On April 29, 1975, the American Radio Service broadcast Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” to signal United States troops to evacuate directly preceding the Fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. The next day, North Vietnam captured Saigon. The war ended on April 30.
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“White Christmas” ushered in Operation Frequent Wind, which was the strategic evacuation of American soldiers and civilians. This included thousands of South Vietnamese civilians as well. The song was the pre-approved signal to American troops to begin the operation as the dramatic end of the war drew ever closer.
Roy Rowan, a war correspondent for Time who was present in Vietnam, recalled the evacuation in a 2015 retrospective with the magazine.
“The ending was very dramatic, as everybody knows,” said Rowan. “The signal to evacuate was ‘White Christmas’. I remember waking up at 3:00 in the morning and hearing ‘White Christmas’ and wondering what the hell it was going to be like trying to walk out of this place.”
“White Christmas” May Have Signaled the End of the Vietnam War, but Soldiers Had Their Own Musical Associations
The 1970s were swimming with great music, and a lot of that music helped get soldiers through the war. According to Doug Bradley, a writer and U.S. Army veteran, his “earliest Vietnam memories aren’t about guns and bullets, but rather about music.”
Speaking with other veterans for a 2019 report originally published on the PBS site Next Avenue, Bradley gathered a collection of songs that were instrumental for his fellow soldiers during their tours.
These are songs like “Green Green Grass Of Home” by Porter Wagoner. According to Neil Whitehurst of the 1st Marine Air Wing, this song immediately took him back to his time in the war. Additionally, “Chain Of Fools” by Aretha Franklin was important to David Browne of the 101st Airborne.
Browne first learned of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination while in Vietnam. “Chain Of Fools” comforted and calmed him at the time. As he told Bradley, “I thought, that’s my story.”
Other songs included “The Letter” by The Box Tops, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding, and “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. According to Peter Bukowski, who served with the 23rd Infantry Division, recalled that the one thing everyone could agree on was that CCR ruled.
“They were the one thing everybody agreed on,” said Bukowski. “Didn’t matter who you were—black, white, everyone. We’d hear that music and it brought a smile to your face.”
Featured Image by Dirck Halstead/Liaison
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