How much is a human life worth? Most of us would say, based on the image of God we all share, that every person’s life is equally priceless, infinitely valuable. But what if you had the opportunity to save someone’s life but had to defy orders to do it?
The documentary Last Days in Vietnam presents a real-life example of this dilemma. The film recounts the time in 1975 just before the American embassy closed in Saigon. The Paris Peace Accord had ended the fighting two years earlier, and most of the American soldiers had gone home. According to the film, the North Vietnamese were scared of Nixon, but once the President resigned, they began to invade the South. The remaining Americans knew that the Vietnamese people who had worked with them would become targets after the invasion and would die if they stayed.
The dilemma came because the Americans were under orders to rescue no one but their families. Ambassador Graham Martin, whose command over the diplomatic mission could only be overruled by President Ford, maintained a face of optimism even as the Viet Cong tanks closed in on the city. Many of the officers interviewed in the film thought his rose-colored glasses were unconscionably thick, and they tell of conspiring to smuggle friends and contacts to the U.S. They risked their careers to save as many as they could. Eventually, the enemy army reached the city and the rescue operation moved into high gear.
Ambassador Martin emerges as a fascinating figure. Initially he seems a fool, and I thought the film was setting him up as the bungling villain of the story. But, once the airport was shelled and it was clear that peace was impossible, he committed to saving as many Vietnamese as he could. A helicopter came to the embassy with orders to carry him to the American fleet off the shore, but he refused to go. Helicopters shuttled civilians out to the ships as long as they could, and Martin stayed to lead the effort long into the next morning.
At the same time, Vietnamese army pilots used their helicopters to get family and friends out to the ships too. One ship, the Kirk, was stationed closest to shore but was only equipped to land one small helicopter at a time. Incredibly, the Vietnamese pilots landed their helicopters and unloaded their people, and then the sailors helped them push the aircraft over the side and into the sea. One skilled pilot, whose helicopter was too large for the ship, let his people off and then moved away, got out of his flight suit while still holding steady, then barrel-rolled the helicopter one direction to ditch in the ocean while jumping out the opposite side. He survived, which inspired applause in my theater. This whole scene presents one dramatic answer to the first question: human lives are worth more than helicopters.
Last Days in Vietnam presents these Americans as heroes. However, I am forced to wonder how the Americans of 1975 thought of them. We see news broadcasts of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather reporting on the North Vietnamese invasion, and we get the sense that the American people knew what was going on, knew that thousands of Vietnamese lives were in grave danger. Yet, we also see President Ford asking Congress to fund a rescue operation and being denied for political reasons. America had lost thousands of lives and billions of dollars fighting in Vietnam, and the people were tired. We wouldn’t give anymore.
Now, thirty-nine years later, our situation in Iraq bears some resemblances. The Iraq war has cost so much, but whatever progress that cost has bought could be lost to ISIL. At this point, our people seem willing to send air support to the fight, but our leadership and people seem leery to put “boots on the ground.” Last Days in Vietnam is a vital resource for perspective on this debate. If we acknowledge the heroism of these Americans who defied orders and risked much to save as many people as they could, doesn’t that point to a moral imperative to make similar sacrifices today?
I live in San José, California, which happens to be the city with more Vietnamese descendants than any other outside of Vietnam. As I walked out of Last Days in Vietnam, I overheard a woman saying that she and her father had been there in Saigon, in the embassy and on the harrowing trip out to sea. I thank God for her rescue and her life since then, and I pray that, when others need the same help, they’ll receive it.
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