When does the desperate struggle for life outweigh the heavy burden of duty? And when does the duty to one’s fellow man supersede the duty to his mission? On one of America’s saddest, most chaotic days, that duty—the duty to do what’s right—became the mission.
This is the Forgotten History of The Unplanned Airlift.
Buang-Ly was a dead man, and he knew it. A major in the South Vietnamese Air Force, he was certain to be killed as the North closed in. The Americans were withdrawing, Saigon was falling, and all he could think about were his wife and five children. Once he was killed, they would be thrown in prison…or worse.
Operation Frequent Wind—the helicopter evacuation of American personnel and their allies from Saigon—was underway, but the military hadn’t counted on thousands of South Vietnamese soldiers and airmen like Buang to show up, desperate to escape the persecution to come.
There simply weren’t enough helicopters to save them all.
Buang refused to let his family die or suffer at the hands of the North Vietnamese, so he frantically tried to think of a plan. He saw a tiny two-seat Cessna plane that the Americans had left behind and had an idea.
As his wife kept watch, he hotwired the plane and hustled their five children aboard. His wife hopped in and the seven of them flew toward the South China Sea in a plane built for two people with only enough gas for a few hours in the air.
Buang didn’t really know what he was flying toward, but he knew the horror from which he was flying away, and even if he was forced to crash into the ocean, he figured that would be a better fate than what awaited them back home.
Onboard the USS Midway a few miles away, Rear Admiral Larry Chambers was awaiting the arrival of helicopters filled with evacuees. Just a few weeks ago, he had become the first African American in Navy history to command an aircraft carrier and this was his ship’s first major mission.
As he stood on the flight deck, he saw a tiny dot approaching the Midway. It grew bigger in the sky until he recognized it as a Cessna. He wasn’t expecting this. He was told only helicopters would be part of the massive airlift.
He watched as the tiny plane began circling the carrier. He ordered his radio team to make contact with the pilot, but they couldn’t. The plane kept circling, passing lower and lower until the Midway’s crew could make out who was inside: At least four or five people crammed into the tiny craft.
On one of its lowest passes, the pilot tossed something overboard that landed near a helicopter on the Midway’s deck. It was a pistol wrapped in a note that read:
Can you move the helicopter to the other side, I can land on your runway, I can fly for one hour more, we have enough time to move. Please rescue me! Major Buang, wife and 5 child.
Admiral Chambers was stunned. There was no way this pilot could have known where the Midway would be, so he must have simply loaded his family into the plane and flown blind into the sea hoping to find some sort of rescue.
Inspired by this bold act of desperate courage, Chambers ordered his men to clear the Midway’s deck. He knew there was no way Buang could ditch the plane in the ocean for a water rescue; he would never get all of his children off before it sank. There was no choice: This plane would land on the Midway’s deck.
Move every arresting wire, he told his crew. Clear every helicopter.
But time was running short. They only had a few minutes until the plane would run out of fuel, and a few of the helicopters couldn’t be moved in time.
So Admiral Chambers gave the most controversial order of his career: push them overboard.
Chambers was sure he would be court martialed, but he knew saving this family’s life was more important than his career. His crew didn’t think twice: they pushed a total of five helicopters into the sea and cleared space for Buang to land.
Would he be able to? Chambers gritted his teeth as the tiny plane circled one final time and approached the deck. The landing gear came down as Buang went into his final descent. The plane hit the deck, bounced once, and came to a gentle stop: a perfect landing.
The crew cheered wildly as Buang and his family climbed out of the plane. The sailors were so inspired by his bravery that they took up a collection to help fund the start of the family’s new life in America, where they still live to this day.
And Admiral Chambers, who was so sure he would be court martialed, was instead commended for making the difficult decision to sacrifice military equipment to save a family.
As he put it, “When a man has the courage to put his family in a plane and make a daring escape like that, you have to have the heart to let him in.”