U.S. Embassy Saigon

HISTORICAL LOCATIONS SAIGON

If you drive past the U.S. Consulate in Saigon today, there is not much to see other than a very tall yellow wall, and rather scrawny looking Vietnamese soldiers walking around with AK-47s.

But located at 4 Le Duan Street , the U.S. Consulate compound occupies the same spot that was occupied by the U.S. Embassy compound during the Vietnam War.

And just as the U.S. Consulate compound is situated today, the U.S. Embassy compound during the Vietnam War had its main gate located on what is today Le Duan, bordered on the left by the French Embassy compound.

Construction of the original Vietnam War era Embassy and 3.2 acre compound started on June 11th 1965.

It was completed in late 1967, just three months before the start of the Tet offensive in January 1968 at a cost of $2.6 million dollars.

Prior to the construction of the Embassy and compound, the U.S. embassy was located in the old U.S. Chancery building at 30 Dai Lo Ham Nghi by the Saigon waterfront.

However the U.S. had been planning to move from this old site for while.

They intended to build a new Embassy and compound on Le Duan Street for a while, but approval for a new Embassy and compound was continually delayed.

It took the explosion of a car laden with explosives outside the old Chancery on March 30th 1965 for things to finally click into gear.

The car had been planted and detonated out side of the old Chancery building by Viet Cong, the explosion killing 22 people and injuring 188.

With the explosion still ringing in their ears, the U.S. Congress finally approved funds for the construction of a new Embassy and compound on Le Duan Street two days after the bomb explosion.

US Embassy 1968 - Saigon

During the Vietnam War, just under a dozen people served as ambassador to South Vietnam at some time.

The last of these people to serve as U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam was Graham Martin.

Martin had become ambassador to Saigon in 1973, and was amongst the last remaining Americans to be evacuated by helicopter as part of operation Frequent Wind as communist forces overran the city in April 1975.

“Frequent Wind” was the code name for the emergency evacuation of Saigon of U.S. nationals and some South Vietnamese by helicopter.

Under the January 1973 Paris peace accord America had agreed to near total withdrawal of its forces in early 1973, however there were still some contractors and government officials in Vietnam to be evacuated in 1975.

When on April 29th 1975 North Vietnamese forces started attacking the outskirts of Saigon Martin gave the order to commence operation Frequent Wind.

The signal for the evacuation was the broadcast on Armed Forces Radio of the quote “the temperature is rising” followed by eight bars of the Irving Berlin song White Christmas.

Originally large scale helicopter evacuations were not planned for the Embassy.

US Marine 30th April - Saigon

But as things deteriorated and people could not get to Tan Son Nhat airport which was under bomb and rocket attack, the Embassy was used as a staging area.

Wave after wave of helicopters would land on the rooftop of the Embassy, where French, Americans and South Vietnamese military families would all be ushered into the arriving helicopters.

Outside the Embassy compound thousand of Vietnamese swarmed around the Embassy compound hoping and pleading for escape.

So desperate to escape, Marines talk of seeing a women toss her baby over the barbed wire of the fence in the hope they would take it, or of a man offering a bag of uncut gems for a chance of freedom.

By about 3am on the following morning of April the 30th, the ambassador had gone and the only Americans remaining were the U.S. Marines.

The order was then given to airlift Embassy documents and American citizens only.

Vietnamese still there who had worked many years for the U.S. Embassy or military were refused the helicopter evacuation service.

To the regret of many Americans who were there, hundreds of Vietnamese who had been promised a way out were left behind.

In particular the U.S. Embassy staff were concerned with evacuating Vietnamese who had worked for US AIS, USIS and the embassy, as these were people who more than likely would be on the communist enemies' list, and would be killed for allying with the U.S. enemy during the war.

The remaining marines barricaded the entrances, rolled down steel doors, dropped grenades down the elevators so they could not be used and went to the roof.

As the Marines lay on the roof of the Embassy to avoid sniper fire until the last helicopter finally arrived, the crowds outside drove a full water truck through the outer gates.

Swarms of Vietnamese flooded into the compound and rushed into the building.

With a desperate mob of refugees desperately trying to gain access to the roof, the final helicopter finally arrived at 8am for the remaining marines.

Helicopter Evacuation - US Embassy Saigon

They were airlifted to the USS Blueridge waiting off the coast.

After the war the U.S. embassy remained abandoned for a long time.

Eventually the U.S. Embassy along with the old UK embassy across the street were used to house the Petro-Vietnam company offices.

In 1994 though, the old U.S. Embassy was given back to the U.S. as Washington D.C. and Ha Noi looked to normalize relations.

The normalization of relations was made official in 1995, and the following year the two countries exchanged ambassadors.

Sadly for the building though, the Embassy remained unoccupied and unused after it was given back to the U.S. in 1994.

And in 1997 the old building was finally torn down, the sad end to a building that had had a short but eventful life.

In its place they built the new consulate and compound that exists today.