Vietnam War History | The Last Flight Out of Saigon 50 Years Later - Talk With History

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:00</time>
the last thing I see my dad, as I turned around, was he, him, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:04</time>
know, hovering away from from the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:05</time>
started in this new world with absolutely nothing, a pair of shirt and boxer shorts.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:09</time>
people were jumping and your mom had to like basically just drop, drop your

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:14</time>
sister to a sailor that's catching people.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:16</time>
one of the things I do remember is tasting military peanut butter in

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:20</time>
the can that you, you know, rolled up.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:22</time>
Sure, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:23</time>
And chicklettes chicklettes, military chit,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:25</time>
they were res the first thing he said when he got on the ship, it wasn't

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:29</time>
like, where's my wife and kids?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:30</time>
He's like, give me a cigarette.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:00:31</time>
Oh my gosh.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:34</time>
This is something people need to know.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:35</time>
It's real.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:36</time>
It happened.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:37</time>
It happened to your family specifically, really is great

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:39</time>
for you to tell this story.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:40</time>
And like you said, it's the 50th anniversary

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:00:43</time>
You know, it's one of those that truth is braver than fiction,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:47</time>
Thank you so much for joining us.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:48</time>
We are talking to author Mickey Nguyen.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:52</time>
He's actually the son of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Ba, his father

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:00:57</time>
was a Vietnamese, a South Vietnamese pilot who escaped Vietnam with his

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:03</time>
family when Saigon, when, when the country was falling to the communists

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:07</time>
that were coming down from the north.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:09</time>
His father's heroic actions, including a daring helicopter escape in April of 1975,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:15</time>
was featured in the 2015 Oscar nominated film, Last Days in Vietnam, and are

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:21</time>
chronicled in the new memoir, which we're going to talk about, The Last Flight Out.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:25</time>
With the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon approaching here in 2025, Mickey

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:32</time>
aims to connect with audiences interested in this we really enjoyed this interview

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:37</time>
with Mickey he had some incredible stories to tell and I really hope you guys stick

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:43</time>
around for it this story and the story of what mickey's father did in getting

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:01:48</time>
his family out of the country Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:01:53</time>
So let's talk with history.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:56</time>
We are here with Mickey Nguyen.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:02:59</time>
Am I pronouncing that correctly?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:00</time>
Yes.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:01</time>
That's right.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:02</time>
And you are here talking about a book that's really about your father and you've

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:07</time>
been carrying on this, this message and just as we were talking before we started

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:12</time>
recording here, you, you've been doing these interviews and I, you know, there's.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:16</time>
been Oscar nominated films with your father who was part of that storyline and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:21</time>
all this really, really interesting stuff.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:24</time>
So, so Mickey, for our listeners and for those watching, can you tell

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:30</time>
us a little bit about your book?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:33</time>
Kind of your, your journey with your father.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:35</time>
There's a whole lot of stuff for us to cover here.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:37</time>
So I'll let you jump into things that you think will resonate with folks who

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:03:42</time>
might be interested in your, in your book.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:44</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:45</time>
Thank you.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:45</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:45</time>
Thank you, Scott and Jen for the the opportunity to be on here

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:48</time>
to share my my family story.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:50</time>
And again, I, I come at it.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:52</time>
This is my family's story.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:53</time>
Every family's got their own unique stories and everyone's got their own

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:03:57</time>
unique history but this one involved my father who passed away about 10 years

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:01</time>
ago but what he did 50 years ago, coming up here, April 29th, April 30th, 1975

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:09</time>
was very heroic, so much so that he shared, you know, as with any military

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:14</time>
folks post activity, post you know, we'd share his story of how he got to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:18</time>
America here with his other, you know, Vietnamese veteran buddies here in the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:22</time>
S. as well as around dinner tables when I was younger and hearing his

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:27</time>
story and experienced it myself as a six and a half year old boy in 1975.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:33</time>
And so, gosh, long story short, the U. S. Navy in 2009 mind you the incident

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:40</time>
that happened 50 years ago we never got the name of the, the ship, which

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:46</time>
is the USS Kirk, nor the name of the, the captain Captain Paul Jacobs.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:51</time>
After we, you know, got onto the ship because they had to continue to stay

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:04:58</time>
around the Gulf of Tonkin to, you know, continue their, their activity mission

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:02</time>
and and then our family had to, you know, get whisked off to another boat

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:06</time>
and ship and start a new life in America.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:10</time>
And so, flash forward to 2009, finally, the the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:16</time>
S. Navy Mr. Jan Herman did a he is a U. S. Navy historian.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:21</time>
And did some research on the activities in 1975 and the you know, Operation

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:27</time>
Frequent Wind, which was the evacuation of U. S. personnel and, and others within

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:33</time>
supporting the U. S. military efforts in, in South Vietnam, Saigon area.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:37</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:37</time>
Had to quickly flee as the the communists came down and, and took took over Saigon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:42</time>
And and so, so when, when the, when Mr. Jan Herman did the did the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:48</time>
research, found out, you know, this pilot who ditched his helicopter

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:52</time>
after his family jumped onto the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:55</time>
Finally the story was shared you know, with the community, the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:05:59</time>
Vietnamese community, and it ended up that my mom got an email saying,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:03</time>
Hey, we're looking for this pilot.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:04</time>
And my mom sent me the, the email and she said, Hey, take a look at it.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:09</time>
And then it just I was at work and the, the full, the full life story of our

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:16</time>
family circled around where, wow, the the U S Navy, you know, reached out

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:20</time>
and tried to find this, this pilot.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:23</time>
And I said, Hey, if you're looking for the pilot that ditched the Chinook at,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:26</time>
you know, this approximate time afternoon That's that's more than likely my dad.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:31</time>
Oh, wow.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:31</time>
So, back then 10 years ago of 15 years ago.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:34</time>
He Dementia Alzheimer's so he wasn't able to you know, communicate and so

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:40</time>
I spoke on on his behalf but myself my mom family just extremely happy to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:49</time>
reconnect back with the the captain and everyone and so I'll, I'll get

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:06:55</time>
more into the, the, the dramatic story, but so much so that the, the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:00</time>
S. Navy put together, Jan Herman, the team there put together

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:04</time>
a documentary themselves.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:07:07</time>
Oh, cool.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:08</time>
And and then eventually a couple years later, we, in 2010,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:14</time>
a year later my family, dad, mom, sister flew out to Washington DC to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:20</time>
do a reunion with the the USS Kirk.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:24</time>
And the documentary, we got a chance to see the US Navy documentary.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:28</time>
It was called the Lucky Few.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:30</time>
Hmm.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:30</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:31</time>
And there first time interviewing with, NPR.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:35</time>
Oh, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:36</time>
And, was able to not only share the story through, through NPR, but also got the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:41</time>
chance to shake the hand of the captain, thanked him, thanked the crew members.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:46</time>
They took a big risk themselves standing underneath the Chinook

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:52</time>
helicopter to catch us as we jumped.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:07:56</time>
And so, the story continued to snowball a year later or two, got a phone call from

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:03</time>
a production team, that was American, part of the NPR network, and said that a a film

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:10</time>
company, L. A. Wants to do, want to work with, produce a, you know, Their version

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:15</time>
of it and it just so happened that the the director the producer was Rory Kennedy

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:21</time>
and her company Moxie film and so Rory Kennedy youngest daughter of Robert F.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:28</time>
Kennedy.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:28</time>
Her brother is JFK Yeah, jr. If I got and so

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:39</time>
Yeah, so in 2013 got the chance to talk about it and you know in the the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:43</time>
last days last days of Vietnam, yeah, and Out the, you know, we didn't know,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:50</time>
but it, it got shortlisted, got out of 130, I was told about 130 documentaries

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:08:57</time>
submitted for 2014, 2015 to Oscars.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:00</time>
Yeah, it got shortlisted down to five.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:02</time>
So, just amazing from that standpoint.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:05</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:05</time>
That, that's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:06</time>
absolutely amazing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:07</time>
And, and just to kind.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:08</time>
And I just wanted to step back for, you know, I looked a little bit at some

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:12</time>
of the links that you had sent us and there's been some new stories and, and,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:17</time>
and for, for our listeners and what I'll do is I'll, I'll cut in some of the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:20</time>
some of the new stories and reels, you know, in the, in the earlier part of the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:24</time>
interview, so they get that foundation, but really you said you were six and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:28</time>
a half when you guys were basically evacuating out of the Saigon area.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:09:32</time>
So

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:32</time>
should I should I get into the story?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:36</time>
Make you when you're like, that's probably my father how many

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:39</time>
helicopters ditched Leaving Saigon.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:43</time>
Was there more than one?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:45</time>
Well, like you you know It's you see in time left magazine in

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:48</time>
video many of the smaller Huey.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:51</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:51</time>
Yeah,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:09:52</time>
absolutely They landed

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:53</time>
on the deck is a small enough to land on this particular deck.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:55</time>
Yeah, he was this Kirk Yeah, and then they pushed it over there, you know,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:09:59</time>
okay side So then they would push him to

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:01</time>
get more on because they're not going to like put them in a hanger.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:03</time>
They're just going to push them off.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:04</time>
And then the next one would land.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:06</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:06</time>
Okay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:07</time>
But your father is the only one that actually ditched his aircraft.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:10</time>
Like he was the pilot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:11</time>
He flew it into the water.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:12</time>
And ditched it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:13</time>
Like he, he didn't.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:14</time>
Simply because

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:14</time>
it was just too big to land.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:15</time>
There's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:15</time>
no room.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:16</time>
Oh yeah, Chinooks are big.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:17</time>
I've flown in Chinooks before.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:10:19</time>
Those are large aircraft.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:20</time>
Way too big for a frigate.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:22</time>
But there was no other pilot that did that.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:24</time>
So when you're like, it's probably my dad, it's probably because he's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:27</time>
the only one who ditched an aircraft.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:30</time>
Well,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:32</time>
as far as, as far as I know now, if there's others that have

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:34</time>
done that out there, it wasn't, it wasn't at least shared in the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:38</time>
community or talked about very much.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:39</time>
So I, I don't, I don't know, but I do know about my dad.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:10:42</time>
Okay,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
cool.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
Okay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:43</time>
I just wanted to make sure.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:44</time>
Cause you're like, that's probably my dad.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:45</time>
I'm like, wow.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:46</time>
I was wondering how many.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:47</time>
I know that they pushed the aircraft off.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:49</time>
I know they were just getting the aircraft out and and getting

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:52</time>
people out as quickly as possible.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:54</time>
But when I read about your father actively ditching, something that we

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:10:58</time>
practice now in the Navy, but probably something he never practiced, and he just

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:01</time>
did it off of what he knew as a pilot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:04</time>
It's so interesting because from what the Navy probably saw him do, they're

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:08</time>
probably like, okay, now we're going to train people to do that because it worked.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:14</time>
Well, yeah, fortunately it did rise either, either

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:18</time>
death or survival in this case.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:20</time>
But from, from what I've, I've heard and in talking with other, other Navy folks,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:25</time>
you know, I, I think they, they train.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:27</time>
them to just hover over and then kill the prop and then let

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:31</time>
it, you know, sink and roll.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:33</time>
But like, just like your father did, you get everybody out

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:36</time>
of the aircraft but the pilot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:37</time>
Just like your father did.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:39</time>
Same scenario, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:41</time>
You, you, that's the highest chance for survival is to get everyone out.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:45</time>
And let the pilot do an active ditch.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:48</time>
And because then you can control it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:50</time>
So I think that's really cool.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:51</time>
Your dad was like a, a trend center.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:11:53</time>
He was a groundbreaker there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:55</time>
Yeah, just survival.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:57</time>
Do what you had to do.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:58</time>
Think quick.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:11:59</time>
Quick, quick on your feet, you know?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:01</time>
So had to, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:03</time>
So let's tell

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:03</time>
the story.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:03</time>
Let's tell the story of from you're six and a half, what's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:07</time>
happening in Vietnam at the time.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:09</time>
Your father is a South Vietnamese.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:12</time>
officer.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:12</time>
He's a pilot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:14</time>
Vietnam is falling.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:15</time>
What's going on with South Vietnamese people and tell us the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:12:19</time>
story of your family survival.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:21</time>
So yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll try to condense it as much as possible, but

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:24</time>
there, but there are fun parts in there that it's like you know, yeah, there's

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:29</time>
just some, some interesting parts in there, but for, for those that, you know,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:33</time>
May not know the full history of Vietnam.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:35</time>
It was a country highly desired in terms of where its location close to the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:38</time>
water, been occupied by China, French occupation for hundreds of years, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:44</time>
know, through its history and most recent, you know, up leading up to 1975

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:51</time>
was the the desire to be independent, you know, the way that independent

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:57</time>
from the French and other things.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:12:59</time>
But in this particular case the communists wanted to, you know,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:03</time>
gain control of the country.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:06</time>
And my dad being from the South with support from the U S. was involved

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:13</time>
trained with America, with Americans in the early 60s, he had a chance a

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:18</time>
couple of times to come over to Alabama and to Texas for flight training.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:23</time>
And so, , you know what, he decided to focus more around helicopters

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:28</time>
and get training around that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:30</time>
And so, fast forward to The last few months leading up to April 29, 1975,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:36</time>
the communists were coming down and encircling the the city of Saigon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:40</time>
And at this moment in time, I was, again, you know, six, six and a half So I'm

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:45</time>
sharing the story from my perspective, but as we talk about the, you know, the book

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:51</time>
itself, he wrote many of these stories himself and, but the, the way that I'll

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:13:58</time>
narrate it is from my perspective, but knowing, knowing that the the communists

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:07</time>
was about to come down, he knew that it was, it was time to start making,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:11</time>
you know, option A or option B and Perhaps option C, if if things didn't,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:17</time>
didn't, you know, didn't turn out well.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:20</time>
But as we all know they did, the communists did come down and the last few

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:24</time>
nights my family, my mom and I, younger brother, younger sister had to, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:32</time>
know, go to our grandma's house, which is basically in the middle of of Saigon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:35</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:36</time>
And he told us to go there and he told us that, you know, in the event of,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:39</time>
of things just falling apart I'm going to come and get you somehow, someway.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:43</time>
We'll figure out this out, we'll go, we'll figure out option B. Because

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:46</time>
if, if he would have gotten caught or captured, it would have been many years

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:49</time>
of re education camp, which is hell.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:52</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:53</time>
You know, his buddies and, and family members who didn't get the chance to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:14:56</time>
leave had to, you know, deal with that concentration, that, that camp activity.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:01</time>
But, in this, in this particular case, knowing what he knew hearing

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:06</time>
intelligence in the radio and in his superiors and his commanding officers

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:11</time>
and everybody else simply knowing that it's, you know, there is no other option.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:15</time>
They took off, they took off with their family.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:17</time>
He waited for orders until the very last moment where at this time, there was

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:21</time>
no further orders for him to, you know, to execute this or execute that because

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:25</time>
again, his superiors took off themselves.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:28</time>
Yeah, everybody was.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:29</time>
Trying to save their families.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:15:30</time>
Exactly.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:31</time>
Exactly.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:33</time>
And so, at this point he you know, he had what he called his, his horse, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:41</time>
His Chinook.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:42</time>
It's the only thing that he can ride in and out of.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:44</time>
They bombed the the main airport, Tangshanyuek airport.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:48</time>
And so you couldn't take a big, you know, plane in or out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:52</time>
So he flew the Chinook helicopter into the the city towards my grandma's

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:15:56</time>
house and mind you this was like, you know any metropolitan major

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:00</time>
city and Just let you know Jen, you know Chinooks right the c 47.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:06</time>
It's loud thunderous.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:07</time>
You can hear that from miles away Oh, yeah, and it causes a commotion But

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:12</time>
it then that net here is he landed that thing in front of a my grandma's

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:16</time>
playfield little school yard or a playfield in the front and obviously,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:22</time>
you know, caused a lot of commotion in the neighborhood and many of the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:27</time>
homes back then had tin roofs and blew many of those things up in a way, but

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:33</time>
told his co pilot his lower the the back hatch and we all ran in and

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:40</time>
to the back of the Chinook and You know, took that thing up quickly.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:43</time>
There are folks that are military police around there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:16:46</time>
You know, rushing towards him And so we had to get the heck out of there.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:49</time>
Sure So let me ask you this So did your you went to your grandma's house?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:52</time>
I would assume because of the protection as it's more central to the city.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:56</time>
It's going to It's going to take longer for the North Vietnamese to

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:16:59</time>
get into the center of the city.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:01</time>
So he's like, get there for protection.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:03</time>
Plus he has the LZ there, so he has a landing zone picked

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:06</time>
out because of the playground.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:08</time>
Now, were you the only family to get on board?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:11</time>
I mean, did other families see this and want to try to save themselves too?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:15</time>
Yeah, my dad's side has a lot of oldest, you know, son in the family.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:19</time>
He had a lot of brothers, my aunts and uncles.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:23</time>
But they, you know, as we were running into the Chinook, my mom

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:26</time>
would look back, Hey, come on with us.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:27</time>
But they they said, yeah, go with, go with your husband.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:31</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:32</time>
From that same point.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:33</time>
And the reason why we were at my grandma's house was because we were

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:36</time>
living in Binwa, which was about half hour away, a military base.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:40</time>
And obviously the military base was probably too hot of a zone to be there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:44</time>
So that's why he moved moved our family to grandma.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:48</time>
So it's just immediate family.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:49</time>
No uncles or aunts came.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:51</time>
Your grandmother didn't come.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:53</time>
No cousins.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:53</time>
It was just you guys.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:55</time>
Okay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:17:55</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:17:55</time>
No, many, many of them back then, you know, who was to say where, where

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:00</time>
my dad would go and how we would end up.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:02</time>
And so nobody knew what was happening.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:04</time>
So perhaps some regret hearing there from the family members, not, not

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:09</time>
going, but eventually some of them, you know, had the chance to, to, to leave.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:18:13</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:13</time>
So basically got out of, got out of Saigon, got out of that, that area

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:18</time>
and headed further south just to get away from the the city and to consolidate

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:23</time>
with his other you know, other pilots trying to figure out the next and the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:28</time>
thought was to get ration, get food, gas just gear up and try to find a a

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:36</time>
remote island further south, just lay low and then figure out from there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:40</time>
And that's what that's what we did.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:42</time>
That's what that's what my dad did was just met up with, you know, radioed the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:45</time>
other, the other folks, other folks, other pilots and met at a location and

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:51</time>
if figure out what, what the next thing to do was, but he heard on the radio,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:55</time>
a lot of us communication chatter.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:18:56</time>
He also knew many of the us ships that were still out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:00</time>
In the Pacific there and the thought was maybe go out there and check it

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:05</time>
out and if there's a ship that was big enough, maybe they land on it and,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:08</time>
and get, get, get out of town, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:12</time>
So that's what, that's what he did.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:13</time>
He flew out towards the, the ocean.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:16</time>
There was no, there was not an exact point.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:18</time>
He just flew out there to see what, check it out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:21</time>
And mind you, Jen, you probably know they don't, you know, they don't have flotation

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:26</time>
devices or any life jackets, you know, at least with this Chinook that my dad had.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:32</time>
And so it was it was a risky effort to go out there not knowing exactly, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:37</time>
know, what's going to be out there and if, if maybe he had enough gas to make

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:40</time>
it out or to, to figure all that out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:42</time>
But, eventually Flew out there and on the distant.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:45</time>
He saw, you know a ship and Headed in that direction.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:51</time>
Oh and as he got close to it eventually, you know throttled back a little bit

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:56</time>
He didn't want to look too aggressive.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:19:58</time>
Sure, obviously kids, you know, the the American Navy men below they were

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:05</time>
everybody's heightened heightened tension right not knowing that

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:07</time>
this was a communist plane coming out and doing wrong to the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:13</time>
So, as he approached it, you know, my mom, him and others, there's like about.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:18</time>
15, 16 people somewhere on the in the Chinook, our family.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:24</time>
And he had a co pilot and his gunner and maintenance guy and their, their

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:30</time>
girlfriends and things like that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:32</time>
So, hovered up there and we can see the, the ship below continuing

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:36</time>
to, you know, maintain its course.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:38</time>
All right, just three or five knots, and he kept hovering it and circling around

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:43</time>
it, while at the same time that you can see the folks below holding, you know,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:48</time>
holding big guns up at him, just did like, hey, you know, we got our eye on you.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:53</time>
And so, like a warning.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:55</time>
Yeah, just exactly.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:20:57</time>
And so, my dad with his broken English, you know, that he can speak was able to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:01</time>
communicate with the captain in the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:03</time>
And finally the Captain Paul Jacobs you know, talked with his crew and

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:09</time>
started to figure out, you know, how, how to, how are we going to do this?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:12</time>
Is it how are we gonna, you know, help Help this guy in, in

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:17</time>
the, the folks in the Chinook.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:19</time>
And so in the video, there's a video in the in the film where you can see

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:24</time>
my mom holding up Mina, my, my yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:27</time>
Baby sister, six month old, up to the window and say, Hey, there's, there's

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:30</time>
women and, you know, kids on board here.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:32</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:33</time>
We need help.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:34</time>
And so with the the compassion and the the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:40</time>
the, the heart of the, the, you know, Mr. Paul Jacobs, quickly just

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:45</time>
scrambling to figure things out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:46</time>
And so, finally, you know, okay, guys, we got we got to help this the pilot

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:51</time>
up there in the Chinook up there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:21:53</time>
And so basically the what my dad did was, and again, the the ship had

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:00</time>
to maintain a steady course, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:02</time>
Instead of maintain a steady course.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:03</time>
And so he He hovered the the Chinook towards the the stern, the, the rear side.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:10</time>
And obviously this particular USS Kirk found out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:13</time>
Later on was a a submarine, a destroyer type where it was looking for sonar

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:19</time>
and just a lot of expensive equipment, very high tech back then, antennas,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:25</time>
radars, all of the surveillance.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:27</time>
And so he didn't want to.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:29</time>
My dad didn't want to get too close to the all the, the mass and the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:34</time>
equipment because he can put that ship out of commission quickly.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:37</time>
Anything could have happened, you know, wind or a swell could have knocked you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:41</time>
know, the Chinook into the to the boat.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:46</time>
And so he hovered, he hovered behind, falling behind, he hovered the Chinook

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:50</time>
behind the ship and, on the starboard.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:22:54</time>
Door open the door and hovered it lowered it down and we can we can see Hovered it

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:02</time>
about 10 13 feet above the the deck and we can see the American Navy men below hands

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:08</time>
up and Jump right one by one we jump.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:23:13</time>
Holy cow.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:14</time>
Yeah and the last few that left the the Chinook, my mom had

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:20</time>
to drop a seven month old baby, you know, onto the hand below.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:26</time>
That gentleman who caught my sister, his name is Mr. Mr. Chipman, met

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:30</time>
him in Washington, D. C. Oh, wow.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:32</time>
Yeah, Texan.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:33</time>
That's amazing.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:33</time>
And just amazing reunion.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:36</time>
But Mr. Chipman and, and others down there, you know, brave, brave Navy men

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:41</time>
risked their life as well just to, to help us out and so we all got down,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:46</time>
we, I jumped down and the only injury was one of the, one of the girlfriends

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:52</time>
of one of the crew member sprained her ankle, but fortunately everyone was okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:23:57</time>
They quickly ushered us, pushed us in inside, didn't want any kids or

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:02</time>
anybody running out on the deck, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:03</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:04</time>
And so the last thing I see my dad, as I turned around, was he, him, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:08</time>
know, hovering away from from the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:12</time>
And so, went inside and that was it for my own eyes.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:17</time>
That was the last time I saw my dad.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:19</time>
Everything else was just hearing stories of him telling it and eventually seeing

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:23</time>
all of the photos and everything else from the U S Navy many years later.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:28</time>
But as I share this with you through, through what my dad shared

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:31</time>
with me through dinner tables, you know, as we grew up, he.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:35</time>
Hovered away from the ship, 100 yards or so, and hovered the you know, hovered the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:42</time>
Chinook on the water so he can take off all of his gear and his gun, his sidearm

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:47</time>
and, you know, the flat jacket, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:50</time>
I mean, it's hard to put that on, let alone take that off while he's hovering.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:53</time>
Get all the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:24:53</time>
weight off, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:55</time>
Shoes, boots, you know, unstrapping all that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:58</time>
He's only a regret.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:24:59</time>
But his only regret in this whole experience was and, and the only reason

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:03</time>
why I found out was because of the book, you know, the, the section that he wrote.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:08</time>
But the regret was that he should have asked his co pilot to at least

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:11</time>
hold the rudder so he can take all of his stuff out once he's down, then

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:15</time>
tell the co pilot to jump, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:18</time>
So he, yeah, he laughingly said, you know, next time if I have to do this

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:21</time>
again, I'm going to tell the co pilot to just give me like five minutes.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:24</time>
And also the other regret was not keeping his military ID.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:27</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:27</time>
All of the ID stuff.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:29</time>
Everything was gone.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:29</time>
I'm telling you.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:30</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:31</time>
Started, started in this new world with absolutely nothing, a

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:34</time>
pair of shirt and boxer shorts.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:25:35</time>
That's amazing.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:37</time>
So down to his, down to his undergarment and hovered there kicked

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:41</time>
the the port door and the left side out.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
Yep.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:46</time>
And basically with his With his right leg, pushed the rudder so that it would, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:25:54</time>
know, lean towards the the right as he jumped over to his left into the water.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:02</time>
And he said, you know, the stories around the dinner table tried to dive into the

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:06</time>
ocean, but Tried it two or three times, but the saltwater is very buoyant.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:11</time>
You kept pushing them back up.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:12</time>
That was his biggest fear was a shrapnel or a blade or something.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:16</time>
Just, you know, in the water, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:18</time>
Or the dynamics of the Chinook could have been a, it could have flipped back on him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:23</time>
Because you can't really jump too far, you know, just from this huge, huge aircraft.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:32</time>
But fortunately, you know, it leaned over to the right.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:35</time>
He was on the left.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:36</time>
And quickly on the third, third attempt diving, he dove down.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:41</time>
And finally.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:43</time>
You know, as I said in the film, he pops back up and he's alive

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:47</time>
and it's like just huge relief.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:50</time>
They came there, they sent the little skiff to come out and grab him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:54</time>
And we can see the video of him sitting in the boat, just like probably thinking,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:26:58</time>
God, thank God almighty, I made it.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:00</time>
You know, and the first thing, the first thing he said when he got on the ship,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:05</time>
it wasn't like, where's my wife and kids?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:07</time>
He's like, give me a cigarette.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:08</time>
Oh my gosh.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:10</time>
It's called that nerve down.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:12</time>
Absolutely.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:13</time>
So funny.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:13</time>
That's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:14</time>
so 70.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:15</time>
I can't imagine.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:17</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:27:18</time>
Exactly.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:20</time>
It's such a pilot thing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:21</time>
It's awesome.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:21</time>
Oh my gosh.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:22</time>
So a couple things, like I want to remind people, this is a frigate.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:25</time>
It's 15 feet off the water.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:27</time>
If he's hovering about 10 feet off the frigate, he's 25 feet off the ground.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:31</time>
The frigate has to maintain a course, even a low course, just to keep it steady.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:36</time>
Yep.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:37</time>
Because those South China Seas are so big.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:41</time>
that if you were to stop, like, you're like, why doesn't he

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:43</time>
just stop and they can hover?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:44</time>
It's going to rock so much that it's going to be, he's going to be unable

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:48</time>
to hover, especially at the side.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:50</time>
He has to hover to the side.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:51</time>
He's not hovering straight on.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:53</time>
He's hovering to the side to open the door, to let people jump out.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:57</time>
And because he's doing that, he's probably looking over his

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:27:59</time>
shoulder to maintain the hover.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:01</time>
And you have to maintain some kind of speed on the ship to

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:05</time>
keep it as steady as possible.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:07</time>
So.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:08</time>
And he's doing 15 people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:10</time>
So this is taking some time.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:12</time>
This is not just like two seconds.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:14</time>
This is taking some time to do.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:28:16</time>
And

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:16</time>
what people don't realize too, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:18</time>
You know, if, if you've ever spent time on a ship, and right, have both

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:21</time>
of us haven't been in the Navy you know, those, those, the sea state

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:25</time>
has, has a lot to do with that.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:27</time>
You know, there's multiple things that, a factor here, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:30</time>
Chinook, if you're, if our listeners don't quite know what a Chinook

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:34</time>
is, or can't picture it in their head, picture that classic M.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:37</time>
A. S. H. helicopter, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:39</time>
Dual, dual rotors, a little bit longer.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:42</time>
And so that, that's, that's what he's flying, that CH 46.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:45</time>
And then on the ocean, you'll have swells sometimes, depending on the, like I said,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:50</time>
depending on the sea state, that are, that are changing how high the ship is,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:28:55</time>
by like 5 to 6 feet, and sometimes it's even 10 to 15 feet, just on the swell.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:00</time>
So the ship, so you can fly the helicopter steady.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:03</time>
But you also have to keep an eye on the ship because the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:05</time>
ship is the thing that's moving.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:07</time>
It's actually the, the helicopter is actually a little

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:09</time>
bit easier to keep steady.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:10</time>
Whereas the ship, again, depending on the sea state.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:13</time>
So that's an incredibly dangerous thing to do.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:16</time>
And it's, it's, it's a miracle, you know, praise God that, that everybody came out.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:20</time>
Okay.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:21</time>
And then.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:21</time>
You know, people were jumping and your mom had to like basically just drop, drop your

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:26</time>
sister to a sailor that's catching people.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:28</time>
Like if our listeners can picture that in their head and then your father

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:33</time>
flying off to the side, rolling it one way and jumping off the other, all

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:37</time>
of this stuff is happening, I'm sure in a relatively short period of time.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:29:41</time>
Your dad is a excellent

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:42</time>
pilot.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:43</time>
And then, I want people to remember that the deck of a ship is steel.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:49</time>
So people are jumping down onto a steel deck.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:51</time>
And you guys are probably rushed into the hangar, right behind there,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:54</time>
because to get people off the deck, clear the deck as quick as possible to

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:29:56</time>
get more people on, as there's people on the deck catching these people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:01</time>
And I love that your mom held up your sister, because it's like an

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:04</time>
international symbol of peace, a child.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:07</time>
Yeah,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:30:08</time>
help.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:30:08</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:10</time>
So I think, I love, I love all that.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:11</time>
So, so we're leading into that.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:13</time>
Your father has Ditch the aircraft, which I think is amazing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:16</time>
Like you said, you're not gonna jump away from the aircraft.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:18</time>
You're basically jumping beside the aircraft.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:21</time>
You don't have, like, this long lateral distance.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:23</time>
Like, and you have to get over the cyclic.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:25</time>
Like, he has to get his leg over the cyclic, and then jump over

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:29</time>
the collective into the water.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:31</time>
So he's taking off all his weight, so he can dive, like you said.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:35</time>
And and hopefully the aircraft will row.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:37</time>
All the weight of a helicopter's in the top.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:40</time>
So hopefully the helicopter will roll because the weight will pull it

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:43</time>
over and like you said, he'll dive to hit all of the, everything flying

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:47</time>
off of it because it's an active rotor at the time as it's going in.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:50</time>
And I just think it's great that he, he gets rescued with nothing but his, like,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:55</time>
skivvies on and then asks for a cigarette.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:58</time>
He's like, I did it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:30:59</time>
It's such a pilot thing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:01</time>
Like, look, I did the most badass thing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:03</time>
You know what?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:03</time>
None of you pilots did this and I got a cigarette.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:31:07</time>
Oh my war.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:31:08</time>
So are

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:08</time>
you gonna see him again on the ship?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:10</time>
Like are you guys reunited as a family on the ship and then

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:13</time>
Yes.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:14</time>
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:15</time>
And then transported to a bigger, a bigger ship.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:18</time>
'cause I'm, I'm sure the refugees coming in Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:21</time>
Are so high that they need to get you on a bigger ship that can handle more people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:25</time>
That's right.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:26</time>
Because if frigate is not.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:27</time>
It's like a hundred and fifty people on board.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:29</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:29</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:29</time>
We were only on there for less than 24 hours before we were, another

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:33</time>
ship came by to offload, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:31:34</time>
And that, and the USS Kurt stayed stayed in the, in the area.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:38</time>
Yeah, and a frigate too.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:39</time>
I mean, I was on a frigate for my first deployment.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:42</time>
They can get closer to shore.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:45</time>
The draft is smaller.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:46</time>
So the draft of a ship is how much it sticks underneath the water.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:49</time>
A frigate, because it's smaller, because it's the lower crew,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:52</time>
you can get closer to the water.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:54</time>
So they like to get the frigates You know, close and to offer some support.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:31:59</time>
So I think that's another reason why the curt was probably closer

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:32:02</time>
for your dad when he was coming out.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:32:04</time>
But I think that's great.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:32:05</time>
And I, if I remember correctly, the commanding officer was

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:32:08</time>
like a six for three big guy.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:10</time>
Oh, just a big, big heart, big guy.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:14</time>
I just I got goose pimples thinking about him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:16</time>
He passed away a few years ago in his 90s.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:20</time>
Wow.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:20</time>
But what a wonderful gentleman, wonderful crew, big, big heart,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:26</time>
towards the last few years in 2016.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:31</time>
2015, 16, 17 we were trying, you know, with his help and others

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:38</time>
that we were trying to get the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:41</time>
S. Navy to formally recognize his humanitarian and compassionate, you

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:46</time>
know, effort towards not only our family, but hundreds and hundreds of of other

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:51</time>
families that basically did the same thing was, you know, fly various planes

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:32:56</time>
and helicopters out to to help and, Mr. Paul Jacobs, Captain Paul Jacobs,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:00</time>
I'll, I'll keep repeating that until the day I die, was one of those gentlemen

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:04</time>
that just, you know, put aside any sort of protocols or any of this and

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:08</time>
that, and just from one human to the next human, I'm going to help you out.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:13</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:14</time>
And for that, myself, my, my family, and my dad fully appreciate that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:20</time>
100%.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:21</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:21</time>
That's what we love about the U. S. Navy, too, you know, so that's great.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:24</time>
And where, where was Jacobs from?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:26</time>
Do you know?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:27</time>
Virginia.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:27</time>
Virginia.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:28</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:28</time>
I think so.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:29</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:29</time>
Around the D. C. area.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:31</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:31</time>
Very cool.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:32</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:32</time>
Okay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:33</time>
Okay.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:33</time>
So.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:34</time>
You're on the ship and how long until you get to America and I think

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:33:38</time>
you go to Washington State, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:40</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:41</time>
So, there's so many, so many parts of the story that I, I have to

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:45</time>
filter myself because we can sit here and talk for hours and hours, but

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:49</time>
yeah, again, on there for 24 hours.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:50</time>
And then, and then another another ship came by to, to offload

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:55</time>
us with hundreds of others.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:33:57</time>
And from one ship to, from there, we went to Wake, Guam.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:02</time>
Mm

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:02</time>
hmm.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:03</time>
Yeah, and then eventually Hawaii.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:04</time>
Yep, and then went into a Camp Pendleton, Marine Yeah, Camp Pendleton in San Diego.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:10</time>
Yeah, and was there for a month or so and then a Cross of Christ Lutheran Church

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:18</time>
again, so many amazing people along the journey to help, you know to help us

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:25</time>
Cross of Christ Lutheran Church here in Bellevue, which is about 45 30 minutes

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:30</time>
away from Seattle Sponsored our family And it helped us resettle from there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:34:36</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:37</time>
Yeah, that's amazing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:38</time>
Now, for, for you, I mean, being six and a half, you know, all this stuff

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:43</time>
going on, do you have a lot of kind of, like, specific memories yourself?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:47</time>
Like, I know for me, if I try to think back to, to my youth, usually

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:51</time>
it's like I'll remember one specific thing about something that happened.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:54</time>
Like, oh my gosh, look at this ship.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:56</time>
Someone gave me, you know, ice cream or something like that.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:34:59</time>
Like, I mean, do you have any memories like that of like being on the ship

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:35:02</time>
yourself and interacting with the sailors as you're leaving and can come into

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:35:07</time>
Guam and then Hawaii and everything?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:09</time>
Yeah, that's a, that's a great question because, you know, we all, we

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:13</time>
all reflect back on our childhood and their moments and memories where it's

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:16</time>
like, it stands out for me, six and a half growing up on a military base and playing

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:22</time>
with, you know, guns and I mean, they're guns and all bullets and heavy military

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:29</time>
just laying around the, the barrack and the, you know, playing around all that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:32</time>
But to answer your question on the ship itself, one of the things I do remember

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:35</time>
is tasting military peanut butter in the can that you, you know, rolled up.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:40</time>
Sure, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:41</time>
And chicklettes chicklettes military chit, they were res Yeah, yeah, yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:46</time>
That, I mean, specific to your, to your question.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:49</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:49</time>
Those were the things that I remember because, you know.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:52</time>
Exactly, exactly on the ship.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:55</time>
And we see, we see photos.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:35:58</time>
My dad's sitting there on the ship just kinda like chilling,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:00</time>
talking with, you know, his buddies and I'm, I'm, you know, brother

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:04</time>
running around the, the ship there.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:06</time>
So, but yeah, I can I, that taste of that peanut butter, I can taste it right now.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:11</time>
That's the military peanut butter ration.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:13</time>
Yeah, I, I love stories like that because for me, you know, that's

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:16</time>
always what I. There's there's very specific things and it's not something

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:20</time>
you would ever think of, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:21</time>
It's a smell that triggers an old memory or something as something you taste

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:25</time>
that's like that just takes you right back You know to 30 40 50 years prior.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:30</time>
Yeah, and so I was thinking about that as you were telling this

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:33</time>
story I was like, I'm sure there's like one thing that he just really

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:36</time>
remembers, you know And if and it makes sense to me that for a kid, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:40</time>
It's something that you're gonna taste, you know for the first

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:42</time>
time so So I absolutely love that.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:45</time>
Now for the book, did your father write the better portions of this book and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:51</time>
then it was finished up by, by you like towards the end or how, how did,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:36:56</time>
how did that book get put together?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:58</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:36:59</time>
So, as we settled it, you know, in the saddle area here, eventually,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:04</time>
you know, came back and worked studied electronics and eventually

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:09</time>
the mom and dad the irony landed.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:11</time>
After a few, a few jobs here and there, he landed with Boeing, retired with Boeing,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:16</time>
the makers of, the makers of the Chinook.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:18</time>
My, my dad worked on the with the space program back then,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:22</time>
Cold War, ICBMs, all of that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
Mm hmm.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:23</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:24</time>
Program.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:24</time>
So he had military, fortunately military, you know, support military.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:29</time>
to, to get involved with projects like that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:31</time>
Sure.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:31</time>
And in his spare time, he loved writing and he wrote in obviously Vietnamese.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:38</time>
Still broken, broken, broken English.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:41</time>
Had to relearn, you know, my mom had to learn English from, from scratch.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:45</time>
Settle and, and just worked hard, sacrifice, all of that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:48</time>
All of that, all of those themes of having to start over again but in, in this case,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:53</time>
he had free time and when he did have free time wrote a lot in short stories that

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:37:58</time>
were published in Vietnamese newspapers, not only in Seattle, but in other

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:03</time>
Vietnamese communities all over the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:05</time>
S. And so, he wrote several, several stories and in the past few years,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:12</time>
I was able to finally find many of these files were documents cool

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:17</time>
laying around and got it translated.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:20</time>
My, you know, leaving Vietnam.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:21</time>
I left one year old.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:24</time>
I mean, first grade.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:25</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:26</time>
And so, didn't get to to go further into my own Vietnamese language and assimilated

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:33</time>
quickly into America, into into, you know, living in a, in a new country.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:38</time>
And so, yeah, in the past year here was able to compile all of this.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:41</time>
And one of the things my mom told me.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:45</time>
was that his dream was to actually put his own book together, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:48</time>
Of all the short stories that he had.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:50</time>
Unfortunately with all, you know, Alzheimer's took, took him early and

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:55</time>
and, and didn't get a chance to do that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:38:57</time>
And so I wanted to, honor him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:39:00</time>
And that timing was right in terms of 50 years since in 2025 here.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:39:06</time>
That we reflect back 50 years of the fall of of Saigon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:39:09</time>
And so the timing was right and hence you know, putting all this together, the book.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:14</time>
That's great.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:14</time>
Oh, that's amazing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:15</time>
I love that you were able to do that because that's you get to re experience

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:19</time>
some of that, you know, I'm sure as you're, as you're collecting those stories

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:22</time>
together and then reading back through them, putting them together that anything

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:27</time>
you do like any project like that, all right, and I'm preaching to the choir,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:31</time>
you're really going to get into that and really know how he felt and what

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:39:35</time>
an what an amazing opportunity for you

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:38</time>
Yeah, and it's a, I mean, this is a historically significant story, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:42</time>
This is something people need to know.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:44</time>
It's real.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:45</time>
It happened.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:46</time>
It happened to your family specifically, which means you can weigh in more on

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:51</time>
the actual facts and what happened.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:53</time>
I mean, you're a primary source.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:55</time>
So it really is great for you to tell this story.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:39:57</time>
And like you said, it's the 50th anniversary and people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:01</time>
You know, people are sometimes so confused about Vietnam.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:03</time>
They're so confused about what happened there and, and what was it about.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:06</time>
And I think this is, these kind of stories need to be told by people.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:11</time>
Like, we need to understand what was happening there and what

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:14</time>
happened to the people there.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:15</time>
And that, you know, what America tried to do to help.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:18</time>
And like, even your family coming to America and, you know, assimilating

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:24</time>
and being welcomed with open arms and being so You know a country

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:28</time>
that was able to help in and give you guys a new life from nothing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:32</time>
Yes.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:33</time>
From underwear, right?

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:34</time>
Yes.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:35</time>
But the heroic thing your father did to do that is just amazing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:41</time>
And I think, I think more stories like this need to be told.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:44</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:40:44</time>
And I think this is a fantastic, real, historic story.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:40:49</time>
They could make this into a Hollywood movie, in my opinion, right?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:40:51</time>
I mean That's, it's a culminating event, but a lot of uncertainty at the end

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:40:55</time>
and, and all, all the stuff at play.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:40:57</time>
So, I love that you got to put this book together.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:01</time>
The you know, themes of leadership, survival.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:06</time>
Overcoming obstacles, all of those things, we all go through

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:10</time>
it in our own personal way.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:12</time>
Absolutely.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:12</time>
This is just my dad's, you know, look at it, approach it, life with it.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:18</time>
And so the book is filled with stories of, you know, drama, excitement,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:25</time>
betrayal, survival, leadership.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:28</time>
All of those things it's embodied within this book.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:32</time>
The and as I, you know, I shared with you earlier in this conversation,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:37</time>
this was a story that I grew up as a kid, throughout my life.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:40</time>
Hearing my dad talk with his buddies, smoking a cigarette,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:43</time>
drinking a beer you know.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:45</time>
And listening in as I, you know, listening into these stories, and, and again, these

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:49</time>
were stories for many, many years, and it wasn't, it wasn't again until the U.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:41:53</time>
S. Navy, all of this, you know, reconnection in, again, 2010, 2009

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:00</time>
timeframe that finally saw pictures, finally saw some of these, And I'm

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:06</time>
thinking I'm like, man, my dad was telling the truth, you know, we got pictures.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:12</time>
It's like that.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:12</time>
It's like that fishing story, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:14</time>
Your buddy.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:14</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:14</time>
I caught that, you know, that 25 pound salmon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:17</time>
Oh yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:17</time>
Where's the picture?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:18</time>
No picture.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:19</time>
Not, you know what I'm saying?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:20</time>
You know?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:20</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:21</time>
So we got, we got all of those.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:23</time>
So thank you for again, Captain Kirk, Jan Herman.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:27</time>
U. S. Navy, U. S. S. Kirk, all the crewmen, and just, and the,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:31</time>
the, the church folks that have helped us along this whole journey.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:36</time>
That's amazing.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:36</time>
That's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:42:36</time>
amazing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:42:37</time>
So, where can people get your book at?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:39</time>
Oh Barnes Noble.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:41</time>
Okay.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:41</time>
Amazon.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:42</time>
Just, it's, it's all online.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:42:43</time>
And then there's also the PBS special.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:46</time>
Yeah, yeah, so the, the, the, the film Last Days in Vietnam, again, written

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:42:50</time>
and produced by Rory Kennedy and team it's on Netflix and they're, you know, yeah.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:42:55</time>
We'll include links to all of that stuff in the show notes and for the video

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:42:59</time>
version of this podcast for you guys who are watching we'll include links to, to

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:03</time>
everything here in the video description.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:05</time>
And Mickey, you so much, thank you so much for, you know, reaching

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:08</time>
out to us and joining us today.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:09</time>
We love hearing stories like this, especially as, you know, a veteran

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:13</time>
and someone who's currently serving, you know, veteran one day myself and

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:17</time>
just everything that your family did in the stories that you're getting

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:20</time>
to tell of your father's heroism.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:22</time>
We, we really do appreciate you, you coming on and joining us and,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:26</time>
and telling your part of the story.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:28</time>
And I love the little anecdotes there.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:30</time>
You know, about the peanut butter and the chiclets.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:43:32</time>
It just, it just makes me smile,

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:34</time>
I wanted to fulfill my dad's dream, number one, with

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:38</time>
the book and to honor him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:40</time>
It's the least I can do for him, giving so back, so much to myself and my family.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:46</time>
And to continue to share his his story.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:49</time>
This is, you know, the history, right?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:51</time>
His story.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:52</time>
Yeah, that's right.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:52</time>
This is my dad's story.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:54</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:54</time>
And so, Yeah, thank you both Scott and Jen for the opportunity for me to be on

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:43:59</time>
your platform and share my family's story.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:02</time>
Yeah, well we're excited to get this out there and to share

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:04</time>
this with our audience and hopefully people go check out the book.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:08</time>
Remind me of the official name of the book.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:10</time>
Oh, The Last Flight Out?

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:13</time>
The Last Flight Out.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:14</time>
And

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:14</time>
is that the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:16</time>
helicopter?

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:17</time>
That's that's him.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:18</time>
That's wow.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:19</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:20</time>
All right.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:20</time>
So so folks check out the go go to their show notes and check out

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:24</time>
the last flight out and Mickey.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:25</time>
Thank you so much for joining us.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:27</time>
Yeah.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:27</time>
Thank you.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:28</time>
God bless you.

<cite>Miki:</cite>
<time>00:44:29</time>
Thank you.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:33</time>
Jen, I enjoyed his story so much.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:36</time>
It was, I, it was hard to fathom and then hearing him tell it from,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:44:41</time>
his perspective as a six and a half year old was just riveting.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:45</time>
You know, it's one of those that truth is braver than fiction,

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:49</time>
you know, like what his father did is, is stuff that movies are made out of.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:53</time>
It's stuff you see in movies that you're like, there's no way that could happen.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:56</time>
There's no way that would work.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:44:58</time>
And it did in his case and what his dad did without any training.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:03</time>
He just did it.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:04</time>
I mean, a father's heart to get his family safe and out of a country that's

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:08</time>
about to fall like it was just amazing.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:11</time>
And to celebrate this on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:15</time>
More people need to understand what's happening in Vietnam and the

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:18</time>
repercussions of that and what a refugee crisis looks like in this case.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:22</time>
It was just, it was amazing to tell the story.

<cite>Jenn:</cite>
<time>00:45:24</time>
It

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:24</time>
was amazing.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:25</time>
I loved some of the anecdotes that he told us about the

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:27</time>
peanut butter and the chiclets.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:29</time>
If you guys are interested in this book, please look in the video description

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:32</time>
or the podcast show notes description for a link to The Last Flight Out.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:37</time>
This has been a Walk With History production.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:39</time>
Talk With History is created and hosted by me, Scott Bennie.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:42</time>
Episode researched by Jennifer Bennie.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:44</time>
Check out the show notes for links and references mentioned in this episode.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:48</time>
Talk With History is supported by our fans at thehistoryroadtrip.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:52</time>
com.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:53</time>
Our eternal thanks to those providing funding to help keep us going.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:45:56</time>
to Doug McLiverty, Larry Myers, and Patrick Bennie.

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:46:01</time>
Make sure you hit that follow button in your podcast player,

<cite>Scott:</cite>
<time>00:46:03</time>
and we'll talk to you next time.

The Story