The evacuees were airlifted to a US warship12 April 1975: US pulls out of Cambodia
BBC On This Day
The US has admitted defeat in Cambodia and removed its remaining embassy personnel from the capital, Phnom Penh.
Early this morning 276 people were airlifted from a football field near the embassy by a fleet of 30 helicopters.
Those on the airlift included 159 Cambodians who had worked with the Americans.
Foreign journalists who had been covering the civil war between the communist Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian government were also airlifted out of the country.
It was feared "Operation Eagle Pull", as the evacuation was dubbed, would come under Khmer Rouge fire and more than 300 armed Marines guarded the field.
However, the operation passed off uneventfully.
Some of Cambodia's most senior government ministers, including the Acting President, Saukham Khoy, were among the evacuees.
The country's Prime Minister, Long Boret, has remained in Phnom Penh.
Long Boret's decision not to leave came as a surprise as he has been condemned to death by the advancing Khmer Rouge.
'Heavy heart'
The evacuees were flown to American war ships, the Okinawa and the Hancock, in the Gulf of Thailand.
In Washington, President Ford explained the reasons why the US had pulled out of Cambodia.
Mr Ford said he had taken the decision with "a heavy heart" but had done so to ensure the safety of Americans who had "served valiantly".
The American withdrawal is an inglorious end to five years of involvement in Cambodia's civil war.
Its presence in the country was closely linked to the war it is conducting in neighbouring Vietnam.
Between 1970 and 1973 the US bombed Cambodia in order to stop its North Vietnamese enemies using the country as a base.
If Phnom Penh does fall, Cambodia will become the first country since Cuba 16 years ago to pass into Communist hands.
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In Context
After the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on 17 April its leader, Pol Pot, immediately set about realising his vision of an agrarian utopia.
He forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave urban areas and become farmers.
Pol Pot's reforms led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people - some were executed but many died of disease and starvation.
In 1979 Cambodia's old enemy, Vietnam, invaded and the Khmer Rouge fled.
In 1991 a United Nations-brokered peace agreement was signed which ended the country's civil war.
In 1997 Pol Pot was convicted of treason by a "people's tribunal" and was sentenced to life under house arrest.
He died in April 1998.
Early this morning 276 people were airlifted from a football field near the embassy by a fleet of 30 helicopters.
Those on the airlift included 159 Cambodians who had worked with the Americans.
Foreign journalists who had been covering the civil war between the communist Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian government were also airlifted out of the country.
It was feared "Operation Eagle Pull", as the evacuation was dubbed, would come under Khmer Rouge fire and more than 300 armed Marines guarded the field.
However, the operation passed off uneventfully.
Some of Cambodia's most senior government ministers, including the Acting President, Saukham Khoy, were among the evacuees.
The country's Prime Minister, Long Boret, has remained in Phnom Penh.
Long Boret's decision not to leave came as a surprise as he has been condemned to death by the advancing Khmer Rouge.
'Heavy heart'
The evacuees were flown to American war ships, the Okinawa and the Hancock, in the Gulf of Thailand.
In Washington, President Ford explained the reasons why the US had pulled out of Cambodia.
Mr Ford said he had taken the decision with "a heavy heart" but had done so to ensure the safety of Americans who had "served valiantly".
The American withdrawal is an inglorious end to five years of involvement in Cambodia's civil war.
Its presence in the country was closely linked to the war it is conducting in neighbouring Vietnam.
Between 1970 and 1973 the US bombed Cambodia in order to stop its North Vietnamese enemies using the country as a base.
If Phnom Penh does fall, Cambodia will become the first country since Cuba 16 years ago to pass into Communist hands.
-----
In Context
After the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh on 17 April its leader, Pol Pot, immediately set about realising his vision of an agrarian utopia.
He forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave urban areas and become farmers.
Pol Pot's reforms led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people - some were executed but many died of disease and starvation.
In 1979 Cambodia's old enemy, Vietnam, invaded and the Khmer Rouge fled.
In 1991 a United Nations-brokered peace agreement was signed which ended the country's civil war.
In 1997 Pol Pot was convicted of treason by a "people's tribunal" and was sentenced to life under house arrest.
He died in April 1998.
18 comments:
I prefer to be defeated this way. Destroying someone's house to the ground and walking back home while the owner can claim victory... ha, ha, ha...what a victory and great achievement you've made, comrade Pol Pot and...!!
Yeah, and he (Pol Pot) had a blast
with you gringoes' slaves and
backstabers SISOWAT Sarimatakis
who think they are Khmer. Mua
hahahaha ....
True khmer heroes!
There were a lot of khmer heroes who decided to remain in their beloved country during that crucial moment of their lives. They could easily hop on the helicopter, go and live in the USA as cowards.
The heroes are Long Boret, Sisowath Sirimatak, Norodom Chantarangsey, Paul Littaye Suon and Paul Littaye Aime...And so many others...
I am the neighbour of Littaye Suon who was a General ( He was a General before 1970 - what Sihanouk was telling people about military personnel got promoted for no merit was totally a lie or a non fiction tale) and also the owner of the French Newspaper "Le PhnomPehnois". He decided to stay back...
So, folks, let me tell you that Sihanouk has got his revenge and Pol Pot has managed (thanks to his Master Mao) to wipe out all of the best of khmers who could build Cambodia to be the best of Asia.
I have never seen so many talented Khmers who could be killed between 1975 and 1976...
I hope that history does them a favour and gives a true picture for the young generation to know that they have lost a treasure that could be a good as Angkor Wat...
Correction:
I have seen so many talented Khmers who have been killed during the Pol Pot years.
Cambodia could never replace such a treasure.
So, please my young brothers and sisters, study hard and build Cambodia to be the best.
We don't need to replace talented
backstabers SISOWAT Sarimatakis
people or Gringoes Slaves. We
thank God for removing them from
our holly ground and leave us with
enough talented Khmers like the
one and only Sihanouk, Hun Sen, ... .
3:38PM, think that you are a Viet KGB, please do not stir things up...
The more you write, the more we know about you...
So, stop all your Gringoes s....
Hey, if you want to know about me,
just ask. There is no need to
decode it from my writing, fool.
we already know. No need ask. Go back to your underground cave and tunnel to prepare for your invasion of America.
Okay, but don't be to long. We
(khmers) don't have a long life
expectancy in case you don't know.
To 3:22p.m
I'm with you & I see the same thing. It probably will take another 20 or even 30 years to bring back those quality of education and talent that were built into Khmers who have lost their lives innocently during the Pol Pot Era. All, because of a few ignorant people.
Thanks to 3:47p.m, they think they are so great and everything. Sure they got their revenge paid off big time by destroying just about everyone ( 2 millions folk and it's o.k to do it ). They want to tell the world, Hey look at me! I'm the ugly Khmers!!!!!!!! Like me? Fool!
sorry...we mean 3:38p.m and not 3:47p.m.
From
8:24p.m
Yeah! 3:38p.m, say it louder!
I'M THE UGLY KHMERS WHO CAN KILL UP TO TWO MILLIONS OF MY OWN PEOPLE AND THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE MILLIONS MORE OF THE BROKEN SOULS & DREAMS WHO NOW WONDERING AROUND ON THE STREETS HOMELESS WITH MENTAL DISORDERS. YEAH! TELL THE WHOLE WORLD YOU'RE THE BEST KILLER IN ASIA! HAPPY NEW YEAR HEADLESS MF!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, when you got it you got it
(talent to rid immoral
backstabers)! I just love the
sounds of a bullet or a club
shattered their thick and emptied
skulls.
You fool is the best my ass! You're retarted Khmer that can't even think straight. Your cognitive thinking had been distorted and miscalclated big time! We know you have no guilt and remorse what so ever and it makes no different from any other criminal and murderer!
To All Khmers that lost their lives during your Era, Happy new Year in Hell asshole!
Never claimed to have anything but
truth.
To motherfucker 7:23PM!
What do you said mother fucker!
It is the Vietcong who faned the flame of Vietname war into neutral Cambodia and now these Vietcong said "You're retarted Khmer that can't even think straight"??ahaha
No Cambodian people would like to born into this whole Vietcong misery mess!!!This is the very reason why King Sihanouk did his best to keep Cambodia remain neutral!!!Cambodian people love to see the Viet killed each other for many years between the North and the South!!!
The Vietcong will never have peace and stability because of their fuck up mentality and soon they will go to hell again!!!
Khmer people will enjoy their New Year with or without the Vietcong!!
Yeah, but the Vietcong is just
passing through, they where not
there to stay. They just wanted
a shortcut to get to South Vietnam.
Plus, most of the HCM trails is
really an ancient trading trail
that were used by both of us for
centuries. So what is the crime?
to 3:22PM
You said that you was the neighbour of the general Littaye Suon.
Have you got more informations about the general and his brother Aimé(family, life, death,...)?
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