This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Today we have a history story brought to us from the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.

In April of 1975, the United States was engaging in an evacuation of Saigon, which at the time was

the capital of South Vietnam. This evacuation plan known as Operation Frequent Wind came as the North Vietnamese

were closing in on South Vietnam. Here's historian Hill Goodspeed with the story.

So there were U.S. nationals who were still in Saigon and there were also other people wanting to get out and the embassy of course needed to be evacuated.

So the US Navy sent a fleet of ships and they operated off the coast of South Vietnam.

And there was pretty much an aerial shuttle is the best way to describe it, of Marine Corps and Navy

helicopters flying in country and landing primarily on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy to pull people out.

Amidst this operation, there was one man, a South Vietnamese pilot who decided to take into his

own hands the safety of his family.

Major Bung Lee.

During the long involvement of U.S. forces in Vietnam, there was a training program that

existed to integrate South Vietnamese personnel and military forces into U.S. operations.

Certainly a big part of that was training pilots

to fly various missions, and they formed the South Vietnamese Air Force. There was also a group called

the Arvin, which is Army of the Republic of Vietnam. And so these individuals served alongside

American forces, U.S. advisors during the course of the Vietnam War.

And he was, at the time of the fall of Saigon, he came up with the idea that he needed to get out,

and especially with his military affiliation.

And with the ability to fly, he commandeered an aircraft, which is in South Vietnamese Air Force markings. I mean, it's still

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