History Book: A desperate flight, a daring decision

NICK EICHER, HOST: Today is Monday, April 28th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Nick Eicher.

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: And I’m Jenny Rough. Up next, the WORLD History Book. Today, the story of two daring men.

AUDIO: The sky over Saigon was filled with dozens of assorted aircraft: helicopters, transports, even fighter bombers, in a nameless whirling merry-go-round over the city.

It’s April 29th, 1975 … the last full day of the Vietnam War. North Vietnamese forces are closing in on Saigon and the U.S. is scrambling to evacuate.

EICHER: This is how the CBS Evening News reported the chaos.

CBS NEWS: It looked as though every pilot in the South Vietnamese Air Force who could get his hands on an aircraft had decided that now was the time to get away.

Life-or-death decisions for desperate pilots on a South Vietnamese military base. Here’s WORLD correspondent Caleb Welde.

CALEB WELDE: Buang-Ly is one of those pilots. He knows this base will be overrun today. He’s desperate. He loads his wife and five children into a single-engine, two seater Cessna. He’s technically stealing the military plane. But then again, his country’s military won’t even exist for much longer. Buang-Ly’s kids are all under age six. He and his family take off and head out to sea. They have no plan. This plane doesn't even have a radio.

The same moment, Larry Chambers is standing on the bridge of the U.S. aircraft carrier Midway. He's doing his best to command the chaos. The Midway is sitting a hundred miles off the Vietnamese coast. Dozens of helicopters have already unloaded more than a thousand refugees onto the deck. Twenty more helicopters circle the ship waiting for their chance to land. There’s nowhere else to go.

CHAMBERS: 50 people got out of a Huey.

This is Larry Chambers – captain of the Midway– speaking at a reunion in 2019.

CHAMBERS: Now, Huey is designed for 10 combat Marines or 10 combat army guys, fully armed for combat.

H-53 helicopters are unloading two hundred people at a time. They’re going to have to start moving people to other ships.

Back in the Cessna, Buang-Ly still doesn’t know what to do. He’s been flying for thirty minutes now above the vast South China Sea. The sky is gray. Light rain speckles the windshield. Buang-Ly’s wife clutches their infant in the cargo space behind him. Then, a group of helicopters all heading in the same direction. Buang-Ly decides to follow.

Aboard the Midway, Chambers authorizes his Marines to use deadly force, searching evacuees if necessary. Then…

CHAMBERS: About noon… this guy shows up and tried to drop a note on board!

It’s Buang-Ly. He’s just buzzed the carrier in the stolen Cessna. The note missed the mark, and fell into the ocean.

CHAMBERS: He tried three or four times, and I think on the fourth try, the note stayed on board.

The note says, “Can you move these helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway. I can fly 1 hour more. We have enough time to move. Please rescue me. Major Buang, wife, and 5 child.” Chambers’ commanding officer tells him, “Let the plane ditch.” He assures Chambers they can pick up any swimmers once the plane is in the water.

CHAMBERS: You knew, with that note on board, this guy was desperate. He was not going to ditch that airplane.

Chambers sees, through his binoculars, Buang-Ly’s wife holding their baby.

CHAMBERS: The airplane probably was going to flip over and everybody was going to drown. The major could swim, but all of those kids weren't strapped in.

Chambers rings up his deck operations guy and he orders him to clear the deck.

CHAMBERS: He said, Skipper, you gotta be kidding! And I'm saying, No, I'm not kidding. I'm going to give you some help.

Chambers gets on the ship-wide PA system to let everyone know what’s going on.

CHAMBERS: I gave Vern 2000 to 2500 warm bodies to help him make a ready deck.

Chambers has just defied a direct order.

CHAMBERS: The admiral was yelling at me not over one of the private circuits. He was yelling at me over the 23 MC until the whole bridge team was hearing my wonderful comments from the admiral, telling me about my ancestry and a few others. And I'm telling the bridge, I'm the idiot in charge. Don't pay any attention to it.

Soldiers push twenty-five helicopters into the ocean. Chambers speeds up the ship and turns into the wind.

CHAMBERS: [E]ight more Hueys showed up, and they landed too. No signal, right in the middle of it.

The crew of the Midway push those over the side, too. Then, they pack into the tower.

CHAMBERS: There were at least 2000 people up there watching the show, and when this guy landed, you could have heard him all the way to China. It was such a celebration.

Here’s Buang-Ly speaking at a reunion in 2010.

BUANG-LY: I never land on the aircraft carrier, but I don't have any other choice. But I thought I could do it, and I did it. Thank you, Captain Chamber, your decision of let me land is priceless.

Chambers could have been court martialed, but instead, he’s promoted.

CHAMBERS: Somebody coming out in a little airplane, dropping a note on board, and thinking some idiot on the other side is going to read the note, push a whole bunch of helicopters over the side to let him land, and then not expect to be court martialed for it!? So, I’m as bad as Buang Ly. [LAUGHS] I mean he had the courage to come try it, and I was the idiot who said, we’re gonna give him a try.

Buang-Ly and his family eventually settle in Florida. Chambers and Buang-Ly still keep in touch.

BUANG-LY: Over these year, a lot of wonderful thing happen. My wife, my children and I become naturalized American citizen. My children now are grow up and some marry and start their new family.

So what made Larry Chambers do it? He says it’s simple…

CHAMBERS: My grandmother was whispering in my head, "Look, idiot, I didn’t teach you to be in charge of anything and let women and children drown."

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Caleb Welde.

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