Burned in the paddy field
The crew descended to 900 meters so that those who had not yet been kicked out of the cabin did not choke. They tried to return to the airfield, but control refused. The ground was approaching, it was not possible to “slow down” – the mechanization of the wings failed, the explosion interrupted the control cables. The huge Galaxy was falling. The commander gave gas and “turned the nose”. The 300-ton plane, after crossing the rice paddies, took off and immediately crashed into the dam, collapsing.
This tragedy entered the history of Vietnam and the United States. Vietnam has not known bloodier: 155 victims. And before the terrorist attack in the United States on September 11, 2001, considered the most difficult in the history of intelligence, 35 employees of the office of the military attaché were killed. How many of them worked for the Secret Service is not revealed, but it is said that so many spies never died at the same time.
But they are not the main victims. Near Saigon crushed and burned alive 78 children.
So, April 4, 1975. The war was ending, the United States was waiting for shame and internal problems. And suddenly the Americans decided to eliminate thousands of Vietnamese children. 250 boys and girls were loaded into the C-5. Who could sit – on chairs, the crumbs were laid out around the cabin in cardboard boxes. I repeat: officially, all these children have been rescued, so to speak. But kindness is a terrible force.
Napalm on your heads
Fill-in-the-blank question: Why have Americans overcome the kindness mania? Someone will say: missionary work is in their blood. The answer is not accepted, because. before that, they “mission” in Vietnam with a wink: they burned entire villages with napalm. The army enters, surrounded by a sea of ​​tiny, charred bodies. Communists? But infants were clearly not accepted in the Communist Party. Even the dumbest kid in Oklahoma knew that.
Photo: Denver Post via Getty Images
But American society at the time was not complex on this account. Hundreds of artists came to Vietnam to support their fighters. Villages burn near and on the positions – clockwork songs, dances and banjo strumming.
Everything changed in the summer of 1972. Briton Nick Ut posted a photo: a group of children against the background of clouds of smoke, in the center – a naked girl. His village was bombarded with incendiary munitions, napalm hit his clothes. A three-year-old realized he had to get naked or you’d get burned. The effect is well known: millions of deaths are abstract statistics, but the eyes of a wounded child are a tragedy.
And that’s when the world shook.
By the way, the girl survived, her name is Kim Fook Phan Thi. She is now in Canada. And Uta’s photo is considered the most amazing photo of the 20th century.
Soon the United States “withdrew from the battle”, continuing to fight at the hands of the South Vietnamese regime. But in the spring of 1975, the South Vietnamese army weakened and fled.
Soon the front pages of the world’s media will be filled with pictures humiliating Americans: helicopters evacuate those who were afraid of the communists from the roofs of the American embassy in Saigon. Shame on America.
It had to be leveled.
Between an angel and a demon
They therefore imagined Operation Babylift. From April 4 to 14. The official version: American guys won the hearts of Vietnamese beauties, children were born from love. And America is not a country that will leave its people to fend for themselves. We decided to take them to a rich and happy America from “poor and terrible” Vietnam.
How much? The calculations showed: they are 2000. Plus 1500 other single Vietnamese orphans, but it’s like a bonus from the generosity of the American soul. Let the world see who is good and who is bad. Primitive? But, it works.
And they all succeeded. Almost. There is a photo of President Gerald Ford carrying a Vietnamese child out of a plane. Caption: ‘The baby comes from South Vietnamese orphans from Saigon, who were transferred to the United States as part of the Babylift.
Orphans? The irony is that the Americans themselves conducted an investigation, finding that most “orphans” in Vietnam have parents. Whose consent no one asked. Why did they steal? And so that the President of the United States can pose with them. He is good and kind, all the others are savages. And in general, the Vietnamese do not have jeans, hamburgers or chewing gum. Be on the side of those who have it.
The doors are closing
Yes, why did the C-5 crash and burn? The communists exploded?
The full name is Lockheed C-5 Galaxy. At that time, the most advanced carrier. But he died corny: the crew did not close the cargo bay door. Two of the seven locks were working. Reported to Commander. Him: let’s fly!
Two locks held the heavy door as long as they could. Then, due to the pressure difference, an explosive decompression occurred.
They will object to me: aviation is like that, planes fall. Yes. But the culprits are punished, right? And how were the pilots who risked taking off with doors not fixed being punished? And they were rewarded! Dennis Traynor (commander) and Tilford Harp (co-pilot) each received the Fir Force Cross, a very prestigious Air Force order.
Starfall also hit the rest: 37 medals were awarded to crew members or their relatives. But the orphans… The survivors were flown to the United States to be photographed with the president. Those burned were cremated and buried in the cemetery of St. Nicholas Church in Pattaya, Thailand.
Pattaya is a popular city, so travelers should take note: if you’re there, check it out. Bow down to the ashes. After all, history only repeats itself exactly when it is known and remembered.
point-blank question
who are the judges
Today, Operation Babylift is recalled along with the arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova from the International Criminal Court. Suspected of “illegal export of children from Ukraine”. We are talking about children whom we rescued and placed in the fabulous “Artek” and other spa resorts. No one was burned alive along the way, no one died of dehydration. Because of which someone, apparently, is very insulting.
Of course, there is also an argument: in the mid-1970s there was no Hague ICC yet, it started to operate in the early 2000s. Well, what if there was ? And what?! Yes, by the way. The C-5 crew, implicated in kidnapping Vietnamese children and killing half through their own negligence, were awarded in the United States with the “For Exceptional Bravery” award.
