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Free Screening of Academy Award-Nominated Documentary “American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam”

For more information, contact:
Lisa Goss, Communications Specialist, 216-916-6134

March 31, 2015 – (Cleveland, OH) – WVIZ/PBS, in conjunction with Civic Commons ideastream, will preview the Academy Award-nominated documentary “American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam,” on  Wednesday, April 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Idea Center at Playhouse Square. Following the 90-minute screening will be a Q&A that includes veteran Commander Hugh Doyle, who is featured in the film, which is an American Experience presentation.  The preview is free, but registration is required at  ideastream.org/vietnam.

The Q&A, moderated by Mike Shafarenko, Manager of Civic Engagement, Web and Social Media at ideastream, immediately follows the preview and includes the following participants…


  • Commander Hugh Doyle, US Navy (retired), chief engineer on the U.S.S. Kirk, which had a major role in the evacuation of South Vietnamese citizens, including 1975’s Operation Eagle Pull (the evacuation of Cambodia), Operation Frequent Wind (the evacuation of Vietnam) and Operation New Life (the voyage of 32 vessels of the former South Vietnamese Navy, carrying more than 33,000 refugees from Vietnam to the Philippines).

     

  • Mary Reynolds Powell, a Clevelander who served as a U.S. Army nurse at the 24th Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh, Vietnam in 1970 and 1971, and author of “A World of Hurt: Between Innocence and Arrogance in Vietnam.”

     

  • Leon Bibb, a decorated military veteran of war who received a Bronze Star Medal for his service in Vietnam and is currently an Anchor/Multimedia Journalist for WEWS NewsChannel 5.

“American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam,”  produced and directed by Rory Kennedy, chronicles the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, American officers on the ground faced a moral dilemma: Follow official policy and evacuate U.S. citizens and their dependents only, or ignore orders and save the men, women and children they had come to value and love in their years in Vietnam.

At the risk of their careers and possible court-martial, a handful of individuals took matters into their own hands. Engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations, they waged a desperate effort to evacuate as many South Vietnamese as possible.  The screening—and premiere on WVIZ/PBS, Tuesday, April 28 at 9pm—coincide with the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

The screening of “American Experience: Last Days in Vietnam” is presented with the support of Cuyahoga County Veterans Service Commission and Cuyahoga Community College Veterans Initiative.

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