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Getting Out of Saigon: How a 27-year-old American Banker Saved 113 Vietnamese Civilians
The gripping and remarkable true story of author Ralph White’s desperate effort to save the entire staff of the Saigon branch of Chase Manhattan bank and their families before the city fell to the North Vietnamese Army.
In April 1975, Ralph White was asked by his boss to transfer from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. He was tasked with closing the branch if and when it appeared that Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese army and ensure the safety of the senior Vietnamese employees.
But when he arrived, he realized the situation in Saigon was far more perilous than he had imagined. The senior staff members there urged him to evacuate the entire staff of the branch and their families, which was far more than he was authorized to do. Quickly he realized that no one would be safe when the city fell, and it was no longer a question of whether to evacuate but how.
Getting Out of Saigon is the remarkable story of a city on the eve of destruction and the colorful characters who respond differently to impending doom. It’s about one man’s quest to save innocent lives not because it was ordered but because it was the right thing to do.
In April 1975, Ralph White was asked by his boss to transfer from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. He was tasked with closing the branch if and when it appeared that Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese army and ensure the safety of the senior Vietnamese employees.
But when he arrived, he realized the situation in Saigon was far more perilous than he had imagined. The senior staff members there urged him to evacuate the entire staff of the branch and their families, which was far more than he was authorized to do. Quickly he realized that no one would be safe when the city fell, and it was no longer a question of whether to evacuate but how.
Getting Out of Saigon is the remarkable story of a city on the eve of destruction and the colorful characters who respond differently to impending doom. It’s about one man’s quest to save innocent lives not because it was ordered but because it was the right thing to do.
1 pages, Audio CD
First published April 4, 2023
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About the author
Ralph White
2 books17 followersABOUT THE AUTHOR
In his first two years after college, Ralph White managed branches of the American Express International Banking Corporation in Okinawa and Vietnam under contract with the U.S. Treasury.
In 1973 White joined The Chase Manhattan Bank and, following a yearlong training program in New York, worked as a business development officer in Chase branches in Thailand and Hong Kong. During his stint in Thailand, he was temporarily assigned to Vietnam to close the bank’s Saigon branch during the fall of Saigon, for which he was awarded the organization’s highest honor: Chase’s President’s Award. Upon return to Chase’s New York headquarters in 1981 he worked in the International Strategic Planning Division. At the time he left Chase he was a vice president.
Over the next twenty years, White enjoyed a rewarding career as a business development officer with three foreign banks, while also finding the time to earn an MBA at Columbia University. He completed his career as a senior vice president in financial engineering at Marsh and McLennan Securities.
On April 1, 2001, White was turned down for an internal transfer within Marsh which would have put him on the 93rd floor of World Trade Center, Tower One. Four months later, on September 11, everyone in that office was killed, including the officer who got the job for which White was turned down. He lost five friends that day. The incident precipitated an epiphany and White resolved to change the trajectory of his life.
In 2009 he founded the Columbia Fiction Foundry, a shared interest group and writing workshop under Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development. After serving as the organization’s president for its first decade, White continues to serve as its chairman.
He is the author of Getting Out of Saigon, published by Simon and Schuster on April 4, 2022. The book describes the author's rescue of the Vietnamese employees of the Saigon Branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
He is the author of Litchfield, a local history including 200 vintage photographs of his Connecticut hometown, published in 2011 in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.
Mr. White lives in New York City and Litchfield, Connecticut. He is single and childless—unless you count the 113 Vietnamese refugees he adopted and brought to America during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
In his first two years after college, Ralph White managed branches of the American Express International Banking Corporation in Okinawa and Vietnam under contract with the U.S. Treasury.
In 1973 White joined The Chase Manhattan Bank and, following a yearlong training program in New York, worked as a business development officer in Chase branches in Thailand and Hong Kong. During his stint in Thailand, he was temporarily assigned to Vietnam to close the bank’s Saigon branch during the fall of Saigon, for which he was awarded the organization’s highest honor: Chase’s President’s Award. Upon return to Chase’s New York headquarters in 1981 he worked in the International Strategic Planning Division. At the time he left Chase he was a vice president.
Over the next twenty years, White enjoyed a rewarding career as a business development officer with three foreign banks, while also finding the time to earn an MBA at Columbia University. He completed his career as a senior vice president in financial engineering at Marsh and McLennan Securities.
On April 1, 2001, White was turned down for an internal transfer within Marsh which would have put him on the 93rd floor of World Trade Center, Tower One. Four months later, on September 11, everyone in that office was killed, including the officer who got the job for which White was turned down. He lost five friends that day. The incident precipitated an epiphany and White resolved to change the trajectory of his life.
In 2009 he founded the Columbia Fiction Foundry, a shared interest group and writing workshop under Columbia University’s Office of Alumni and Development. After serving as the organization’s president for its first decade, White continues to serve as its chairman.
He is the author of Getting Out of Saigon, published by Simon and Schuster on April 4, 2022. The book describes the author's rescue of the Vietnamese employees of the Saigon Branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
He is the author of Litchfield, a local history including 200 vintage photographs of his Connecticut hometown, published in 2011 in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.
Mr. White lives in New York City and Litchfield, Connecticut. He is single and childless—unless you count the 113 Vietnamese refugees he adopted and brought to America during the fall of Saigon in 1975.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 103 reviews
June 6, 2023
What makes this story interesting is the historical background; the fall of Saigon was intrinsically dramatic. However, the author's self-absorbed braggadocio sounds like a teenager desperately trying to impress, and his attitude toward women is disturbing. For a better individual account, read They Are All My Family: A Daring Rescue in the Chaos of Saigon's Fall. Or, for a better picture of just how many people were involved in the evacuation, try Honorable Exit: How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War.
July 2, 2023
Great book. Ordinary American bank manager sent to Saigon to run their Chase bank branch, about 15 days before Saigon eventually fell. Why they didn’t close the bank sooner is beyond me but this guy got all the employees out and safely to America, despite bureaucratic setbacks. True hero.
March 31, 2023
When Ralph White was asked to head up the Chase Manhattan Bank in South Korea he knew it wasn’t because of his great mathematical skills or because of his long career it was because they couldn’t get anyone of a higher rank to do it. Being up-to-date on the politics and atmosphere in Seguin he was a little leery. Being young and either brave or stupid he decided to do it when he arrived in Seguin he soon learned he was at the mercy of a delusional ambassador named Gram Martin who thought even taking down the flags would be a slight to the people in Seguin and until he said go Ralph White had to stay he found a like minded thinker in his superior in whose job he was filling Mr. core unfortunately he would be leaving soon and Mr. White would be on his own. I did find it funny that he had time to go to Lou Rawls a nice dinners but I guess you keep doing what you do until you can’t having never been in such a situation I am totally not judging him doing that. getting Out Of Sagan by Ralph White is a male biting account of him not just trying to get his self out of the country but his employees because when the general rolled into town he would kill all of those who work for foreign companies and any foreigners they found. Ralph Waite had lived in the area for years right after college when he worked for American Express but things are much different then and his account this event is so good and he is such a good writer not to mention he seems very intelligent and seem to know more than the authorities he was forced to listen to that I have a Lotta respect for him and the employees that stayed with him until the end. This whole situation is a scary proposition knowing military forces that I would love to take your life is only a days ride away and you’re just waiting for them to come so you can leave it’s all a nervous nailbiter that’s why Mr. White signing up to do this for those he called “his people“ more of a hero than anyone in the military at the time. Kudos to you Mr. White for a great book and a great feat! This book deserves five stars if not more what a great great book! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.
January 29, 2025
A riveting read not just because I am currently in Vietnam very soon heading to Ho Chi Minh City formally known as Saigon.
May 9, 2025
The United States had two and a half million troops in Vietnam. Three hundred thousand were wounded. Fifty-eight thousand were killed. All this and a cost of 150 billion American dollars. Ralph White had a temporary assignment with the Chase Manhattan Bank from April 14, 1975, until April 26. His mission was to get the senior branch staff out of the country before it fell to the communists. However, he felt an obligation to try to get the entire staff out, plus families, because they were in danger of being killed by North Vietnamese Army troops or the Viet Cong, the local guerrillas.
“Neither Bank of America nor First National City Bank has expatriates here anymore.” Even IBM was trying to run their operation from out of the country. Most expats and their families were gone. All of White’s senior managers were gone. “It was considered disloyal to discuss the evacuation of Americans and treasonous to mention evacuating Vietnamese.”
White ran into embassies that could not help him. Military personnel were evasive. His staff lacked documentation. Chase Bank in the states had no practical advice. As one of the last Americans to leave Saigon, White contemplated stealing an airplane or a riverboat to get his branch’s handful of Vietnamese employees and their families out of Vietnam.
He finally managed to arrange flights on two cargo planes through devious means. “It’s a humanitarian mission. That justifies a little rule breaking.” His “family” was housed in tent cities and open ground in the Philippines and Guam, and finally a Chase-owned hotel in Guam that had been foreclosed on for a defaulted loan. Chase also paid all of the expenses for the rescue. Jobs were found for all of the Saigon employees, and the families of Chase Manhattan Bank officers in New York took refugees into their homes.
Interesting aside:
An American contractor stayed in Saigon because he could marry desperate women for $15,000 each, providing them the needed documentation to leave. “I got married five times today. Made seventy-five grand. My annual salary’s only twenty. No way I can leave.”
“Neither Bank of America nor First National City Bank has expatriates here anymore.” Even IBM was trying to run their operation from out of the country. Most expats and their families were gone. All of White’s senior managers were gone. “It was considered disloyal to discuss the evacuation of Americans and treasonous to mention evacuating Vietnamese.”
White ran into embassies that could not help him. Military personnel were evasive. His staff lacked documentation. Chase Bank in the states had no practical advice. As one of the last Americans to leave Saigon, White contemplated stealing an airplane or a riverboat to get his branch’s handful of Vietnamese employees and their families out of Vietnam.
He finally managed to arrange flights on two cargo planes through devious means. “It’s a humanitarian mission. That justifies a little rule breaking.” His “family” was housed in tent cities and open ground in the Philippines and Guam, and finally a Chase-owned hotel in Guam that had been foreclosed on for a defaulted loan. Chase also paid all of the expenses for the rescue. Jobs were found for all of the Saigon employees, and the families of Chase Manhattan Bank officers in New York took refugees into their homes.
Interesting aside:
An American contractor stayed in Saigon because he could marry desperate women for $15,000 each, providing them the needed documentation to leave. “I got married five times today. Made seventy-five grand. My annual salary’s only twenty. No way I can leave.”
April 9, 2023
There’s a little tongue-in-cheek ditty that goes like this: “Jesus puts his money in the Chase Manhattan Bank. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. Jesus saves.” In this instance, it is not Jesus who does the saving but Ralph White. It’s hard not to admire Ralph White. He starts out as a naïve young guy looking for risk and a little adventure but instead finds the fog of war, bureaucratic incompetence, nonsense, and delusion. Yet he also learns some important lessons like how to work the system and how to feel compassion for fellow humans. White’s basic philosophy is not unfamiliar to those working in complex bureaucracies: “if you thought you couldn’t do something, you were probably right, whereas if you thought that you could, you stood a decent chance of pulling it off."
White was working as a banker in Bangkok when the Chase Manhattan Bank dispatched him to the doomed city of Saigon in late April 1975. Carrying a briefcase filled with cash and a loaded revolver, White’s job was to keep the bank open as long as possible and then assist the senior employees and their immediate families to escape before the fall. It seemed that the bank had a reputation for cutting and running gained in Korea and did not want that to happen again in Vietnam. Moreover, if caught, the bank’s senior staff would likely be punished and even executed for collaborating with the enemy.
White quickly realized that the situation in Vietnam was much more dire than anyone at Chase realized. The troop disparities between the two armies were overwhelming and the senior American diplomats were deluding themselves about America’s chances for a successful outcome. In the face of American obstructionism and incompetence, White explored his options. These included stealing a plane and/or floating barges down the Saigon River. Eventually he connected with several middle-level Americans who were preceptive about the situation and willing to bend rules to save our Vietnamese allies and their families.
The memoir tells a riveting story that reads like a fictional thriller. While being both witty and humble, White’s narration also captures a sense of the moment’s history. However, his tight focus on the rescue of Chase employees loses the scale of what was clearly a monumental and dangerous time for both the Vietnamese and their American patrons throughout the country. His failure to maintain any but the most cursory contact with his charges also seems curious and was a huge disappointment for what was otherwise a superb memoir.
White was working as a banker in Bangkok when the Chase Manhattan Bank dispatched him to the doomed city of Saigon in late April 1975. Carrying a briefcase filled with cash and a loaded revolver, White’s job was to keep the bank open as long as possible and then assist the senior employees and their immediate families to escape before the fall. It seemed that the bank had a reputation for cutting and running gained in Korea and did not want that to happen again in Vietnam. Moreover, if caught, the bank’s senior staff would likely be punished and even executed for collaborating with the enemy.
White quickly realized that the situation in Vietnam was much more dire than anyone at Chase realized. The troop disparities between the two armies were overwhelming and the senior American diplomats were deluding themselves about America’s chances for a successful outcome. In the face of American obstructionism and incompetence, White explored his options. These included stealing a plane and/or floating barges down the Saigon River. Eventually he connected with several middle-level Americans who were preceptive about the situation and willing to bend rules to save our Vietnamese allies and their families.
The memoir tells a riveting story that reads like a fictional thriller. While being both witty and humble, White’s narration also captures a sense of the moment’s history. However, his tight focus on the rescue of Chase employees loses the scale of what was clearly a monumental and dangerous time for both the Vietnamese and their American patrons throughout the country. His failure to maintain any but the most cursory contact with his charges also seems curious and was a huge disappointment for what was otherwise a superb memoir.
April 9, 2024
White shows us what it was like on the ground during the last days of U.S. presence in Vietnam in April 1975. "The Bar was its usual self, meaning men fully dressed, women topless and everyone bathed in the neon blue of early-onset debauchery." Written with swagger, I had difficulty caring about the various U.S. Embassy employees and military officers who had set up a complex web of obstacles for Mr. White to overcome to get his ( Chase Manhattan Bank's) employees out of the country. I really enjoyed the 'mission-impossible' climax, the reminder of how fraught and clandestine our involvement in Vietnam had been. It left me thinking about male engendered confrontation and solution where ingratiating yourself to a 'good-old-boy' hierarchy is the only way to get things done. "More than once I've seen Navy patrol boats towing water skiers under this bridge (over the Saigon River). . .a skier in the stern and a .50 caliber machine gun in the bow."
June 17, 2024
Wow what a good book and incredible story. It’s like a combination of red notice and catch me if you can. The whole book takes place over 2 weeks about a single Chase employee, Ralph White, evacuating his employees from Vietnam before Saigon was captured. White’s narrative is funny and pretty unbelievable
August 28, 2025
The book reads like a semi-spy novel, the author would have made a great CIA operative. A really interesting firsthand account of the fall of Saigon, the attitudes of American diplomats in Saigon at the time, and the political climate of South Vietnam at the end of the war. Ralph has serious skill with networking and using 100% of his brain when dealing with powerful people. The feat of evacuating over 100 Vietnamese people with no visas is admirable.
He has a giant dose of machismo and all women are described as objects for viewing and male gratification. Also a great commentary on how being rich, male, and white will put you next to royalty in many third world countries.
He has a giant dose of machismo and all women are described as objects for viewing and male gratification. Also a great commentary on how being rich, male, and white will put you next to royalty in many third world countries.
June 11, 2025
What a story!!
September 7, 2025
Heartwarming and beautifully written. I found it hard to put down.
July 11, 2023
Full disclosure: I received an e-galley copy in exchange for an honest review.
I am amazed at Ralph White's tenacity and daring duties to take care of the bank employees who were working the the Saigon Chase bank. While he certainly had luck and help along the way, most 27-year-olds would not have such quick thinking skills.
Recommended for public libraries and history collections in academic libraries.
I am amazed at Ralph White's tenacity and daring duties to take care of the bank employees who were working the the Saigon Chase bank. While he certainly had luck and help along the way, most 27-year-olds would not have such quick thinking skills.
Recommended for public libraries and history collections in academic libraries.
March 2, 2023
I just finished reading this powerful book and wanted to share how much I enjoyed it. The book follows the real-life story of a banker who saved a group of Vietnamese civilians. From the very beginning you will want to turn the page to see how the rescue began, played out and was completed. Some people may not be into reading historical books, but this book is really about a difficult situation and how it was overcome. The writing was moving, and the story flowed quickly. It was an excellent book and is definitely worth reading!
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster, for the temporary digital ARC that I read and gave my honest opinion of.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster, for the temporary digital ARC that I read and gave my honest opinion of.
August 13, 2023
Oh my. I can't believe this story has not been told before, nor why this story is not a movie. Ralph White (the author) was a 27 year old credit analyst--a low level Chase Bank officer in southeast Asia--when Chase sent him to Saigon from his station in Bangkok to close the branch in Vietnam in the final days before it fell to North Vietnamese forces. The last American combatant had left Vietnam 2 years prior but the city had not yet fallen, and White was told to keep the branch open until told and then rely on the U.S. Embassy to get out with his 6 senior officers. Well, it didn’t work out that way. The U.S. Embassy was of no help, and White immediately committed to get all 53 of his employees and immediate families out…somehow. He had no idea how. A stolen DC 3? Hijack a barge? (These are actual plans.) The book is almost entirely the 11 days he spends in Saigon rescuing a teenage prostitute, getting help from the enemy, getting no help from official American sources (but lots of help through unofficial channels) and ultimately gets his 113 “family members” (the Vietnamese Chase Bank staff and dependents) out through marginally legal means. The country has collapsed; the city is moments away from falling to the North Vietnamese Army, and this 27 year-old kid is walking around Saigon trying to arrange transport out for his employees and families. He refused to leave without them. I couldn't help but think that White's story is similar to what happened in Afghanistan last year: the US had functionally stepped out after years and years of propping up a government and left thousands of folks left to scramble for themselves. The only disappointment in this story (spoiler alert) is that White didn't keep up with these folks after he got them out. I would have enjoyed to hear some happy epilogue stories, but there's not much there.
June 21, 2023
In April 1975, Ralph White was asked to volunteer to go from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. His assignment was to keep the bank running as long as possible and then help with the evacuations the senior Vietnamese employees.
Once in Saigon, he realized the circumstances were much more immediate and precarious than he imagined. US government officials had delusions of stability and the Vietnamese government was not far behind them. Running around the city, in various meetings with officials, White concluded that he needed to make his own plans to bring out all his employees and their families.
Why I started this book: This month's book club selection.
Why I finished it: This book needs a little bit of of runway to take off, but after the first hour I was hooked and finished the rest of the book in one day. White's story is about the power of confidence, outsider perspectives, and the willingness to solve problems rather than follow rules. In little over two weeks in country, White succeeded in prioritizing the safety of his bank's employees over the political feelings of the two governments. His confidence that he could just steal a plane and learn to fly it out was mind blowing. Also I can't believe that he spent the whole two weeks with only one spare set of clothes. Yikes!
Once in Saigon, he realized the circumstances were much more immediate and precarious than he imagined. US government officials had delusions of stability and the Vietnamese government was not far behind them. Running around the city, in various meetings with officials, White concluded that he needed to make his own plans to bring out all his employees and their families.
Why I started this book: This month's book club selection.
Why I finished it: This book needs a little bit of of runway to take off, but after the first hour I was hooked and finished the rest of the book in one day. White's story is about the power of confidence, outsider perspectives, and the willingness to solve problems rather than follow rules. In little over two weeks in country, White succeeded in prioritizing the safety of his bank's employees over the political feelings of the two governments. His confidence that he could just steal a plane and learn to fly it out was mind blowing. Also I can't believe that he spent the whole two weeks with only one spare set of clothes. Yikes!
July 1, 2024
As a former banker and aspiring diplomat I enjoyed the overall premise of this book and the opportunity to learn more about the U.S. evacuation from Vietnam. However, I found most of the dialogue in this story to be unbelievable. It gave me the same sense that I felt when reading John Perkins’ “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” where the narrator was always correct, quick-witted, confident even around individuals that significantly outranked him, and was informed of sensitive information from important people with no explanation about why they trusted him with it. I don’t doubt that these encounters took place at all or that some of the dialogue is accurate, but I’m unconvinced that a 27 year old with limited experience in his banking role and in life, and limited diplomatic knowledge, outside of reading books and newspapers, would have been so successful in his dealings with so many experienced professionals (including the U.S. ambassador).
Lastly, the misogynistic comments throughout the story may have had their place in 1975 but the author, editors and publisher really should have reduced or removed them given that the book was written and released nearly 50 years later. That mindset and description of women is no longer socially acceptable.
Lastly, the misogynistic comments throughout the story may have had their place in 1975 but the author, editors and publisher really should have reduced or removed them given that the book was written and released nearly 50 years later. That mindset and description of women is no longer socially acceptable.
July 14, 2023
a very entertaining read and an easy 5 stars. I didn't want this book to end, but I couldn't stop reading it. Ralph White is one very talented writer and I hope he has more books to come. By far one of my favorite books on the Vietnam War, and I've read a lot.
This book was very personal to me. In 1975 I was a teenager living in a suburb of northern New Jersey when the boat people from Vietnam arrived. I first heard about it from my mother in the kitchen one night. She said that people needed to help them and that they were arriving here with nothing. I said to her that people always say that and nobody ever does anything. A week later we had 3 teenage boys from Vietnam living in our home. over the next few years many more would come and go. we are still in touch with many of them today, some are still in NJ and others far away.
By chance, I ended up meeting a Vietnamese woman from Saigon 20 years after my first marriage ended. we have been married for 6 years now and live in Northern NJ with her son who is 15. I have been to Vietnam 10 times and love the country, its people and the culture.
This book was very personal to me. In 1975 I was a teenager living in a suburb of northern New Jersey when the boat people from Vietnam arrived. I first heard about it from my mother in the kitchen one night. She said that people needed to help them and that they were arriving here with nothing. I said to her that people always say that and nobody ever does anything. A week later we had 3 teenage boys from Vietnam living in our home. over the next few years many more would come and go. we are still in touch with many of them today, some are still in NJ and others far away.
By chance, I ended up meeting a Vietnamese woman from Saigon 20 years after my first marriage ended. we have been married for 6 years now and live in Northern NJ with her son who is 15. I have been to Vietnam 10 times and love the country, its people and the culture.
March 11, 2024
Since I read "The Women" by Kristen Hannah, I have become obsessed with learning more about Vietnam, an era I lived through as a child but never fully understood. The absolute best source for me has been Ken Burns' massive 10-part documentary. After watching that, I wanted more from this book. The idiocy of Ambassador Martin certainly comes through, and the author does share some interesting insight as to how such a disastrous (and preventable) f**k up occurred.
You can't help but to love the narrator. He is witty, self-deprecating at times (and a little too self-aggrandizing at others), but relatably human. The story is very engaging and a fairly quick read. Sometimes the misogynistic culture of 1970s is a bit cringey, but that's really how it was in those days.
I wanted more Hollywood drama with a more satisfying ending, but this is non-fiction (which is so well written you forget that at times). The story is told from one person's perspective; I guess I would have liked to hear more from the Vietnamese characters about their experiences in the last days, having to make such excruciating decisions about getting out and starting over in a new country.
You can't help but to love the narrator. He is witty, self-deprecating at times (and a little too self-aggrandizing at others), but relatably human. The story is very engaging and a fairly quick read. Sometimes the misogynistic culture of 1970s is a bit cringey, but that's really how it was in those days.
I wanted more Hollywood drama with a more satisfying ending, but this is non-fiction (which is so well written you forget that at times). The story is told from one person's perspective; I guess I would have liked to hear more from the Vietnamese characters about their experiences in the last days, having to make such excruciating decisions about getting out and starting over in a new country.
April 14, 2024
In April 1975, Ralph White was a 27 year old employee of Chase Manhattan Bank in Bangkok. Senior management asked him to take over the duties of the manager of the branch in Saigon. He had experience in the Asia Pacific area. He was instructed to continue running the branch until the North Vietnamese Army invaded and to try to evacuate the senior staff.
This is the story of his attempts to follow his instructions and his later attempts to evacuate all of the staff plus their immediate families. It is written with wit, cynicism and some sarcasm. He is telling it like it was. White has captured the frustration that he felt dealing with the American Embassy; his admiration for the American staff who stretched the rules in order to evacuate as many as possible; and the terror that the employees felt not knowing if Chase Bank would help them get out or whether they would be executed by the fast advancing NVA for working for an American company. Certainly an excellent book to provide a different perspective on day-to-day life as this city crumbled.
This is the story of his attempts to follow his instructions and his later attempts to evacuate all of the staff plus their immediate families. It is written with wit, cynicism and some sarcasm. He is telling it like it was. White has captured the frustration that he felt dealing with the American Embassy; his admiration for the American staff who stretched the rules in order to evacuate as many as possible; and the terror that the employees felt not knowing if Chase Bank would help them get out or whether they would be executed by the fast advancing NVA for working for an American company. Certainly an excellent book to provide a different perspective on day-to-day life as this city crumbled.
October 31, 2023
The US departure from Vietnam is a complicated story, but its least appealing aspect of withdrawal is the left-behinds: the Vietnamese who worked for or with American military or commerce and were left to the un-tender mercies of the new communist government. One exception was Chase Bank, which wanted to take its Saigon bank staff out and believed it had assurances from US officials that Chase staff would be taken care of. To oversee that process, Chase called in one of its junior bankers from Thailand, 27-year-old Ralph White, who thought he was chosen because he was “expendable.” In the end, thinking and acting creatively, he fled Vietnam with 113 “adoptees” — Chase’s Vietnamese employees and their immediate families. With irreverent thoughts and great memories, White tells the tale of dashed hopes, under-the-table connections, humanitarian gestures, and sheer good luck that made his assignment successful. This is an engaging, funny, and thoughtful book.
March 19, 2024
This memoir covers a very short period of time in Ralph White's life. White is a lowly bank accountant and asked to be in Saigon for the final days before the North Vietnamese overrun the city. His job is for Chase to stay open as long as possible then shut the business and arrange passage out of the country for Chase Bank's South Vietnamese employees. White discovers that there is no plan nor support from the US ambassador, and so White scours the city for options in these dangerous end-of-war days of 1975. This book is beautifully written and engaging, scary, and moving at times. It is probably a little longer than it needed to be. Between those strong moments, there was too much lag time with White talking with one person after another, mostly with people we don't know and might not see again. In spite of that small weakness, this is powerful history that transported me to another place and time.
March 21, 2023
In 1975, Ralph White was assigned to work at the Saigon branch of Chase Manhattan Bank. The North Vietnamese were closing in on the city, and anyone who could, had fled. Ralph stayed behind, fighting inept bureaucrats and discovering clandestine rescue operations in his quest to evacuate the bank’s employees and their families.
A natural storyteller, White brings the story to life with his quick wit and stellar eye for detail. Live chickens hang from the handlebars of motorcycles, while card games are interrupted by the rumble of distant B-52 runs. The narrator’s strong sense of duty and irreverence for the rules makes for fun reading in this suspenseful tale of one man’s pursuit to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
A natural storyteller, White brings the story to life with his quick wit and stellar eye for detail. Live chickens hang from the handlebars of motorcycles, while card games are interrupted by the rumble of distant B-52 runs. The narrator’s strong sense of duty and irreverence for the rules makes for fun reading in this suspenseful tale of one man’s pursuit to do the right thing in the face of overwhelming obstacles.
February 23, 2024
What an amazing story. It feels like it must be made up but at the end of the book he gives his sources on where the book came from. A real page turner. The single mindedness of the author on his dedication to his "Vietnamese" family to get them out was amazing. I would have given the book 5 stars but there is so "trash" and language that didn't need to be in the story. I am pretty conservative/prudish but a little cleaning up and it would be an amazing book to match the amazing story.
This is the story of Ralph White an employee for Chase Bank who is transferred to Saigon Vietnam in April 1975 as the US pulls it's troops out and the North Vietnamese overrun the South. The story covers about 2 weeks and is hard to believe. An amazing story!
This is the story of Ralph White an employee for Chase Bank who is transferred to Saigon Vietnam in April 1975 as the US pulls it's troops out and the North Vietnamese overrun the South. The story covers about 2 weeks and is hard to believe. An amazing story!
February 29, 2024
This was an interesting story and one I've never heard about. I've read memoirs from soldiers who were active military during the Vietnam War but never about the withdrawal and challenges faced by those trying to get civilians out. It was fascinating to me how many echoes I saw in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan (see the book Operation Pineapple Express for eerily similar situations).
But unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the perspective we get in this memoir. I didn't like how frequently sexual the author was throughout his story. Whether he's talking about the erection he gets seeing women in coconut bras, or his seriously questionable relationship with an underage prostitute, or the gratitude fuck he gets from an unknown woman, it all rubbed me the wrong way. It felt dirty.
But unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the perspective we get in this memoir. I didn't like how frequently sexual the author was throughout his story. Whether he's talking about the erection he gets seeing women in coconut bras, or his seriously questionable relationship with an underage prostitute, or the gratitude fuck he gets from an unknown woman, it all rubbed me the wrong way. It felt dirty.
June 4, 2024
This book is nothing short of amazing, telling the story of a 27-year-old American Chase Manhattan bank employee flown into Saigon to take over the local branch two weeks before North Vietnamese troops occupied the city. Ralph White quickly determined that his primary job was to shut down the bank when prudent, then work to evacuate the Vietnamese Chase employees and their families to safety. His tireless efforts resulted in 113 Vietnamese men, women, and children making their escape to the United States, where they went on to productive lives as US citizens. Though many of the scenes are reminiscent of Hunter Thompson's gonzo journalism, these are not drug-induced fantasies but actual events.
June 14, 2024
A solid story of humanity amid a crisis brought about by bureaucratic and diplomatic ineptitude. I’m sure we’ve all learned the lessons of those events so that nothing like that would ever happen again (Afghanistan).
Anyway, it’s a bit self-congratulatory and there was maybe a little too much information about the relative attractiveness of various women but given that the author was 27 at the time I don’t suppose we need to get too worked up about that. I don’t know why he objected to the locals calling him a cowboy. The way he talked about his beloved Smith & Wesson and how prepared he was to use it; I think the label was more than fair.
An interesting bit of history reasonably well told.
Anyway, it’s a bit self-congratulatory and there was maybe a little too much information about the relative attractiveness of various women but given that the author was 27 at the time I don’t suppose we need to get too worked up about that. I don’t know why he objected to the locals calling him a cowboy. The way he talked about his beloved Smith & Wesson and how prepared he was to use it; I think the label was more than fair.
An interesting bit of history reasonably well told.
August 4, 2024
I was really interested in reading this book to learn more about the last days of Saigon, as I was a teenager in 1975 & didn’t really follow the current news/events as closely as I do now. The book received good reviews from both Audible & here on Goodreads. And while White had a very interesting and exciting first-hand account of those last days, his detours into his sexual encounters and misogynistic reminisces of the women of Saigon was off-putting and unnecessary. Considering this book’s copywrite is 2023 - his editors could have guided him to write a more mature story with the gravity it probably deserves.
There was enough content to make me want to read other (better written) accounts of the Fall of Saigon but not enough to really recommend this book to others.
There was enough content to make me want to read other (better written) accounts of the Fall of Saigon but not enough to really recommend this book to others.
June 17, 2025
Read this book for book club and it would have not been one I would select on my own — but as with book club selections — I am more informed and have better understanding of a war I was too young to know in real time. Following up with some documentaries on the Fall of Saigon — I can concluded that things unfortunately don’t change from “lessons learned”. History does repeat itself,(Afghanistan withdraw). But, by reading true accounts I am more aware and more weary to accept what we are being told. And that men in power really have no idea or answers. We are all a war away from such fates. Writing style of book was a bit difficult to get through. Reading a few chapters in one day helped to absorb information.
June 13, 2022
Mr. Ralph White was tasked with an incredibly difficult job at the Saigon Branch of Chase Manhattan Bank in 1975. His mandate was to close the branch and evacuate all senior-level Vietnamese employees at the branch. Mr. White like most people was woefully unaware of how close to the end of South Vietnam existing as a country was. He quickly would learn and have to make incredibly difficult decisions with minimal guidance. This is an excellent book that all people of high-level responsibility should read, if only our own government would have taken this lesson to heart in the summer of 2021 during Afghanistan pull out.
May 7, 2023
4.5 stars.
A compelling memoir that walks a fine line between overwhelming tragedy and dark humor, and does it well. White is sent to Saigon in the final days of the war, with money, a handgun, and orders to keep the branch open as long as possible before evacuating with senior employees. What he ends up doing is immersing himself in domestic espionage to get ALL of his employees and their families out. The behind the scenes descriptions of what was going on at the American embassy at this time are mostly appalling (and occasionally inspiring). This is a truly mesmerizing story that I found hard to put down.
A compelling memoir that walks a fine line between overwhelming tragedy and dark humor, and does it well. White is sent to Saigon in the final days of the war, with money, a handgun, and orders to keep the branch open as long as possible before evacuating with senior employees. What he ends up doing is immersing himself in domestic espionage to get ALL of his employees and their families out. The behind the scenes descriptions of what was going on at the American embassy at this time are mostly appalling (and occasionally inspiring). This is a truly mesmerizing story that I found hard to put down.
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