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Veteran Details Final Days in Saigon

(November 28, 2016) - More than 40 years have passed but the final days in South Vietnam for the United States, and local resident Dave Norman, remain vivid to many.

Norman, now a lieutenant with the Miami County Sheriff’s Department, shared his recollections of events in Saigon in 1975 as part of veterans’ week activities at Upper Valley Medical Center.

A Marine Corps security guard assigned to the American Embassy in Saigon, Norman was among the last Marines rescued from the embassy rooftop as the United States evacuated at the war’s end.

Norman signed up for the Marines and service in the infantry after his draft number was drawn near the top while he was a senior at Fairborn Park Hills High School in 1972. After graduation, he completed training, including being first in his infantry school class, before being assigned to Vietnam in 1973. 

After a one year tour of duty, Norman completed Marine Security Guard School before returning to Southeast Asia and the embassy duty.

He described the chaotic times in the country as the North Vietnamese moved south and the end of the war neared. In the final days, ways to leave the country via a river, roads and the airport were cut off, leaving only helicopters to help evacuate the last Americans and as many South Vietnamese as possible through the embassy.

Norman described harrowing duty and hours of uncertainty after all but a handful of Marines had been evacuated, and the helicopters had been ordered not to return. Eventually, they did, and Norman and others were evacuated from the embassy rooftop out to a ship. He was 21 at the time.

The return to the United States was not as harrowing, but still challenging. The returning soldiers were told to change from their military uniforms into civilian clothing before they went through the airport due to the negative attitude of many Americans toward military members coming home.

“Basically, I had to sneak back into my own country after serving a year in Vietnam,” Norman said.

The attitude in America today toward veterans and those who serve, thankfully, has changed, he said.

“The welcomes (for military personnel) now are important. People who serve need that knowledge,” Norman said. 

“Freedom is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. I have been in a lot of countries … and this is the best country in the world. This is the best country because we fight to keep this country safe,” he said. “If you see a veteran, thank them.”

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