The continuing saga of the Last WESTPAC of the Fightin' Hanna..1975
Operation Frequent Wind was the evacuation of Americans, Vietnamese and third country nationals by helicopter from South Vietnam on 29 April 1975.
1,373 U.S. citizens and 5,595 Vietnamese and third country nationals were evacuated by USMC, USAF and Air America helicopters to U.S. Navy ships off-shore in an approximately 24-hour period on April 29-30, 1975, immediately preceding the fall of Saigon.
I, Big Daddy Popeye was there..34 years ago. I was stationed onboard the USS Hancock CVA-19.
This is what occurred on the flight deck of the USS Hancock CVA-19 during Operation Frequent Wind. I was assigned to "G" Division flight deck crew. "G" division is comprised of Aviation Ordanceman. We handle Aviation ammo. This story is written as best as I can remember...
29 April 1975 of that day my friend one Mr Jimmy Bishop said..""Was that ever one of the sadist days of my life.. Remember seeing{on Tv} them shove UH-1B's over the side of one of the carriers because they were running out of room to operate. I was having a cold brewski at this little Irish Pub named McGoo's...seems like yesterday""
About 0530 on board the USS Hancock CVA-19 on 29 April 1975 AO2 HD awoke me and told me it's time to get to work. Oh joy,oh joy!! Another day of loading .50 cal ammo and waiting. It had been more than 10 days since we left Singapore. All old Hanna was doing was cutting doughnuts in the Tonkin Gulf and waiting for Saigon to fall.
Meanwhile in Saigon US Ambassador Martin knew the end was near.The North Vietnamese forces were getting closer to Saigon. It was just a matter of time before he would have to tell Washington to order the evacuation of Saigon. That occurred at 1000 that morning when he called Sec. Of state Henry Kessinger..
Deep Purple !! Deep Purple!! Was called away on the USS Hancock CVA-19 at about 1100. ..Operation Frequent wind was under way! Fightin' Hanna would answer the call one more time.
My job was to load up the USMC helos with .50 cal ammo. Then I was to man the deck edge bomb elevator forward of the island and place evacuee luggage on it after it had been inspected. Well WE all did more than that that day.
The sky was soon filled with USMC helos, some filled with "Grunt" Marines to secure & establish landing zones in designated areas "in country". I will not ever forget the sight of all those ships..48..and all those helos.
Jimmy mentioned seeing helo's being pushed overboard. That was on the USS Hancock CVA-19 and the USS Midway CVA-41. We had to push 19 of the Republic of South Vietnam(RVN) helo's overboard. 2 Chinook's and 17 Huey's. They were clogging the deck. Plus they had no landing gear{wheels}. Just skids. When the first RVN Huey's landed they were dragged to the bow and spotted there. As more and more helos arrived it became apparent that we could not keep the RVN helos and recover our own USMC helos.
So when a RVN CH-47 Chinook landed with its non-folding blades we pushed it off the fantail. It ripped the safety netting off the round down on the fantail. It made a big splash when it hit the water. That helo's starboard engine was on fire. When that helo was circling ole Hanna' there was a 50 cal machine gun that was manned and ready pointing out of the starboard forward door. Smoke was bellowing out of that starboard engine. Capt. "Field Day" Fred Fellows called the ship to GQ over that.
I once read another internet account that claimed that these helos were salvaged first for parts. This is not true. We did not have the time. We simply pushed many of the RVN helos into the Tonkin Gulf. Period. Another account claims a Cessna landed on the Hancock. Not true. The Cessna actually landed on the USS Midway CVA-41. I know. I was on that flight deck for 29 straight hours. Click the link below for pic of the Evacuation on the Midway.
When the nice pretty silver and blue Air America Huey's started coming aboard they were dragged to the bow and spotted there. A lot of those Air America pilots were drunk. It is a wonder that none of their helos crashed. We could not souvenir hunt in those birds like we did the RVN helos that we did keep.
When the RVN officers & families & Civilians etc starting really arriving in droves. Many were ARMED. You name it.. they had it!! A lot of 45's,38's,9mm,22's.. sawed offed Remington shot guns. I saw a so sweet .357 Colt Python with a six in barrel. I saw a lot Of knives. The Jar heads..OOPPSS I mean the Marines were in charge of searching the evacuees. They had this box to put the weapons in. Well you know Marines & sailors. Some marine "Confiscated" that Colt Python. Most of the weapons were thrown overboard.{Sic} Most of the RVN military,civilians and American evacuees had large sum of cash and gold. After the evacuees were searched they were sent down to the Hangar deck were they were deloused and quartered. Some were placed in vacated berthing spaces.
Later that evening after the dust had settled a USMC CH-46 flying plane guard crashed just off the port side of the Hancock. Two crewman were lost. A Memorial service was held for the lost crewman on our way back to Subic.
All in all we wound up with over 2000 evacuees on the Hancock. One child was born to a Vietnamese woman on the Hancock. What was he named? John Hancock...
Big Daddy Popeye USN/retired USS Hancock CVA-19 AUG'74 'til Aug '75
