Page 81 - Stand Down Vietnam

We didn’t have telephones. Kenneth ran down to an Air
Force Colonel’s house; he had a two-way radio. My
purse was found with my ID and driver’s license; no
money of course.

The CID agents told me to get the kids and leave
because we had to be on that airplane. We were told
the plane would not be held up for us. I started out

with the car and got to the main road; the car stopped.
There I sat, in an unfriendly country, with two small
children in the back seat.

Just before I completely panicked, I look in the rear-
view mirror and there was the Embassy van coming.
They’d been picking people up; they pulled up to me and
ask: “Jean what’s happening?” I told him, and he told
me to get my bag and the children and to get in the
van. I told him I couldn’t leave the car. He asked,
“why not, do you care what happens to it?”

When we got to the airport, the Haitians were lined up
holding weapons; they had all our weapons. They’d
taken weapons from our armory. Our guys had nothing, no
weapons.

A Haitian Captain said we could not leave because our
Visa papers were not in order. Our Marine Corps
Colonel got into the Haitian’s face and said: “Do you

see that Boxer sitting offshore? I’m going to line
these women up and put them on that plane and if one
hair on them is damaged, this blankity, blankity island
will be leveled. That’s how we left Haiti. We left
our husbands behind.