Navy Skipper Who Pushed Choppers Off Deck During The Fall Of Saigon: ‘What Is Happening Now Is Worse’

Larry Chambers, who was the skipper of the U.S. aircraft carrier Midway during the fall of Saigon in 1975, said during an interview that was published on Sunday that what is happening now in Afghanistan is “worse” than what happened in Saigon.

Chambers made his initial remarks in an interview with The Military Times several days ago, before all out chaos erupted on the ground in Afghanistan with the Taliban rapidly recapturing nearly the entire country in just a few short days. Numerous media figures, politicians, and activists have compared the situation in Afghanistan to the rooftop evacuations in 1975.

“To be perfectly honest with you, what is happening now is worse than what happened in Vietnam,” Chambers said. Chambers oversaw the evacuation of thousands of U.S. personnel and Vietnamese nationals during the fall of Saigon.

Then, on Sunday, Chambers doubled-down in additional remarks to the publication, saying, “Of course it’s worse than Saigon.”

“We tried to get out as many people who worked with us as we could,” Chambers added. “Did we do a good job? Who knows? I do not know what [the Taliban is] going to do, but whatever it is [it’s] not going to be pretty.”- READ MORE