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By SANDI METHENEY A Morgantown native who was a U.S. AID official in South Vietnam when the country fell into the hands of Communists last month. Says he is bitter over the event. John Wiles, son of County Health Director I.A. Wiles, described the surrender of South Vietnam as ‘‘the worst thing that ever happened to me. ‘From mid-March on, I watched everything we had built up fall. On Apri l 20, John took his Vietnamese-born wife, Ba Lan, and their five-year-old son from their home in Saigon to Bangkok. ‘Movements of people out of the country began the next day. We started doing everything we could to get people out who might be armed. Ba Lan’s relatives were not among the 21 people the Wiles sponsored to come to the United States. ‘They didn't want to come and they were in no danger,’’ Wiles said. ‘A lot of people who left South Viet nam in fear, would have been better off to stay there,’ Wiles stated, noting the Viet Cong have offered to take them back. ‘But no one trusts Communists,” lied. ‘Apparently, they had nothing to fear if they had stayed in South Viet nam, providing the news which has been filtered to us from that country is true. Wiles went to Vietnam with the 25th Division of the Army in 1966 after his ei gems from college, where he 'd been a pre-medicine student in zoology. He joined AID following completion of service in the Army in 1967. AID is a development organization to help civilian governments of developing countries, and according to Wiles “Vietnam was the biggest aid mission in the world.” The main work of the organization is to provide advisory services to civilians. Stationed in Saigon throughout his service in AID, Wiles initially was a public health liaison between two military regions of Vietnam. In 1971, he became one of three program and budgeting officers for the public health program under AID. Wiles described the events which preceded the surrender and the sub sequent evacuation of U.S. citizens, officials and their relatives from South Vietnam. On April 24, the Saigon office of AID was separated from the main office. ‘My first feelings of fear were on Monday, April 28. That night the Communists bombed Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut air base with rockets, heavy artillery and ground assaults that cost the lives of two American Marines. “Soldiers downtown were shooting randomly. It was 6:15 and we sat on the floor of the office for 30 minutes. I went back home around 7 p.m. Curfew was at 8 p.m. After taking Lan to Bangkok, I was living just one building away from the office.” “The next morning, after the two Marines were killed, I could not return to the office until later in the afternoon. “I still didn’t feel the country would fall, despite the Communists being just outside the city. ‘When I went to the office, there were eight employes left to be on the next plane. “The employes were really afraid then — they thought I had left the country that morning. Chartered flights from Tan Son Nhut to Bangkok had been suspended. My boss in structed me to go to the embassy. “It was total evacuation. I knew then that things had really fallen through. “I got to the embassy before the big crowds formed. There were about 200 Vietnamese inside the embassy com a As I left on the helicopter , it looked like there were about 1,000 Vietnamese in and around the em ac . It was mass pandemonium out side. ‘Americans were taking everyone they could. The Vietnamese were angry and afraid.” Sitting calmly in his parents’ modern Morgantown home, while John Jr. , with his toys, Wiles reflected on those events with remorse. “All of a sudden it is gone to us. I don't know whether I wasted 10 years or not. I had been over-optimistic. “I could see the United States’ rationale for wanting to continue aid to Vietnam, and a reason for stopping it” Concerning anti-Americanism in South Vietnam after the surrender, Wiles said, ‘Those last three weeks, many felt we had let them down, but there really wasn't anti- Americanism, ‘‘until the night of evacuation when those left behind were feeling ‘‘strictly anti- Americanism. ’ Wiles noted that by then, “politicians had started talking it up. Wiles commended the Navy and the Marines who did a “fantastic job in a short period of time.” Today, Wiles and his small family await a new life in another land. His two-year tour would have ended April 26. They left Monday for Washington to await reassignment with AID, despite his anticipation that a reduction in the AID force might result from the end of the Vietnam mission. As a foreign service reserve of ficer, Wiles said he would like to go to Guam...’‘As long as there is a need for a development office, I will have a job in administration in the medical ser vices corps. Beyond that, he said, the future may bring John Wiles, Law, who became an American citizen last ear, and John Jr., home to Morgantown. Photo: by Sandi Metheney DESCRIBING THE FALL of South Vietnam, where he was an AID public health official, John Wiles, center, calls the experience “the worst thing that ever happened to me.”’ Visiting John's parents in Morgantown, Mr. and Mrs. I.A. Wiles, last week also were his Vietnamese-born wife, Lan, and their five-year-old son, John Jr.
Newspaper Details
Sunday Dominion-Post
Morgantown, West Virginia, US
Sun, May 25, 1975
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
John W.
USA 29 May 2026
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