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40 Years Ago, Camp Pendleton


Subdeacon Joe

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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/marines-659319-refugees-pendleton.html

 

Forty years ago this week, the U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton began welcoming allies, a lot of them.

With three days to prepare, more than 1,000 Marines, sailors and civilians worked around the clock to set up a tent village for a wave of hungry and exhausted refugees from South Vietnam, the first 851 of whom arrived April 29, 1975.

The following day, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to communist forces from the north. The war ended, and the exodus of Vietnamese refugees swelled.

“It was incredible what the Marines were able to accomplish,” said Faye Jonason, Pendleton’s chief historian. “They were dedicated to getting it done.”

Getting it done – setting up the nine tent cities and preparing for an eventual 50,000 refugees to come through – was a massive undertaking. The Marines installed sewage and communications lines. They pitched tents and refurbished Quonset huts. They came up with a plan for educating the refugees on American culture.

 

Click on the opening photo to bring up the slide show.

I was about to graduate from high school and was getting nervous. The people in DC were making noises about going back in.

Great people. I was raised in Vista, pretty much right up against Pendleton. Got to meet a fair number of the refugees. My dad hired on to be the electrical engineer where he worked just a few months after this.

 

 

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