials.
From: Ann Kelsey
Date: January 16, 2015
Subject: Last Days in Vietnam
Rory Kennedy's documentary, Last Days in Vietnam, was nominated for an Academy Award this morning in the documentary features category.
Ann
From: John Noonan
Date: September 13, 2014
Subject: "Last Days in Vietnam"--Ken Cinema 9/26-10/2
Last night, I saw the new documentary "The Last Days of Vietnam" at Landmark's E Street Theatre in D.C. The director (Rory Kennedy) and her crew told the story well. There was a Q and A after the film. Some of the film's participants were in the audience. I strongly recommend this film. It will be playing the art house circuit. Check the film's web site for a list of cities/dates. A longer version of the film will appear on PBS in April.
From: Jim Anderson
Date: November 20, 2014
Subject: James Anderson sent you a video: "Last Days in Vietnam - American Experience | Preview | PBS"
From: Ann Kelsey
Date: September 6, 2014
Subject: "Last Days in Vietnam"--Ken Cinema 9/26-10/2
There will also be a DVD.
Ann
From: Ann Kelsey
Date: September 5, 2014
Subject: "Last Days in Vietnam"--Ken Cinema 9/26-10/2
I just saw Last Days in Vietnam in New York. Rory Kennedy was there after the film for a Q and A. Jim, she got your email. When I made the correction about Tennessee Ernie Ford, she finished the sentence for me. It was Frank Snepp who said in his Interview that he heard Bing Crosby. I guess, considering the circumstances, you can forgive his not recognizing that the singer was different than the one in the evacuation plan.
There was a short clip of a DJ in civilian clothes putting a record on a turntable. Perhaps when you see the film, some of you will recognize him.
If the film isn't being screened in a theater near you, an expanded version will be shown on American Experience on PBS next April. This one was a little over 90 minutes. The PBS version will be an hour and fifty two minutes.
It's a very well done film with quite a bit of original footage that has never been seen before, including a sailor's film of Hueys being pushed off the USS Kirk and the ditching of a Chinook by a South Vietnamese pilot who flew his family and others to safety. This segment was narrated by his son who was six at the time.
The Vietnamese and Americans who are interviewed are well spoken and thoughtful. It leaves you with a lot to think about.
I highly recommend it.
Ann
Note: I did get a reply from Ralph Blumenthal and was also able to contact Rory Kennedy who also replied. Both of them appeared to believe Frank Snepp's (with the CIA in Saigon at the time of the evacuation) statement that it was BIng Crosby's version of "White Christmas" or wondered if was possible that two evacuation notices were broadcast--one with Crosby's version and one with Tennessee Ernie Ford's version. I was able to pretty well persuade both of them that it was Tennessee Ernie Ford's version that that the possibility of two differenent broadcasts was extremely unlikely. Rory thanks me for the correction and said that while it was not possible to change the film she would try to get the correction posted on the Boston WBGH Public Television webpage. I made an HMTL showing all of our correspondence and posted it on the AFVNVets website briefly. However, Rory wrote that she considered her messages to be personal and preferred that they not be published. For that reason I have made this new page which includes only messages from members of the AFVN Yahoo Group.
Jim White, Webmaster
From: Jim White
Date: September 2, 2014
Subject: "Last Days in Vietnam"-- Ken Cinema 9/26 - 10/2
Just looked at the below. Noticed that the movie seems to continue the "popular folklore story " that Bing Crosby's version of White Christmas was the signal to evacuate.
I wasn't able to figure out a way to send a message to Rory Kennedy so I sent the following to Ralph Blumenthal who had written the review.
"I have just read your August 28th article on "The Ones Who Were Left Behind." I was an Army MSgt and the Administrative NCOIC when I was assigned to the American Forces Vietnam Network (AFVN) from July 1970 to June 1971. Presently I am the webmaster for a group of former AFVN veterans. I know that popular folklore is that Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was played as the signal to evacuate. Actually, however, it was Tennessee Ernie Ford's version. The people at the American Services Radio (ARS) [not "Armed Forces Radio"] who had taken over the AFVN station in 1973 and broadcast on FM only couldn't find Crosby's version in the music library AFVN left behind. Go to AFVNVets.NET/AFVN-Hustory.html and see sections 15-1 and 15-2. I am writing you because I can't figure out a way to contact Rory Kennedy. If you can, please pass this on to her.
Respectfully, Jim White,
SGM, US Army (Retired)
Webmaster, AFVNVets.net"
Doubt it much will come of it. [I.E., Of sending a message to Ralph Blumenthal.]
Jim W
From: Jim Anderson
Date: September 2, 2014
Subject: "Last Days in Vietnam"-- Ken Cinema 9/26 - 10/2
Ghosts of Vietnam in Rory Kennedy’s Documentary
This link goes to a New York Time's review written by Ralph Blumential of a movie by Rory Kennedy (youngest daughter of Edward Kennedy). Ralph Bluemntial had been a reporter for New York Times from 1964 to 2009 and a correspondent in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971. The review is rather lengthly but one paragraph (quoted here) really caught my eye because it shows that this movie continues the myth that Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" was used as part of the evacuation signal.
"Bags of shredded top-secret documents, blown open by chopper whirlwinds, filled the air with classified confetti. Discarded weapons lined the bottom of the swimming pool. And then, on April 29, 1975, after more than a dozen years of war and a rocky truce that had collapsed with alarming speed, Armed Forces Radio broadcast a prearranged signal: Bing Crosby crooning 'White Christmas.'”
I wrote Ralph Blumential because I think this group and website has pretty proved that it was Tennessee Ernie Ford's version.
"Last Days in Vietnam" by Rory Kennedy
September 2014 to April 2015
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