Finally I’ve read the overall account of what happened during those last months that I’ve been searching for. The book does not delve into the war itself but focuses on the efforts of those who felt that the US owed a moral debt to evacuate those who would suffer for their affiliations with the US during the war or had worked with the Saigon government. Though far more should have been, almost 130,000 were helped in those last months who have gone on to make lives for themselves in the US. B+

Reviewed in US Naval Institute Proceedings
(C) 2019

HONORABLE EXIT: HOW A FEW BRAVE AMERICANS RISKED ALL TO SAVE OUR VIETNAMESE ALLIES AT THE END OF THE WAR
Thurston Clarke. New York: Doubleday, 2019. 448 pp. Notes. Biblio. Index. $30.
Reviewed by Master Chief David A.
Mattingly, U.S. Navy (Retired)

After signing what is commonly referred to as the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the United States ended nearly two decades of military operations in Vietnam. In 1974, power in the U.S. government changed dramatically with the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had remarked that there needed to be a decent interval—a two- or three-year period—between the treaty and the fall of the Republic of Vietnam.
In Vietnam, the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) began its march on Saigon. Thurston Clarke, a noted fiction and nonfiction writer, begins the story of the final days of the Republic of Vietnam in early 1975, when the NVA army began a multipronged attack on Saigon that would end in April with its fall. Much earlier than anyone, including the NVA, expected.
Like the Vietnam War, the fall of Vietnam and the evacuation played out on the evening news. While town after town fell, the predominant thought was that the United States needed to prepare to evacuate not only its official staff, but also the hundreds of Americans working in Vietnam.
At sea, ships of the Seventh Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral George Steele rendezvoused off the coast of Vietnam and prepared to execute the helicopter evacuation, code named Operation Frequent Wind. Clarke tells the story of a lesser known element of the evacuation led by a former Navy SEAL who would go on to become a U.S. diplomat—Richard Armitage.
Armitage spent five of the seven years he served in the Navy in Vietnam. After resigning his commission, he served as a Defense Attaché Office civilian adviser to Ambassador Graham Martin. Following this post, Armitage returned to Washington, D.C., only to be sent by Defense Secretary James Schlesinger back to Vietnam to destroy equipment and to encourage the Vietnamese Navy and Air Force to escape.
When Armitage arrived in Saigon he met with the chief and deputy chief of naval operations. They were faced with a conundrum of encouraging the leadership of the Republic of Vietnam Navy, upon an attack on Saigon, to order the navy’s ships to sea, where they would meet U.S. Navy ships that would lead them to the U.S. Navy base at Subic Bay, Philippines.
Armitage also had orders to evacuate the navy ships, however, both he and the RVN leadership knew the sailors would not leave their families behind. RVN leadership let him know they planned to evacuate “friendly non-naval personnel” as well as the sailors and families. Armitage offered his silence as his tacit approval.
There were many individuals that acted “honorably” to plan and execute the evacuation—often without official sanction and without the approval of Ambassador Martin. Richard Armitage was just one. Clarke tells the story of many in the departments of Defense and State, CIA, and other agencies that tried to bring honor the few weeks before the U.S. would end its involvement in Vietnam.
Clarke’s mixing of facts with conversation makes reader feel that they are in Vietnam in 1975; however, he makes some common terminology errors. Honorable Exit is by far the best book about the tragic end of Vietnam and a must read for those interested in U.S. military operations and especially operations in Southeast Asia.
 Master Chief Mattingly served on board the USS Midway from 1974 to 1977, during which the ship was configured as a helicopter carrier for Operation Frequent Wind. He retired from the Navy in 2005 and has worked as a senior intelligence officer at a number of Department of Defense commands and in the intelligence community.

What an amazing (and brutal) time in American history. There was so much angst and hatred in America and in Vietnam, but even still, people managed to find the good, find the hope, and find the light. Honorable Exit was an incredible story of pain and suffering but also of the extraordinary lengths that people will go through to save a human life. It shined a light not only on the Vietnam War but also of the failings of the American Government and the ruthless actions that people in power make in times of war. It's no wonder why there was so much angst and animosity back home towards the war - it was nearly unwinnable. Honorable Exit was a true look inside one of the darkest parts of American history; a look I won't soon forget.