Cut and Run

For John, BLUF:  How are we going to explain to ourselves our withdrawal from Afghanistan?  Thank God we hung around Korea.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

Why Commemorate Black April?

From Red State, by Mr Stu Cvrk, 30 Apr 2021, 11:00 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which signified the true end of the Vietnam War.  Who could forget that famous picture of people queued up on a Saigon building (mistakenly thought to have been the US Embassy), getting on a UH-1 helicopter leaving Vietnam, as shown in this video:

There were some other great pictures in that video, too.  However, the real last helicopter flight out was that of a CH-46 (Callsign “Swift 22”).  The video describes the helicopter evacuation operations that were part of Operation Frequent Wind, the largest such operation in history, which commenced on 25 April 1975

Further on the story reads:

The non-Communist Vietnamese who escaped the country have long referred to April 1975 as “Black April.”  Those who escaped to the US have become some of the most patriotic and anti-Communist of all Americans.  Many of them, as well as their progeny, mark Black April on 30 April each year.  Here is a typical comment from one person on the 40th anniversary that explains what Black April means:

For Van Truong Le in Boston, this is a painful day, a time he and others who fled Vietnam call “Black April.”

“Because that was when folks from South Vietnam lost our country to the North Communist regime,” he said.  “It was the day we lost our country.  So we refer to it as Black April 1975.  In fact for the last 40 years on April 30, the Vietnamese who have resettled here for the most part commemorate and observe that day as a day to commemorate the loss of Vietnam.”

For me the day I commemoorate is the day we stopped supporting Cambodia, in 1973.  I took leave and left Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base, so that I wouldn't be part of our craven and cowardly withdrawal from supportng Cambodia.  But, 30 April seems appropriate enough.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff