Operation New Life: May 1975

As South Vietnam fell to Communist forces in April 1975, tens of thousands of refugees sought to escape the country by sea or by air, including the 450-plus individuals who boarded that last C-130. During the month of May, the 50th Tactical Airlift Squadron, (which was formerly assigned to both the 314th TAW and then the 19th AW when it was an Airlift Squadron) assisted in this endeavor by transporting just shy of 7,500 passengers and nearly 600 tons of cargo from the Philippines to Guam.   Meanwhile, back at LRAFB, the first of nine commercial airplanes carrying Vietnamese refugees landed at “the Rock” on May 9, 1975. Airmen provided food, medical care, and general information to the voyagers.   From there, C-130s from the 32nd, 61st, and 62nd Tactical Airlift Squadrons supported Operation NEW LIFE by transporting over 9,000 refugees and more than 1,000 tons of cargo to Ft. Smith Airport, close to the Ft. Chaffee Resettlement Center. Overall, Operation NEW LIFE relocated more than 130,000 Indochinese refugees to their new lives in the U.S.