Page 6
THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, MAY 1, 1975
EMBROIDERY
SUPPLIES
WORK
’ j SHIRTS
MACRAME
BEAD 401 DUNN STREET
SUPPLIES BRYAN TEXAS
x 046 - 4736
Former saviors tossing gas grenades
1 By MICHAEL PUTZEL
Associated Press Writer
American Marines, once cheered
, as saviors by the South Vietnamese,
; scrambled aboard a helicopter from
I the roof of the U.S. embassy, tos-
! sing gas grenades in the path of
Saigon scavengers.
The United States was out of Vie
tnam at last.
The beginning of the end came
weeks ago when the South Viet
namese army’s retreat from Pleiku
touched off a chain reaction that
threw two-thirds of the country to
the invading armies from the North.
Pentagon officials dusted offlong-
standing evacuation plans, drew up
new ones, changed those and
sought to keep them up to date.
There was a slim hope, they were
told, that the plans would not be
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needed. But every day it became
clearer they were no longer dealing
with contingencies; the final retreat
was at hand.
“Operation Frequent Wind,” was
everybody’s last chance — 81 big
rescue helicopters flying into Saigon
from ships circling in the South
China Sea just out of range of enemy
guns. The choppers would be
guarded by U.S. fighter-bombers
ready to counterattack if anyone cal
led he was “taking fire!”
Chartered cargo planes and the
Military Airlift Command’s great
C141 Starlifters and even some
giant C5As were made available.
One of the first of the giant C5As
going in to pick up babies while the
scope of the operation was still tak
ing shape crashed on takeoff from
Saigon. A bad omen? Some won
dered. Officials in Washington were
i kicking around figures. How many
Vietnamese should they evacuate?
How many could they? The em
bassy in Saigon was counting
American heads and finding more
all the time;
Numbers as high as a million
were mentioned, but were quickly
cut to a fifth of that, then to 175,000.
Many thought that was much too
high. It was.
On April 18, Defense Secretary
James R. Schlesinger told Secretary
of State Henry A. Kissinger that
U.S. military planes were taking off
from Saigon half empty. Red tape
and paperwork required by both the
Saigon and American governmentS|
were keeping departures to a
trickle, and the North Vietnamese
were closing on Saigon’s outer de
fenses.
Ambassador Graham Martin in
Saigon was resisting any visible
withdrawal of Americans, fearing it
would destroy South Vietnam’s re
maining morale and touch off a
dangerous panic. Kissinger backed
Martin.
But time was running out.
With the military providing the
hardware to lift people out, the
State Department hastily set up a
task force to begin filling the planes
and figuring out what to do with the
people when the planes landed.
The embassy was still hampered
by restrictions on who could leave
the country, but indications are that
officials didn’t examine documents
too carefully as would-be refugees
flowed through the gates.
The gates opened wider a day
later when the Justice Department
announced it would authorize entry
for tens of thousands of Vietnamese
whose lives were considered in
danger if they were to stay in
Saigon. Swarms of Vietnamese be
lieved they qualified, and the flood
tide was reached.
It was a race against time, and
North Vietnam held the stopwatch.
The United States tried to make
direct contact with Hanoi but got no
response. The French and Soviets
were asked to help. Maybe they
did.
On Friday, with the Saigon gov
ernment being handed to neut
ralists, there seemed to be a chance.
On Saturday, no change. The new
government was installed on Sun
day and appealed for a cease-fire.
U.S. officials on both sides of the
world held their breath.
There was skirmishing on the
edge of Saigon and a salvo of rockets
fired into the downtown area. A
warning signal? A speed-up de
mand? Or the end?
As the Monday sun was rising in
Washington and setting in Saigon,
American-built A37 fighter-
bombers with South Vietnamese
markings made a pass at the Tan Son
Nhut airfield on the edge of Saigon.
Were they disgruntled government
pilots? Crackpots? Enemy agents?
Still the signal was not clear, and
the sturdy old C130 evacuation
planes, veterans of dozens of shel
lings at dozens of airstrips, roared in
and out, their low-slung bellies
packed with people.
But just as the sun was rising
again over Tan Son Nhut, a stream
of rockets and heavy artillery shells
crashed into the airfield and around
the old Pentagon East headquarters
that housed the Defense Attache’s
Office.
Lance Cpl. Darwin L. Judge of
Marshalltown, Iowa, and Cpl.
Charles McMahon Jr. of Woburn,
Mass., were at the attache’s office as
part of an embassy guard detail. A
round exploded and killed them
both. Boy of the Year in 1971, were the
Judge, a former Eagle Scout, and last Americans killed in action in
McMahon, who was his hometown’s Vietnam.
5,000-year term
said not excessive
AUSTIN (AP) —A jail term of
5,005 years assessed one of the
kidnappers of the daughter-in-
law of Joe Dealey Jr., president
of the Dallas Morning News,
was not excessive, the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals ruled
Wednesday.
In another case the appeals
court reversed the murder con
viction of William David
Hovila, also in Dallas, because
of inadequate questioning of
prospective jurors on whether
they could assess the death pen
alty.
In the Dealey case, the long
sentence was assessed Wood-
row Ransonette after he was
convicted along with his
brother, Franklin, of kidnap
ping Mrs. Amanda Mayhew
Dealey on Dec. 19, 1972. Mrs.
Dealey was released unharmed
two days later after her father-
in-law paid a $250,000 ranson.
The appeals court said the
5,005-year sentence was within
the range prescribed by the
legislature.
The appeals court also denied
Woodrow Ransonette’s claims
that his trial should have been
moved from Dallas County and
that he should have been tried
separately from his brother.
Hovila received the death pen
alty in the fatal shooting of
Henry McCluskey Jr., a Dallas
lawyer.
The appeals court said the
trial judge excused prospective
jurors too readily once they said
their consciences would not
permit them to send a man to
the electric chair.
Photo by Alan Killingjwortli
The roof of the Calvert High School gym. A Na
tional Guardsman remarked that it was “sheared
off like a putty knife. ” It was the last place hit in
the town.
A&M Corps of Cadets
names outfit commanders
Squadron and company
commanders in the 1975-76
Corps of Cadets have been
named.
The 38 “Century Class’
commanders were announced
by Col. Thomas R. Parsons,
commandant of cadets.
Company and squadron
commands are the most coveted
in the Corps. At that level, the
cadet is in direct leadership con
tact with underclassmen. He
also usually heads a unit com
posed of closest acquaintances.
The company-squadron
commanders, with rank of cadet
major, will lead 14 Air Force
ROTC squadrons, 16 Army
ROTC companies, six Naval-
Marine ROTC companies and
the Maroon and White Bands.
They will be sworn in next fall
with other Cadet Corps com
missioned officers. The new
unit commanders will first move
out in front of their outfits
though, at the May 10 Final Re
view.
The new COs: Squadron 1,
Wade Aday, McAllen; 2, Gene
McCleskey, Midland; 3, Doug
Sultenfuss, San Antonio; 4,
Steve White, Houston; 5, Bill
Brinkley, Houston; 6, Mark
Steele, Graham; 7, Jim Peyton,
Houston.
Also, Squadron 8, Frank
Reagan, Hale Center; 9, Micky
Cross, Stratford; 10, Tom
Kemp, Lockhart; 11, Mark
Bird, Boerne; 12, Gerald
Parker, San Antonio; 13, Jimmy
Simmons, Bryan; 15, David
Cox, Waxahachie.
Plus, Company A-l, John
Friedli, San Antonio; B-l, John
Lockman, San Antonio; C-l,
Guy Sheppard, Abilene; D-l,
Chuck Ellison, Brenham; E-l,
Russell Green, Midland; F-l
David Buttery, Lampasas; 1-1,
Chuck Kimbrough, Lockhart.
In addition, K-l, Al Jackson,
El Paso; L-l, Bob Williams,
New Braunfels; M-l, Greg
Knape, Alvin;. R-l, Clay
Boykin, College Station; W-l
David Dean, Houston; B-2,
Frank Gearing, Elk City, Okla.;
C-2, Dennis Naylor, Houston.
And, D-2, Danny Davis, Dal
las; E-2, Mike Clark, Corpus
Christi, F-2, David Elbel, New
Braunfels; H-2, Scott Elkins,
Irving; K-2, Derrick Suehs,
Houston; L-2, Phil Bohlman,
Schulenburg; S-2, Rob Urban,
Dayton, and N-2, David Heck-
emeyer, Lynchburg, Va.
The Maroon and White
Bands will be commanded, re
spectively, by Tom Henry,
Huntsville, and Bob Townsend,
San Antonio. Combined, the
administrative units make up
the Texas Aggie Band.
Cancer hasrit stopped
1,500,000people from living.
Mrs. Evelyn Roll
Jeffrey Sensenig
They did it by not letting fear kill them. They
did it by going to the doctor in time. They
did it with the help of the effective methods*
of treatment today-surgery, radiation, chemo
therapy. They did it because of the advances
made through research. More than
1,500,000 Americans are living proof
cancer can be cured. The American Cancer
Society needs millions to save millions more.
Please, give more today. We want to
wipe out cancer in your lifetime.
American Cancer Society
Mr. Donald Perry Mrs. Louise Robinson
Mrs Catherine Hopkins Mr. George Walsh Photography by Cailor/Resnick This spaco contributed by the publisher as a public sorvice.
MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER
BUILDING STUDIES 0UESTI0NNAIRE
The Building Studies Committee of the Memorial Student Center Council and
Directorate has been delegated the responsibility of determining policies that will
lead to more efficient use of the space in the MSC. Although we are unable at this
point to determine what areas we have jurisdiction over, the committee is in a
position to recommend usage of the facilities. To assist us in our recommenda
tions, we would appreciate your views on how to use the MSC. Please fill out the
questions below and return to the secretaries at the Student Programs Office on
the second floor of the MSC.
Thank you.
1. How often do you use the MSC?
2. Have you ever used the Browsing Library? If so, how often?
3. Do you ever come to the MSC other than to check your mail? If so,
what for?
4. How would you use the space along the corridors on the first and
second floor?
5. What would you like to see added to the recreational area in the
basement (near the bowling alley)?
6. Have you ever used the Beverley Braley Travel Service? If so,
often? What were the results?
.
7. What are your comments about the snack bar and cafeteria?
8. Do you feel there is an adequate information center? If not, what
is lacking?
9. What facilities do you feel are lacking in the MSC?
10. What facilities do you feel are unnecessary or being misused?
i
11. Would you like to see the Basement offer beer and/or mixed
drinks at its performances?
12. Have you ever attended a banquet held at the MSC? If so, what
did you think of the service and price? Who presented the banquet?
13. How would you attempt to increase usage of the student union?
14. Have you ever used the Arts and Crafts Center? If so, what was
your opinion?