As you can see there were
at the time, 1975 both a Baptist and a Methodist missionary in the Orient
while my brother was serving at the American Embassy in Taipei, Taiwan.
Also see Operation Frequent Wind the emergency evacuation
by helicopter from Saigon, South Vietnam, in April 1975 during the last days
of the Vietnam War.
| I thought I might give a look at what I recently found on the National Archives archives.gov website.
Regional Security Officer George Payne mentioned in official State Department correspondence:
During 1973 - NAIROBI - At that time he was with the State Department's Division of Foreign Operations - A/SY/FO
During 1975 - TAIPEI - Spanky Gilbert Feest mentioned in official correspondence.
During 1976 - PRETORIA
1. AS RECENTLY DISCUSSED WITH ADMIN. COUNSELOR WASKA AND
RSO PAYNE IN DEPARTMENT, SY PLANS REASSIGN PAYNE TO
PRETORIA AS SENIOR RSO. POSITION IN PRETORIA IS SUPERVISORY
IN NATURE, DEMANDING AN EXPERIENCED SY OFFICER, WITH
A BROAD KNOWLEDGE OF DEPARTMENT'S GENERAL SECURITY AND
ANTI-TERRORISM PROGRAMS. CONDITIONS IN THE 8 COUNTRIES
(12 POSTS) SERVICED IN THE PRETORIA REGION AND POSSIBILITY
OF INCREASED SEC RITY OFFICER STAFFING OF RSO OFFICE DEMAND
OFFICER OF PAYNE'S SECURITY BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE.
|
With
respect for then Lt. John McCain who up until 1973 was spending time in
another place, famously called the "Hanoi Hilton".
|
|
|
The Kissinger State Department Telcons
The transcripts will allow historians to listen in on some of the most extraordinary private conversations, held by the world's most powerful policy makers at pivotal moments in international history. In one dramatic conversation on April 29, 1975, a wire service reporter, Ken Fried, called Kissinger to tell him that Saigon had collapsed and announced "an unconditional surrender to the VC." Kissinger is recorded as asking: "Is it true?" The documents also record his conversation in mid-April with top aide Philip Habib on the evacuation of Phnom Penh in the face of the approaching Khmer Rouge forces.
Document 4: Telcon with Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Philip Habib, 11 April 1975, 9:07 a.m.
With the wars in Southeast Asia coming to an end, the U.S. client government in Cambodia had collapsed under the weight of a Khmer Rouge offensive. Lon Nol and his family had fled and a caretaker government was in free fall. Washington hoped that former Premier Sihanouk, exiled in Beijing since the 1970 coup, would try to form a coalition government but he recognized that the Khmer Rouge had no interest in sharing power. With the capital city, Phnom Penh, in jeopardy, the Ford administration was about to implement Operation Eagle Pull, to evacuate Ambassador John Gunther Dean and other U.S. nationals from the city. Here Kissinger discusses with Habib the dire situation in Phnom Penh and details of the evacuation plan. As he was wont to do, Kissinger cast aspersions--"the sob" and "if we had a sane Secretary of Defense"--at Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, with whom he had just spoken about Cambodia. Some portions of the discussion are slightly obscure; it was clear that Kissinger had been angry at Habib for the latter's "lecture in front of everybody" during a meeting (possibly the Washington Special Action Group) the day before. They briefly discuss their personal relationship and Kissinger apparently jokes about Habib's Arab background. Habib clearly did not take the comments seriously because he rejoined "we semis [Semites] have to get along you know." Eagle Pull began that day and it involved helicopters as Dean and Habib had insisted. (Note 1)
|
|
|
|
You will notice here
the spelling of Macao, China. Actually the spelling is Macau but a
Robert Mitchum 1952 film spells the city Macao and it seems my brother
resorted to that version. Thirty seven miles southwest of Hong
Kong during this time in 1975 Macau was considered a territory of Spain much
as Honk Kong was British. In 1976, Lisbon redefined Macau as a "Chinese
territory under Portuguese administration," and granted it a large measure
of administrative, financial and economic autonomy. Portugal and China agreed
in 1979 to regard Macau as "a Chinese territory under (temporary) Portuguese
administration". and preferred to wait until December
1999--the very end of the millennium, two years after the Hong Kong Handover--to
close this chapter of history. Although offered control of Macau in
the 1970s, the Chinese deemed the time "not yet ripe"
Here is a more recent picture of the same building -
Also pictures of Macau Days and Nights
|
|
The Kissinger State Department Telcons
Document 5: Telcon with Ken Fried, 29 April 1975, 10:31 p.m.
As the Saigon regime in South Vietnam collapsed, Kissinger kept late hours at his office. Earlier that day, Washington had initiated another evacuation plan, Operation Frequent Wind, to withdraw U.S. personnel and key Vietnamese allies. President Nguyen Van Thieu had already resigned and General Duong Van "Big Minh" Minh (who had been ousted in a 1964 coup) had come to power. Here wire service reporter Ken Fried called him with startling news: Minh had just surrendered to the "VC" (Viet Cong), a reference to North Vietnam's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF) and South Vietnamese fighters of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG). Kissinger had not yet heard this but denied to Fried that he was surprised by the news. After some discussion of the future of Southeast Asia, Kissinger begs off, noting that the day before he had stayed up until 3:30 a.m. (Note 2)
|
My brother's last sentences
to me were "I think about you every day", and "Don't worry, I am in good
hands, the same HOSPITAL that John McCain was treated in."
|
|
|
Robert D. Johnson, said
to actually have been a Democrat
|
|
|
Nice to know that even
my brother made mistakes. He addressed the letter to himself.
Of course this was the time that my father was filing grievances with the
U.S. Postal Department and who knows it may have been a PLOY.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
