Vietnam: Refugees Who Became U.S. Diplomats
From Vietnam to the service of the United States.
The fall of Saigon
North Vietnamese forces took Saigon on April 30, 1975. In the final days, American helicopters lifted thousands of Americans and Vietnamese out of the city in Operation Frequent Wind, while many more escaped by sea. Most of the first wave passed through camps on Guam and Wake Island, then through processing centers in the United States such as Camp Pendleton, Fort Chaffee, Fort Indiantown Gap, and Eglin Air Force Base.
The boat people
The exodus did not stop in 1975. In the late 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of thousands of people left Vietnam by sea in crowded, unsafe boats. Many died. Survivors reached camps in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. The Orderly Departure Program, set up in 1979, offered a safer, legal route out of Vietnam for many others.
Vietnamese Americans in diplomacy
Former Vietnamese refugees have served the Department of State as Foreign Service officers, consular officers, Diplomatic Security special agents, and refugee specialists. Several have returned to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City.