Getting Out of Saigon
How a 27-Year-Old Banker Saved 113 Vietnamese Civilians
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- 16,99 €
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- 16,99 €
Publisher Description
A “captivating” (The Washington Post) true story of “courage, resolve, and determination” (The Christian Science Monitor), author Ralph White’s successful effort to save nearly the entire staff of the Saigon branch of Chase Manhattan bank and their families before the city fell to the North Vietnamese Army.
In April 1975, Ralph White was asked by his boss to transfer from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. He was tasked with closing the branch if and when it appeared that Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese army and ensure the safety of the senior Vietnamese employees.
But when he arrived, he realized the situation in Saigon was far more perilous than he had imagined. The senior staff members there urged him to evacuate the entire staff of the branch and their families, which was far more than he was authorized to do. Quickly he realized that no one would be safe when the city fell, and it was no longer a question of whether to evacuate but how.
Getting Out of Saigon is an “edge-of-your-seat” (Oprah Daily) story of a city on the eve of destruction and the colorful characters who respond differently to impending doom. It’s a remarkable account of one man’s quest to save innocent lives not because he was ordered but because it was the right thing to do.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this stirring debut, White recounts his extraordinary mission rescuing civilians during the fall of South Vietnam. An American, 27-year-old White was assigned in February 1975 as an entry-level corporate banking officer at Chase Manhattan's Bangkok branch. But, as he reveals, his career took a significant turn when, two months later, he was assigned to work in Saigon. As the North Vietnamese army began to close in on the city, White was charged with the increasingly fraught task of ensuring the safety of the bank's employees. In a propulsive and suspenseful narrative, he recalls the lengths that he went to do so, battling American bureaucracy to get the branch's Vietnamese workers out of the city and past allies who were "shooting suspected deserters." With the help of diplomats running a clandestine rescue operation "behind the ambassador's back," White was able to commandeer an abandoned cargo plane and save over 100 Vietnamese lives. What he modestly refers to as his 15 minutes of fame is made more resonant by his deep humanity, as when he writes that "more than refugees, employees, staff," the people he rescued "were my families." Admirers of Antonio Mendez's Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History will be hooked.
