Jeffrey Natchez

In this re-edited Radio Free Flint interview, Flint Southwestern graduate Sgt. Phillip Wise recounts surviving the 1975 Operation Babylift crash—one of the most devastating aviation disasters of the Vietnam War.Fifteen minutes after takeoff from Saigon, the rear cargo doors of a C-5A Galaxy failed. The aircraft decompressed. Hydraulics were crippled. The crew fought to return to Tan Son Nhut before crash-landing in rice fields outside the city.