SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Tuesday will mark 50 years since the USS Midway was called into action on April 29, 1975, when Saigon was falling and U.S. military leaders launched Operation Frequent Wind — the largest helicopter evacuation in history.
“The USS Midway actually rescued more than 3,000 South Vietnamese refugees that were flown to the ship," Navy veteran and USS Midway museum Marketing Director David Koonz said.
In just 30 hours, the Midway’s flight deck, once built for war, became a refuge for thousands desperate to escape the advancing North Vietnamese forces.
“Even in all the chaos of hundreds of helicopters coming out to the ship, not one life was lost," Koonz said. "It was a pretty incredible operation, but it's also probably one of the largest, if not the largest humanitarian effort in military history.”
Each helicopter carried far more than it was designed for. Passengers packed shoulder to shoulder, clinging to hope.
"These helicopters were quite overloaded, these were helicopters that were for 10 people but there would be 20 or thirty people," Koonz said.
Today marks the sacrifice and resilience of that moment, still echoing across the ship.
"It was something that was very difficult," Koonz said. "Many of the South Vietnamese left the country with nothing more than the shirts on their back. It was a different culture, different language, different food and they had to start their lives from scratch.”
Sunday morning, more than 3,000 people — about the same number rescued in 1975 — gathered on top of the USS Midway Museum to honor the bravery, sacrifice and human spirit that took flight here, half a century ago.
