Last Flight from Koh Tang: The Mayaguez Incident a Generation Later

In the spring of 1975, the United States had suffered some of the most humiliating experiences in its existence. Only months before, our prisoners had been released in North Vietnam. Our forces had withdrawn, and just a couple of weeks before the Mayaguez was captured by the Khmer Rouge, both Saigon and Phnom Penh had fallen to communist forces. Only months earlier, President Richard Nixon had resigned, and President Gerald Ford assumed the office without being elected. On the afternoon of May 12, 1975, the communist Cambodians, exuberant in the wake of their recent victory over their U.S.-sponsored enemies, grabbed the SS Mayaguez. This merchant ship was proceeding through international waters, carrying exchange merchandise. It was headed northwestward toward a destination in southern Thailand. The Mayaguez was not a big ship, but it was under the American flag with a crew of 39 people of various nationalities, including American citizens. As the Pueblo crisis before the Mayaguez suggested, if something can go wrong, it will -- even when there is time for detailed planning and rehearsal. Five years after the Mayaguez incident, Desert One went down in the attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages. It didnt do any more than the Mayaguez case to recommend the efficiency of U.S. joint operations. It was not in the same category because it was a preplanned event, but like President Ford, President Jimmy Carter was to pay the political price for the shortfalls. Both events were factors in the genesis of the Goldwater-Nichols legislation, and subsequent joint operations do seem to have improved. During the Mayaguez crisis, the author was the operations officer of the 16th Special Operations Squadron that flew AC-130s to maintain surveillance and halt waterborne traffic between the mainland and Koh Tang island, where the SS Mayaguez was anchored. This article is the authors personal account of the Mayaguez incident, including 2020 hindsight on what really happened.