Veteran Salute: Emporia veteran’s experience in historic Vietnam War evacuation

EMPORIA (KSNT) – Emporia resident and Navy veteran Gary Sadowski was part of Operation Frequent Wind, which evacuated thousands of people from Vietnam, and is grateful for his service and the difference he made.

Sadowski was sitting aboard the USS Duluth off the coast of Vietnam in late April 1975. He would be part of a massive effort to get people to safety after the fall of Saigon. He watched as anyone who could fly a helicopter rushed evacuees to safety.

“We were being very careful with booby traps…or sabotage at the time,” Sadowski said.

Sadowski said the Navy was helping them find the South-Vietnamese a better way of life but some chose to stay.

“For a lot of them to stay in their country was a life sentence,” Sadowski said. “Most of them would probably have been killed or annihilated at some point in time.”

Sadowski said that South-Vietnamese soldiers were devastated they couldn’t hold onto their country.

“By coming to the United States they were able to start a new life but everything they knew was taken away from them,” Sadowski said. “It’s hard to imagine those things unless you’re seeing them come out of the country.”

More than 50,000 people were evacuated during Operation Frequent Wind. Sadowski and his crew helped more than 2,000 people evacuate to the Philippines.

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