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Forty years ago this month, the war in Viet Nam ended for the United States and it's Allies. The end was brutal for many and the suffering for others had only just begun. Many left behind in the South would go into prison style "re-education camps" and would suffer for decades to come. The most educated suffered badly and many more were killed.

Many at "home" were shocked by scenes of carnage, destruction and the horror of mass evacuation. Scenes of helicopters being pushed overboard ships into the sea, of helicopters ditching into the sea and of men simply jumping out into the sea as a last effort to escape what would have been certain death at the hands of the VC.

































For the younger people who don't know why so many helicopters were shoved into the sea, it's bacause there was not enough room for all that were arriving on the flight decks. In many cases, the ships only had room for one helicopter at a time. The short video below contains a description and scenes of one helicopter after another being pushed overboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWN6XGUAhZU

thanks for your service JP!

I remember my father announcing this headline on the front page of ´´the Daily Telegraph´´ when I came home from school for lunch and his relief that this mad unwinable bloodbath that saw Americans fighting Russian + Chinese proxies was not after all going to lead to nuclear war. The evil consequences of Agent Orange use in particular is still destroying the health of millions 40 years later.......

It's 40 years ago Today!

For those that don't know, Tinman is currently laid up with a pulled tendon in his arm.
Get well soon my friend.

Haste ye back Joe. Take it easy if thats at all possible!

nickjones wrote:For those that don't know, Tinman is currently laid up with a pulled tendon in his arm.
Get well soon my friend.

a touch screen i-pad will prevent repeats of this sort of keyboard related injury - hope all heals fast!

SMS88 wrote:a touch screen i-pad will prevent repeats of this sort of keyboard related injury - hope all heals fast!

Thanks.

Twas not keyboard related. I tore the pronator tendon on my right arm while on a construction job. I'm still unable to do very much with my right arm (and not yet released to go back to work) but I can type OK if I'm careful.

Two young guys were trying to get an on site storage unit roll up door open and gave up on it. I told them to step aside and I opened it. Unfortunately, I paid a bit of a steep price doing so. Of course, stupid pride and ego prevented me from showing any signs of pain in front of the two young workers and I excused myself promptly after showing them up. As one of my friends loves say ... "I disappeared to go sit down and bleed internally."

We put ice on the arm right away but within minutes I could no longer move my arm or wrist ... opps, off the emergency room. Just two more visits this year and I win a blender from the hospital. I'm looking forward to getting back to work. I'm virtually managing the project via the phone and emails and it's driving me nuts trying to explain things I which think are simple. I have my fingers crossed that the orthopedic surgeon will release me for "light duty" after my follow up visit on Monday.

Sounds painful Joe, I'm waiting to go in for a hernia op and won't be able to do any manual work for ages (I'm a stonemason so you can imagine the amount of heavy lifting involved) I'll be forced to be the baby sitter on the next major project we are starting... Long boring days and ebay on the phone, could get expensive

Reg, Best of luck on that hernia fix! I know how these things can put a real damper on the normal day to day stuff.