Col. Anthony Wood, USMC, Vietnam, Evacuation of Saigon

·38 min·3 clips

Colonel Wood was tasked in secret to evacuate Saigon with no Marines allowed in the city.

Retired Marine Colonel Anthony "Tony" Wood recounts his secret mission to plan the evacuation of Saigon in 1975 for host Greg Corambis. Wood served two tours in Vietnam, first leading an armored platoon with the Korean Marine Corps in 1968 and later commanding a special operations team searching for MIA remains in 1974. He describes the 1968 Tet Offensive as a catastrophic defeat for the Viet Cong that was misinterpreted as a loss in the United States. Wood details his second tour's clandestine work negotiating with hill tribes for security while investigating unresolved MIA cases after an American team was ambushed in December 1974. By March 1975, with North Vietnamese forces advancing, Major General Homer Smith secretly tasked Wood, Army Special Forces hero George Petrie, and Marine Major Jim Avatar to form the sole evacuation planning cell. Ambassador Graham Martin had forbidden any overt evacuation preparations, forcing the planners to operate in absolute secrecy from both the enemy and the U.S. embassy. The team, dubbed the SPG, devised a plan using buses with secretly installed flak armor and designated rooftop helicopter landing zones across the city. They recruited about 100 American civilian volunteers, including an area auditor named Bill Austin, to help build a hidden internment camp for 10,000 people inside the Defense Attaché Office compound. A pivotal setback occurred on April 3rd when a C-5A transport plane involved in Operation Babylift crashed, killing most on board, including about 20 volunteers from Wood's team. Wood told the remaining volunteers he did not believe everyone would survive the evacuation, as they would have no armed Marine security in the city due to the ambassador's orders. The planning was further jeopardized when Brigadier General Bond was arrested and flown out of the country after requesting a Marine company for compound security. On April 28th, North Vietnamese rocket fire killed two Marines, destroyed the compound gate, and closed Tan Son Nhat airbase by setting aircraft ablaze. Wood's improvised solution was to use 40 taxis painted as National Police vehicles with blue lights to lead the bus convoys, hoping to intimidate rioters. Air America pilots, flying civilian Huey helicopters, evacuated people from the rooftops after the ambassador barred military helicopters from landing in the city. The famous photograph of people ascending a ladder on a rooftop depicts an Air America Huey, not a military aircraft. The large-scale helicopter evacuation from the DAO compound involved 534 sorties and was led by General Al Gray, who later became Commandant of the Marine Corps. Wood and Petrie evacuated around midnight on April 29th, while the embassy evacuation continued into the next morning. Wood expresses lasting regret that the civilian volunteers never received official recognition or thanks for their heroic efforts. The episode is presented in a direct, interview-based oral history style focused on detailed military recollection. The tone is sober and factual, emphasizing personal experience and operational challenges. Listeners interested in military history, special operations, and firsthand accounts of pivotal historical moments will find this episode compelling. Those seeking broader political analysis of the Vietnam War may find the perspective narrowly focused on ground-level execution.

As heard by us

A steady firsthand account of the planning behind Saigon's evacuation.

The episode follows Colonel Anthony Wood from his Marine upbringing and enlistment into the secret planning group that helped shape the evacuation of Saigon in 1975.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a behind-the-scenes account of how Saigon's evacuation was planned under pressure.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Veterans Chronicles