The Fall Of Saigon

I would have been not quite six years old at the time. I remember that mom and dad would watch the evening news, and sometimes they'd argue about it. Saigon falling to the North Vietnamese definitely sparked an argument. Mom and dad would go into the dining room to argue, and I'd be left to watch the news alone. At least until mom sent me to play elsewhere. She didn't think a 5 year old should be watching the news.

*break for a rant about my father*

My father was, among other things, a Marine. He served in Vietnam, somewhere around 1967 or 1968. His mother was hospitalized during his tour, and he was given leave to visit her. She recovered from her whatever-it-was, and dad never went back to the military. He came to St. Louis instead. A mutual "friend" made a bet with my dad. He bet that dad couldn't get my mom to agree to marry him.

A few months later, dad won a measly $5 and a wife. They had a little honeymoon, conceived myself, and only then did he tell my mom that he was AWOL from the Marines. He told her because he had decided to turn himself in. He was court-marshaled and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the brig. When he was released, he had his dishonorable discharge papers framed and hung on the wall behind his recliner.
*end rant*

Somehow, my father thought that spending 4 months as a stock clerk in a large, safe city in Asia entitled him to opine about Vietnam. My mother disagreed.

So I got to watch a few news clips while my parents argued. All I remember seeing was helicopters and crowds of people. I didn't understand any of it.
Some months (or years) later, I earned a spanking for asking ceaseless questions about the Vietnamese children that were coming to America on a plane.

My parent's did not understand that I felt I'd missed a turning point in history, with the fall of Saigon; and that I wanted to know what was going on now. I thought those Orphan Flights would be just as historic as Saigon, and I didn't want to miss it!

Yeah, so I was wrong. Oh well.