In the days just after the Communist take-over, we were permitted no contact with the outside world. Phone and telex links were cut and the post office would accept no telegrams. We had wonderful stories to tell; but no way out.

But despite our isolation, life went on very normally in Saigon. Much to our surprise, within a day restaurants and shops were back open. North Vietnamese soldiers were shopping for trinkets in the markets.

Neil Davis and I, when not working, were dining on Pho noodles, sipping cool Caphe Sua Da, and downing lots of Kem or Ice Cream in our favorite coffee shop - Givral's. 

One morning with our short wave radio at our side and stomach full with ice-cream, we were embarrassed to hear a BBC World Service announcer intone to the world:

 "The last journalists in Saigon trapped in the communist controlled capital have not been heard from since the fall. Their fate remains unknown at this hour."

Our fate finally became clear a week later, when late on May 7th communications via cable were re-opened to the outside world.

The man who ran Saigon in the first weeks after the Communist take-over was General Tran Van Tra, a southern revolutionary who was operational commander around Saigon during the Tet Offensive of 1968, the military operation which provided a serious psychological blow to American policy makers.

I met General Tra following a large victory rally on May 7th, 1975. The following piece appeared a month later in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

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