Pittman Apartments, clips of the roof top today and 45 years ago: Last Air America Helicopter Saigon

Some raw footage for HISTORY VIETNAM/ NICK UT and HORST FAAS. A silver blue Air America helicopter picks up people on the elevator shaft on the PITTMAN APARTMENTS building, 9th floor, April/29/1975 during OPERATION FREQUENT WIND. Rooftop: 22 Lý Tự Trọng street, Ho Chi Minh City, district 1. Named after Lý Tự Trọng, a 17-year-old communist executed by the French in 1932. The Pittman apartments housed employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with its top floor reserved for the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy chief of station. Just before 11:00 AM on April 29, a complete evacuation was ordered. Americans in Saigon had already received evacuation orders and were told to keep a close-hold on the information to prevent a city-wide panic. When the American Radio Service announced that the temperature in Saigon was “105 degrees and rising” and then played the Bing Crosby song “White Christmas,” personnel knew they had to immediately go to their nearest assembly point (there were 14 around the city). The central departure point was the US Embassy itself, where helicopters could land on the roof of the building and a small parking lot. Photographer Hugh van Es started in Vietnam for CBS News as a sound man, worked 6 years as a photographer for AP 1969 - 1972 and for UPI 1972 - 1975. Archive film footage 1975: CBS Footage Peter Scheid Film Vietnam: /watch/cQ8NiaCs2ZIsN Teaser Nick Ut documentary: /watch/EtWlmt_TPEGTl Director, cameraman Peter Scheid, documentary film projects with Horst Faas and Nick Ut. Clip in this teaser: Vietnam War Photographer Hubert van Es and his wife Annie during the Vietnam War Media Veterans Reunion on the rooftop of the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, April 2005. Copyright Peter Scheid Film Ltd.

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