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Matthew Cranston

Biden’s last helicopter out of Kabul

The US President was a Senator during the Saigon evacuation at the end of the Vietnam War. Now he is waiting for the last helicopter out of Afghanistan.

Matthew CranstonUnited States correspondent
Updated

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Washington| At 7.53am on April 30, 1975, a helicopter carrying Major James Kean and 10 Marine Security Guards departed from Saigon for the USS Okinawa. It was the last US helicopter out of Vietnam, in a mission known as Operation Frequent Wind to evacuate all remaining “at-risk” Americans from the Vietnam War.

At the time, President Joe Biden was a senator, watching the handling of the operation by then-president Gerald Ford.

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Matthew Cranston is the United States correspondent, based in Washington. He was previously the Economics correspondent and Property editor. Connect with Matthew on Twitter. Email Matthew at mcranston@afr.com

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    Original URL: https://www.afr.com/link/follow-20180101-p58fa1