ANOTHER SPECIAL SERIES FOR PAID SUBSCRIBERS

Tonight I am posting part one of a seven part series, “The End In Vietnam,” excerpted from the final chapter of my coming book, “The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club.” Given the attention being paid right now by “Duh Meedeeya” to the similarities between the fall of Afghanistan and the end in Saigon in 1975, I though that you paid subscribers might benefit from a detailed account of the event that is more accurate than the story told by the otherwise-unemployables.

The series covers the North Vietnamese planning for their final campaign in South Vietnam, how they were taken by surprise by the weakness of the South Vietnamese armed forces, and took advantage of the situation to turn this offensive into the final one, a year earlier than expected.

The story is based on several never-before-told experiences of naval aviators who were involved in the evacuation of Saigon. It also includes the only account in English of the special attack on Tan Son Nhut mounted by the North Vietnamese Air Force, an event that has been blamed on “renegade” South Vietnamese pilots for the past 46 years. It is based on an extensive series of interviews I did with now-retired Senior Colonel Tu De of the Vietnamese People’s Air Force, the only living participant in the mission.

It’s for Paid Subscribers only, and I hope it will give some of the recipients of the free e-mails a reason to join the community to read and comment on the series.