April 30 is 33 Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War -- Hero Who Rescued 33 Refugees That Week Looks Back 33 Years Later, Available for Interviews
33rd Anniversary of Vietnam War End Looms on April 30. Hero who rescued 33 looks back. During the final week of April, 1975, Bob Ruseckas flew into Saigon on what turned out to be the last commercial flight from the crumbling nation of South Vietnam. Most people were trying to get out as North Vietnamese troops took over Saigon, Bob went in. Within days he had rescued 33 Vietnamese refugees who were members of his wife's extended family. With the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War coming up on April 30, 2008, these refugees epitomize the American Dream, not only for what they have accomplished, but for what they have contributed. Their story was told to Dick Pirozzolo.
(PRWEB) April 28, 2008 -- Bob Ruseckas hopped on a Pan Am flight heading for Saigon in April of l975 in an attempt to rescue five members of his Vietnamese wife's family. He packed an overnight back, stuck $3,500 in his pockets -- it was all he could scrape together -- and headed to Saigon just as Americans were getting out and North Vietnam soldiers and tanks were rolling in.
Though the five were waiting at Tan Son Nhat -- both an air-base and international airport -- Ruseckas's plan quickly unravelled. It started to look like no one in his family was going to get out -- including even this would-be rescuer. But the 26 year-old, unassuming, baby-faced graduate student from the University of Hawaii, eventually managed to bring out not five, but 33 members of his extended family -- all this while images of refugees charging the US Embassy gate and clamoring aboard Army helicopters were broadcast worldwide. It was America's first TV war.
33 refugees after 33 years
Thirty-three years ago on April 30, the Vietnam "officially" ended, Ruseckas -- who now lives in Banning California -- reflects on his rescue mission and the fate of those 33 refugees. Though he and his wife have divorced, he has remained in touch. The refugees settled mostly the US while a few went to Canada to study and work. Their accomplishments define the American Dream. There are medical doctors -- one is a trauma surgeon in remote Los Banos, CA -- a dentist, MBA in finance, a researcher at Yale University, a social scientist, a historian and author, engineers, an architect, chemist, lawyers, a physical therapist, salespeople and a couple of stay-at-home moms. Notably, a California food importer and restaurant owner was featured by TIME and CNN because of his unique approach to business. He kept a ledger of his customers spending at his and every year returns a share of the profits to his regular diners. Sadly The matriarch of the family, Nguyen Thi Dam, who was 68 when she left Vietnam, has died.
How the rescue unfolded
Ruseckas, who was raised in Westboro, Massachusetts had been in the Air Force, was a graduate student (on the GI Bill) in Asian studies. His wife was Pan Am flight attendant -- whom he met in Utah. Ruseckas was among a handful of U.S. citizens -- mostly veterans -- who were going to Vietnam on the same flight to get their relatives out as South Vietnam crumbled. The flight turned out to be Pan American Flight 842; the last commercial flight out of South Vietnam and the subject of a motion picture starring Richard Crenna and James Earl Jones titled "Last Flight."
When he set out from Hawaii, Ruseckas figured he'd be on the ground for a few hours. His plan was to bring back the five of the closest family members on the return flight. He had enough money pay for tickets. While en-route -- The Department of Defense changed its designation from commercial to a US DOD flight. The captain announced to passenger -- no civilians would be boarded when they landed in Saigon. Since the passengers were all on similar rescue missions, the dissension and anger became palpable. Murmurs among them included a plot to hijack the plane and force the pilot to fly-in load the family members and fly out. The flight attendants -- one of whom was a friend and coworker of Ruseckas's wife -- became fearful. Ruseckas prevailed on the pilot to order everyone to their seats, fasten seat-belts and discontinue serving drinks. The anger died down. The US Government reversed its decision and let the passengers continue onto Saigon after they signed waivers.
When the plane landed, Ruseckas ran into one obstacle after another. He finally got three out by the time the flight was to leave and then he decided to give up his seat and remain behind to see what he could do to get the more family members out of a crumbling nation. This was not before a flight attendant lent him a uniform which he used to disguise his sister-in-law as a crew member. "The crew just crowded around her and walked her onto the plane," recalls Ruskeckas. He also got his mother-in-law and another sister-in-law onto the flight. Rusekas scheme to disguise one of the refugees was incorporated into the motion picture.
More Doogie Houser than Oskar Schindler
When he went back to the plane to retrieve his backpack, he told the pilot he was staying, all he said was, "Good luck son," and saluted. Ruseckas then hopped on his sister-in-law's Honda and went searching. His hope now was to get people out on the C-130 refugee flights being run by the U.S. Embassy during the last days before the city was liberated by the North. Garrick Utley, who had gotten out was on TV was warning viewers that any Americans still in Vietnam should say they are British.
Eventually Ruseckas, who speaks fluent Vietnamese, showed up at a refugee processing center at Tan Son Nhat. He has 30 relatives in tow. Ruseckas who is now 60 looks like a 40 year-old Back then he looked l6. This was no debonair Oskar Schindler, it was as if Doogie Houser had shown up with a group of frightened Vietnamese refugees -- from infant to elderly -- in tow.
The American who was processing people for evacuation then asks him,
"How many do you have."
"Thirty."
"You're only allowed to sponsor ten. You'll have to pick ten."
"I can't"
"Look you're a student you can't take care of ten people let alone thirty. Pick!"
Ruseckas starts pointing out people in the group "This is my wife's sister. The one standing next to her is her uncle and that's her uncle's wife and their two children..."
He goes through every individual and describes how they are all related. Then he tells the embassy staffer , "You pick. I'll abide by your decision."
"I can't pick," says the staffer.
"Neither can I." Ruseckas gets ready to play his trump card, "You look a little busy here," he muses,
"and since I speak Vietnamese I could probably help you process people a lot faster. How about
letting me help and you let all of them go."
It worked. Ruseckas shepherds the group onto the airfield, where they eventually board a C-130 that takes them to a refugee camp in the Philippines. A few weeks later Ruseckas headed for home where he rejoined his wife and what has become his very extended family.
Note to editors and producers. Their individual stories and ages at the time of the evacuation are available by contacting Dick Pirozzolo at 781-235-9911. Many of these individuals are available for anniversary related coverage..
Bob Ruseckas remarried and owns a business as an independent sales representative selling logo'd apparel and headwear to upscale golf, tennis and resorts in California and Arizona.
Editors Note: Dick Pirozzolo is an author and founder of Pirozzolo Company Public Relations in Wellesley MA. Dick and his firm played a significant role in the lifting of the Vietnam embargo, normalizing US-Vietnam relations and developing trade during the mid 1990s.
Dick Pirozzolo
Pirozzolo Company
PO Box 812-909
Wellesley, MA 02482
781-235-9911
dick @ pirozzolo.com
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