. >> marianna's michael okwu on "america "america tonight's" michael okwu, on the tough choices 40 years after the fall of saigon. thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. tonight a special look at a moment in time seared into the memories of many americans but one that 40 years later is slipping into the history books. to many vietnamese who survived it was known as black april as communist forces from the north drove into the south and finally forced the fall of saigon. there was an anguish disbelief and so many fled for their lives. michael okwu, the days he can never terkt. forget. >> i climbed to the rooftop. marine guards had beaten the vietnamese out of the way so i could get on the chopper. as the chopper began leaving the roof of the embassy it arced up. and i could see on the edge of the city 140,000 north vietnamese troops moving in with the lights on. >> reporter: the final moments before the fall of saigon. seared forever into the memory of frank sneff, one of the last americans to leave vietnam. ♪ i'm dreaming of a white christmas ♪ >> bing crosby's christmas classic bleard on

be. >> "america tonight's" michael okwu back with us now. at the pictures you all took on your story it doesn't exactly look like sweetwater is a boom town by any means. what were your impressions, what did you see? >> i think you're right about that. to say this is a sleepy town in the rolling hills of texas or the rolling plains of texas would not be overstating things at all joie. it's the kind of place where you walk the sidewalk, people say hi to you. we saw small businesses restaurants insurance companies. just on the outskirts you'll see cement factories and power plants and at that time for example isat&t is a majorplayer there. it might look sleepy but it's certainly humming. the former mayor likes to say that nolan county has a $5 billion tax base which is up from the $5 million it was before the wind industry existed. and his worry is a real one. he's worried that if you take the wind industry out of nolan coined and out of sweetwater what looks like a sleepy town today over the course of town may essentially be a depressed one. >>

we wouldn't -- i wouldn't be in this spot. >> "america tonight's" michael okwu. michael good to see you. pretty alarming to see the problems piling up there in orange county. you mentioned the district attorney wouldn't comment. how is he responding to this? >> well, just this weekend he said that -- he made an announcement basically saying that he would personally review each and every new case involving jailhouse informants. he also said he would try to recruit legal experts from outside the office to review the office's procedures in cases like this. i got to tell you. we talk to people in legal circles, mainly defense attorneys around the country who say this is window-dressing at best and at worst it's the fox guarding the hen house. this is the district attorney that has led discretions take place consistently and they don't see the culture changing in that office at any time soon. >> i think the most troubling parts of your reports is the case of thomas thompson who may have wrongly sentenced to death. any word from his family? >> we tried to reach out to

. >> "america tonight's" michael okwu on whose calls the feds are track and what that might mean to you. thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. >>> a big disconnect looms over the government's phone surveillance program. both sides have lined up over the battle of what is known as section 215 of the patriot act which louse louis the allows the nsa to gather metadata. a federal court ruled the program illegal just a few days ago. whatever happens next opposition to it is because together some unlikely political bed fellows for what america "america tonight's" michael okwu has. >> a sloven entrepreneurs his taste is more to cotton oxford than camouflage more to mother fiscal than mercedes. but his passion runs deep. so much so that he spent part of his fortune founding cal guns, advocating for the gun owner. >> you have ammunition and hardware and firearms flow very naturally out of that kind of maker you culture. >> if i own a gun in sloven it doesn't say anything more about me other than i have a gun? >> we march with the pink pistols at the gay pride parade, i have as many who are for o