others sailed from Bui Chu, about fifty miles south of Haiphong, where the bishop had encouraged his people to flee. Some made Haiphong on their own, but most were picked up by French patrol boats. The refugees put to sea in hopes of finding the French craft, no mean task in the dark of night on storm-tossed waters. In several instances French boats beached in Viet-Minh controlled territory to save the refugees.**

The coast near the fishing village of Van Ly, south of Nam Dinh, was a favorite pickup point. There the French for a time anchored escort Commandant de Pimodan offshore to take on the refugees from the smaller patrol boats. After the French requested United States Navy assistance, Admiral Sabin ordered USNS General A. W. Brewster to the scene, telling the French that the navigators could pilot their ships to within inches of the three-mile limit. The MSTS passenger ship embarked 1,209 fishermen and peasants off Van Ly before sailing for Haiphong on 30 October. By 10 November, 20,000 Vietnamese had reached freedom via the sea from the Bui Chu area."

44

The Flow Diminishes

During the first three months of the Passage to Freedom, 80 United States Navy and MSTS ships had carried 28,102 tons of cargo, 5,791 vehicles, and 173,311 passengers to South Vietnam. By November, due to French withdrawal into the Haiphong perimeter, the need for American shipping had declined. Admiral Sabin designated Captain Nicholas J. Frank, Jr., as on-scene commander and sailed for Hong Kong on 15 November 1954. All amphibious ships were withdrawn except Balduck (APD–132), which served as the flagship. Since the operation now employed largely MSTS ships, Sabin recommended that a naval captain of that organization relieve Captain Frank. Even though it meant the loss of one amphibious squadron commander from the Seventh Fleet, Admiral Stump disagreed. He believed that the task group should be kept in being under Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet's operational control, ready to respond promptly in

43 Dooley, Deliver Us From Evil. pp. 131-38; B.S.N. Murti, Vietnam Divided: The Unfinished Struggle (New York: Asia Publishing Co., 1964), pp. 73-75; Devillers and Lacouture, End of a War, pp. 335-36.

"CTF 90, report, ser 04 of 3 Jan. 1955; COMPHIBGRU1, report, ser 055 of 15 June 1955; Itr, Sabin to Hooper, of 18 Dec. 1973; Dooley, Deliver Us From Evil, pp. 149–55.

case more ships of the Amphibious Force were later required for the regroupment effort.45

When the evacuation rate declined in October, only Lieutenant (jg) Dooley and three corpsmen remained ashore. As sanitation improved, Dooley spent more and more time treating various ills of the unfortunate refugees. When a few cases of smallpox appeared in February 1955, he

45 CTF 90, report, ser 04 of 3 Jan. 1955, encl. 8; ltr, Sabin to Settle, of 22 Nov. 1954. Admiral Sabin continued as overall commander of the operation into February 1955.

took aggressive steps to prevent an epidemic. Then, during the mosquito breeding season, he supervised an intensive spraying program to keep malaria under control. When the decreasing number of Fleet ships reduced his usual source of medicine, Dooley wrote to the Charles Pfizer Company in the United States, explaining his work and asking for a "small contribution—of say, 25,000 capsules—of terramycin." The company responded with double that amount and later sent penicillin, streptomycin, and magnamycin as well. The Meade-Johnson Company shipped gallons of liquid vitamins; Pan American Airways sent 10,000 bars of soap; and other companies made additional contributions. President Diem recognized Dooley's work by personnally decorating him with the Officier de L' Ordre National de Viet Nam at a ceremony on 12 May 1955.

Through the end of 1954, several unexpected throngs of people streamed into the Haiphong camps. The first major influx came from the Catholic parishes around Phat Diem south of Haiphong, where in mid-November the International Control Commission worked out arrangements with the Viet Minh allowing their departure. By December, over 10,000 refugees had fled Phat Diem.46

About 20 November, local Catholics in Vinh discussed with French naval officers possible coastal pickups similar to those off Bui Chu. Hoping to rescue as many as 6,000 refugees, the French scheduled the operations for 30 November. The rough weather of the northeast monsoon delayed the operation for a time, but on 19 December the French picked up 525 wet and tired souls representing the first refugees from Vinh. On the 23rd French ships transported about 2,400 more people to Haiphong for the trip south. French ships then swept the coast off Vinh several more times during the next two weeks but no other refugees appeared.

A third group of refugees, many of whom were Chinese, comprised permanent residents within the Haiphong perimeter. Before 1 December, few inhabitants of the city were counted among the refugees. On that date, however, Jacques Compaign, who headed the French civilian government in North Vietnam, relinquished his power to General Cogny in order to centralize authority for possible emergency action. General Cogny immediately announced that he would not guarantee the security of the residents of the city after 1 February. Conservative French estimates of the

46

'Lindholm, Viet-Nam: The First Five Years, pp. 63–72; COMPHIBGRU1, report, ser 055 of 15 June 1955, encl. 1; Dooley, Deliver Us From Evil, pp. 70–71, 83, 119, 144–48.

number planning to leave the city ran to 100,000. Added to the steady stream of refugees coming from the interior of the country, these estimates led to the assignment of an additional transport to the Passage to Freedom in January 1955.**

Despite such demands, the emphasis after mid-November 1954 had shifted from passengers to cargo. Long-range planning called for the evacuation of 1,500 long tons of cargo per day during November, 2,000 during December, and 1,000 in January. The goal for November was exceeded, thus reducing the amount of material available for lift in December. On 22 November 1954, the French decided to retain only 2,000 vehicles and 18,000 troops in the North. Starting on 14 December, four MSTS LSTS were made available in response to a French request for sealift in evacuating the 1,500 vehicles now excess to their needs in the North. By the end of January, all military cargo, other than that required to support the dwindling French garrison in Haiphong, had been evacuated.*

48

As the backlog of military cargo decreased, the pressure to move civilian cargo correspondingly increased. The French largely abandoned the industrial capacity of Hanoi and Nam Dinh, partly because of a lack of time and partly because Vietnamese businessmen staying behind hoped to maintain a business-as-usual attitude even after the Communists came to power. On 30 November, Admiral Stump clarified his policy on civilian cargo by stating that none was to be accepted unless the French specifically declared it beyond their capacity to carry. Thirty-six barges fell into this category. Charging the commercial French rate, Gunston Hall (LSD-5) hauled the barges south in five trips between 10 January and 28 February 1955. A request from Chinese fishermen in the Along Bay region to transport their 100 fishing boats to Tourane was turned down when the French offered to transport the smaller ones and to provide escorts for the larger boats in April, normally the end of the monsoon, when the weather was expected to turn favorable for the proposed voyage south."

The Final Phase

Commander Amphibious Squadron 1, Captain Augustus R. St. Angelo,

* COMPHIBGRU1, report, ser 055 of 15 June, encl. 1; Lindholm, Viet-Nam: The First Five Years, pp. 69–72.

48 CTF 90, report, ser 0252 of 8 Nov. 1954; COMPHIBGRU1, report, ser 055 of 15 June 1955, encl. 1.

49

"Ibid.; Lindholm, Viet-Nam: The First Five Years, pp. 69-71.

had relieved Captain Frank as Commander Task Group 90.8 on 23 January 1955, during the slowdown in operations accompanying the Chinese New Year. At the end of the month, USNS General R. L. Howze departed Haiphong on her final trip, with 4,253 passengers. She had carried more than 50,000 refugees during her four and a half month tour in Indochina. On 18 February, the Vietnamese Refugee Committee officially suspended registration for the evacuation by sea until 1 March. The Committee's president gave two reasons; he hoped to induce more registration later and he felt the camps needed a respite to process the 17,256 refugees who had already registered. Gradually, the backlog declined, the tent camps were closed, and the remaining refugees moved into vacant public buildings in downtown Haiphong. By 20 March, only Camp Lach Tray remained open with a population of 2,165.

In April, USNS Marine Adder (AP-193) and Marine Serpent (AP–202) sailed on an eight-day cycle. General A. W. Brewster (AP-155), arriving to take care of any last-minute influx of refugees, joined the group on 22 April and kept the same schedule. Late in the month four MSTS LSTS joined the force to evacuate the remaining French security troops and their equipment. By the first of May, the camps sheltered only 1,300 people and less than 10,000 others were registered for future transportation.

Captain Winn (now designated Commander Task Group 50.1) had been ordered by Admiral Stump to proceed to Indochina at the beginning of May to supervise the final days of the evacuation. On 6 May, Winn hoisted his pennant in Cook (APD-130) at Sangley Point and set sail for Haiphong. Then, on the 13th, the last American ships departed Along Bay and operations shifted to Do Son Peninsula, the final zone to be turned over to the Viet Minh. The next day Captain Winn arrived off the Do Son beaches to observe the final loading. During the embarkation of French troops, ten refugees, among them Nguyen Van Lang, carrying his infant daughter, arrived at the beach and asked to be evacuated. Mr. Lang had chosen freedom for himself and his daughter at the last possible moment, despite the decision of his wife to remain in the North. They boarded General A. W. Brewster for the trip south, the last official refugees of the Passage to Freedom.

The French planned to give the Vietnamese one last chance to flee the North. Captain Winn ordered his remaining ships-Cook, Diachenko (APD-123), and Marine Adder to join the French Fleet rendezvousing in Lan Ha Bay just south of Henriette Pass. The next day, 16 May, all ships