state's efforts to put people to death. we'll saw to a state legislator who fought for the firing squad to be reintroduced to his state. thanks for joining us on this edition of "inside story." watch us next time. in washington, i'm ray suarez.

america's tonight, on the tough choices, and the consequences 40 years after the fall of saigon . thank for joining us tonight, a special look at a moment in time, seered into the memory he have many americans, 40 years later is slipping into the history books, to many it was nen as black april, as they drove into the south and forcedded you will fall the saigon she and as so many fled for their lives. and one of the last to get out, an american , who tells michael, of the days he can never forget .

i climbed to the rooftop and, they beat them out of the way so i could get in the chopper. as the chopper began leaving, it arced up, and i could see, on the edge of the city 140,000 north vietnamese troops moving in with the lights on. the final moment before the fall of saigon, 0ed forever into the memory of frank snap, one of the last americans to leave vietnam ♪ ♪ bong crosby's white christmas playered po the radio and, it was secret code for the operation. frequent wind, the largest ever airlift of its kind. more than five dozen took part

in the operation, fearless pilots flew over 600 flights and took 600 people out, and 900 from the u.s. beamy alone. as word got out that the americans were leaving thousands of south vietnamese swarmed the gates desperate to the leave and, many worked directly for the u.s. mission and were considered high risk. during the last day, we played god, we determined who would be saved and, would wouldn't, and it was heart-wrenching, and you would get one person, and not the mother, or the father and, we separated families because would he hadn't planned adequately. it was ever man, woman and child for themselves and this footage, taken pie british television crew just how crazy it was.

the embassy gates were closed and, we had to fight our way up and we did claw, and we did fight. and if it wasn't for one single american marine, whose name i didn't have the chance to discover, we would never have compliemed to evacuation. it's estimated 800,000 vet na meetingsed in their home land as a direct result of the war and many settled right here in orange orange county california, where some 200,000 vietnamese live in and i around the area. a.k.a., little saigon. it's a location, that frank snap, the central intelligence agency chief rarely visits despite the fact that he lives just an hour's thrive. what is it like here. i feel as though, i'm in a

hall of ghosts. i look around at these faces and, i'm always unconsciously trying to e donefy somebody i know, a face, an expressing, a smile. so you're looking for someone who you might not have had a chance to say goodbye to. i'm always saying goodbye to the memories that i carry with me. what hurts you most? the opportunities lost to out. we could have done it. and, we so often failed in that. a failure, he believes the state department and u.s. embassy could have prevepted. the fall of sidpon had been coming for months, and, the u.s. ambasa dor would not talk about a possible evacuation.

we have been seeing scenes of people fighting their way on choppers for a month. we add human tsunami rolling towards saigon and that in the last two months of the war and it had become familiar, and unfortunately, there could be more of them. did the launch or the capture take them by surprise? never thought that moment would come, he was the ambassador in vietnam and, he had convinced himself that the communist would accept a settlement to the latest hostilities and, he had not considered that the war would ever be lost. martin was a warrior, and he had lost an adon'ted son in vietnam. it wasn't in his constitution to

admit that the war was finished. he would not surrenderer . but, communist were intent on taking saigon, and, the army units pounded the targets around the clock. the violent barrage cleared the way for ground forces to capture key cities, in late march, and the army had achieved the unthinkable. in just weeks they had captured the northern half of the country and, obliterated half of the army. i went into the areas soon after the wars began to happen and, i saw the army, retreating into the sea. throwing away its uniforms, it was a horrifying sight,. bad leadership, on president's part, is what led to that

. they had surrounded the area. they had to protect their lives work. what did you do about all the sensitive equipment documents, etcetera, that were in the embassy? on the last day, we had done so little to get rid of classified material, that we were running the insinner rate tors on the roof all time and, that meant, building itself, the embassy was shaking because they were going, and they were burning, tons and tons of classified material. and, during the hours of -- early hours of the last morning, we began using grenades to destroy n.s.a. communication. using hand grenades to blow them up.

but despite their best everything. in 19677, frank published a memoir, revealing that sensitive dockcuments had been left behind. he insisted the c.i.a.'s local operatives were named in the file he is leaving them vulnerable to arrest. how many lives were lost as a direct result of all those documents? we have no idea, how many were killed. many were put into consenstration camps, and many people that worked with us in the c.i.a. be were treated extremely hatchly, and it's put it take it figure it out, and one vietnamese lost because we left one secret behind is all you need to know about betray yal. it's a sense of betray yal

that has haunted him. a betray yal he's reminded of in little saigon. reopen wounds. in those final hours, this woman, who claimed to have had my child and, showed up out of know where, and, told me that, i had to get her out and, if i didn't, she would kill herself,. i have to do something for the ambassador, call me back in an hour or so. what makes you think that she did kill herself. when she called back, i missed her call. and it is my fear that she killed herself and, that child. when you look back on this moment, as i imagine you have done, countless times. do you believe there's

something, you ought to have done differently. i should have grabbed the ambassador by the neck and, said will you start an evacuation start the planning for one? boy. i had good manners. and i sat on my anger and, i think about that all the bloody time. if only i had the guts for say to the ambassador, get going sir. we got all the information we need. i didn't do that. i am haunted by my failure to do that to this day. 40 years after fall of saigon, he spends a lot of time here, at these blocks, looking out at the pacific, exorcising the demons he brought home from the war.

why did you bring me her? the vietnam i knew, went into the sea, during that evacuation. and, the waters washed overall the terrible images, i brought with me and, began to soothe me. beginning the healing process, so i come here, to be reminded that there was an end tor horror. so this is solace . this is a moment away from vietnam. michael, all. next on america tonight, 40 years after fall, the rise of new opportunity, our journey back to vietnam. the littlest survivors, and the distance they traveled to home. their forgotten stories, and the unforgettable final days as we

look back at the fall of saigon.

my parents realize that i was going to live here in, vietnam, their first reaction was why? why would you want to go back from where, where we worked so hard to leave? as many americans, and, that earlier generation, called it saigon more jobs.

cheap living, and a once-in-a-lifetime adventure overseas. new wave that's going to come over here, and, new people come in, and i think that the more american businesses come over here, the more vietnamese businesses pop up. take advertising business which didn't exist here, and now most of the major u.s. ad agencies have set up shop here. demand for vietnamese speaking americans, with my background and, art and music, and, the demand is so great . i didn't really tell my mom and i called her, and i said i'm leighing next week. i washing for the school and i at a coffee shop, and, i was here, and i produced six films and, it's

been good. and, it took awhile g. people come over here because there are a lot of opportunities and they won't get those in the u.s. right now. fast forward to more recent ahead for ho chi mincity. and now, it is now the largest exporter to the united states, and they expect to see a record 6% growth in the next year. next, they rose from the crisis of the final days america tonight, with the survivor's story, the flight that changed her life forever. three-years ago, i found out, that i was on the plane. what was that like? q.devastating. disbelief. thursday, a deeper look at the ongoing, unrest in baltimore and, what led to it. america's tonight, adam and, he heard freddy gray's screams

as he was arrested by baltimore police and, what we learn from the crisis, thursday on america tonight.

in the dark of the days, operation baby left, more than 5,000 volunteers, and as america found, to save lives. i have directed that money from a $2 million special foreign aid children's fund be made available. mr. ford announced a airlift vietnam. that would become baby lift 3,000 very young children, many of them orphans, were airlifted out of south vietnam, just weeks before the fall of saigon.

and many to be adopted by american families. i didn't know, that, ford himself an orphan, had decided to start evacuating some of the people out of saigon. and as luck would have it, the air force pilot was assigned to fly the plane. a young captain, he had no clue that he would be carrying babies, inside his massive cargo hold, with no gameplan, what we need is, blankets and, juices and milk and pillows and diapers, and all that stuff. his c5 8, departed the air base with the bearest of the necessities than 300 people on board. and, 12 minutes into the flight,

the locks, failed. the locks, all broke, the ramp dipped into the slip screen and, ripped off, and when it did, it broke the back of the pressure door, the trouble was when the door went through the tail, it took all of the flight control cables. he had very little control of the monster cargo plane, but they managed to turn it around and, emergency landing. we touched down, in arise patty. just, there, and i left the gear behind which broke up the inch tellingty of the cargo department, and, everybody downstairs, died, which, just a handful of people survived. in all, 138 people were killed, in that crash, including 78 children. to get an idea of what it

was like, inside, we traveled to travis air force base, roughly an hour outside san francisco, where the squadron is still martin. you are a pilot, and you fly, and tell me a little bit about where we are. we're in the belly of of the cargo hole, of the galaxy, and as you can see, we can carry a vast amount of cargo. where are we now. we're in the aft part of of the cargo plane. what would happen, if you are at say 22,000 feet and this blows open,. they lost the hydraulic system which made it almost unflyable. catastrophic. they walked away, is that a miracle?

absolutely . it was as miracle for the baby he adopted. she was told she was on that plane, one of the dozen seated in the top portion who survived. laura was air lasted, with very few records and almost no information about her birth family. i grew up, with this believe that i came over on a plane that crashed, and i was a sur vive vor, and, that i, i was one of the lucky babies who made it out and, three years ago, i found out that i wasn't on the plane. what was that like hearing that. deaf vast tating. q.disbelief. i mean not that you want to be part of a plane crash but, i did want that to be part of my history and, that's what i grew up believing. i went to vietnam, and i cried at the site, for what i thought

happened to me and, visuallized this trauma and, it was hard. and then when you find out guess what, that's not part of your history -- the crash was also tra make mathematic for her mother. who spent two years, filling out paperwork to adopt a baby from vietnam. i had to write a letter, asking permission to adopt a citizen, from the county, and when the crash happened, it was like, oh, i'm not going to get a child now, and i hadn't been matched up yet. dpef vast stated. she believed her chances were gone after the plane crash. but two weeks later, she received a phonecall, her baby girl was waiting in a denver hospital. she and her husband jumped at the chance to get her despite growing criticism, who thought it was just a pr stunt carefully orchestrated by the white house.

i know they used it, when ford met the plane and, i know that the confusion of war, somethings may have happened and, made people uncomfortable in the long run, it was wonderful to have those here. we didn't know what their future was like. she was determined to give deserved. she was nicknamed princess, as if she were her own- what was life like growing up? well, it's a whole lifetime of i'm the daughter, not my friend, if i had add blonde friend, it was, i'm her kid, and, you know, that's one thing that i would love to know, what is my mother -- this is my mother, you'll see we have the same mannercisms, and i'm her daughter.

life hasn't always been filled with unconditional love. did you ever want to be that? i think, the racial think, it happened later, because, you know, when i walked in to get a pedestrian dad door or something like that, so, are you vietnamese and, how come you don't know your language. i was getting my nails done. and started to bring it up. and i was so proud, oh, my daughter is veet vietnamese, and she's mixed and it was just the way she said it, it was the first time that i ever experienced that. over the years, she's become more comfortable in her skin and, embraced her her a taj. and she ventured back to her bittersweet. the first week i was a wreck. laughing and crying. and, you know, landing was

tearful, and the first thing on my mind is, my mother, could be down there somewhere. it's reality after jury any discovery, she's determined to continue, one that brought her here, to san francisco for an exhibition commemorating the 40th anniversary of operation baby lift, and, volunteers, who made it a success. for the first time, they met sister, a none who worked at at the orphanage where laura spent the first six months. she is an established singer. what's one of the songs, your songs, that sums you up the most? oh gees. i'm not -- there's this lyric, i'm like

a fire. and i need to burn. ♪ ♪ that makes me emotional ♪ i feel like, you know, when i'm singing that to maybe vietnam vet, i'm hoping that maybe he can let some of these ghosts go ♪ ♪ i want to help these guys and women ♪ ♪ and they can let somethings go ♪ ♪ sarah, all. california. a song and, a voice, to remember. that's our special look at the fall of saigon, 40 years later, tell us what you think

wet, cold, and in desperate need of help. the united center launches a multi-million dollar appeal for nepal. ♪ ♪ hello, i am sammy, you are watching al jazerra. also on the show. saudi arabia's new foreign minister is to attends his first first degree gcc summit with the war in yemen set to dominate the agenda. parades and celebrations in ho chi minh city to mark the victory over america by vietnam.