Unhappy Anniversary

MGySgt John J. Valdez
Staff Non Commission Officer in charge
American Embassy, Saigon, R. South Vietnam

Last off the roof of the Embassy during the Fall of Saigon 30th April 1975

We secured the final door on the roof and people began coming up toward the roof. They had forced open the main door of the embassy and were appearing on the roof's helo pad. About 30 to 40 people. They never actually got on the main roof.

We took wall lockers that we had staged reactionary gear in and tipped them over and put them against the door. And then we had those large fire extinguishers on the roof - the kind with wheels - and we brought them inside and put them against the wall lockers to reinforce the door....

UPDATE

This photograph is NOT of the US Embassy but was taken by Hubert van Es as explained here and brought to our attention by Frank Snepp (see comments).

It was taken on Tuesday, April 29, 1975 22 of Gia Long Street, an apartment building in downtown Saigon where senior Central Intelligence Agency employees were housed. Several weeks earlier the roof of the elevator shaft had been reinforced with steel plate so that it would be able to take the weight of a helicopter.

At the Embassy, Chinook's (the favoured transport of our own dear Royals) were being used.