Fullbore Friday

flight of the innocents

The Hairy Navy at its best; a nation at its best—even when its people didn't want to hear it or believe it.

I strongly encourage everyone to read the full story of the USS KIRK (then DE-1087 then FF-1087) during the fall of South Vietnam in '75.

"We looked up out on the horizon, and pretty soon all you could see were helicopters. And they came in and it was incredible. I don't think I'll ever see anything like it again," said Doyle, now retired and living in Rhode Island.

The South Vietnamese military helicopters were packed with people — pilots and their family and friends. And now, as some of the choppers were precariously low on fuel, the pilots were looking for a place to land. Dozens of UH-1 Huey helicopters flew past the Kirk heading for the larger aircraft carriers. The Kirk had only a small flight deck.

Go here as well and see the video. These are the true Vietnam Veterans - not the cr@p fed to you by school books and Hollywierd. When I first posted this story in 2010, there was a new ad campaign calling the US Navy a "Global Force For Good," as if this were something new. Child please; when has the USN not been a global force for good? We just didn’t know what we forgot to tell the nation.

Be proud of your Navy, your nation—read the details at the same link on what these refugees did with their chance.

The 93rd Congress may have brought great shame on the USA - but in their way, the crew of the KIRK and ships like her gained a little back - and with this brought to our shores a great cohort of new Americans.

Those refugees from our fallen ally South Vietnam have done exceptionally well and given back to the USA as few have. One of the child refugees of 1975, Hung Cao, CAPT USN (Ret.), is slated to be our next Under Secretary of the Navy.