From:  Steve Ashley

  Dated:  March 30, 2015

Subject:  "Hail and Farewell." Forty-two years ago....

To lean more about Max to this Youtube video.

   From:  Steve Ashley

  Dated:  March 28, 2015

Subject:  "Hail and Farewell." Forty-two years ago....

Officially, the last soldier out of Vietnam in 1973 was MaxBeilke, NCOIC of the Repl Det in Tan Son Nhut.  Max retired as a MSG and became the Deputy Chief o Army Retirement Services.  

   From:  Bob Morecook

  Dated:  March 28, 2015

Subject:  "Hail and Farewell." Forty-two years ago....

I can tell you there was a plane the day after the last plane out (in 72, not 75).  I was on that one.  

   From:  Steve Ashley

  Dated:  March 28, 2015

Subject:  "Hail and Farewell." Forty-two years ago....

Quick quiz:  Does anyone know who the last soldier was to board the plane that March?  Answer will follow.

Some Comments Resulting from the Posting of the Above Photos


   From:  Joe Ciokon

  Dated:  March 28, 2015

Subject:  "Hail and Farewell." Forty-two years ago....

Wow!  I did not realize the VC and NVA were present at our departure ("bugging out").

March 27, 1973: Surrounded by luggage of other departing GIs, U.S. Air Force airman reads a paperback novel

as he waits to begin processing at Camp Alpha on Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airbase in Saigon as troop withdraw.

March 27, 1973: A bored American GI takes a nap atop his luggage as he and other troops

wait to begin out processing at Camp Alpha in Saigon.

Welcome Home!

Boarding a civilian jet under the watchful eyes of both the North Vietnamese and a U.S. Army Officer.



March 28, 1973:  A Viet Cong observer of the Four Party Joint Military Commission counts U.S. troops as they prepare to

board a commercial jet aircraft at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport.

Going through the gate.

March 29, 1973:  Don't forget the flag.  The American flag is furled at a ceremony marking official deactivation of the

Military Assistance Command-Vietnam (MACV) in Saigon, after more than 11 years in South Vietnam.

[I'm sure that this photo is also somewhere else on this site.  Webmaster]

March 28, 1973, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese members of the joint military commission, foreground, shoot

photos of U.S. troops as they board an Air Force plane for the flight home from Saigon's Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

On their way to Camp Alpha, the Out-Processing Center.  

Not a duffel bag in sight--it appears that the Post Exchange might have run out of suitcases.  

[I think that this photo is in another collection but I'm not sure where.  Webmaster]

March 27 to 29, 1973

The last remaining American troops withdraw from Vietnam as President Nixon declares

"the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come."

Departure

March 27 to 29, 1973


Received from Jim Anderson

March 28, 2015