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They Are All My Family John Riordan

They Are All My Family By John Riordan

They Are All My Family by John Riordan


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Summary

Published for the 40th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam: the exciting and moving tale of how a young American banker rescued 105 of his endangered Vietnamese employees and their families in the midst of chaos, by claiming them as relatives, and flying them to safety.

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They Are All My Family Summary

They Are All My Family: A Daring Rescue in the Chaos of Saigon's Fall by John Riordan

Published for the fortieth anniversary of the final days of the Vietnam War, this is the suspenseful and moving tale of how John Riordan, an assistant manager of Citibank's Saigon branch, devised a daring plan to save 106 Vietnamese from the dangers of the Communist takeover.Riordan,who had served in the US Army after the Tet Offensive and had left the military behind for a career in international banking,was not the type to take dramatic action, but once the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon in April 1975 and it was clear that Riordan's Vietnamese colleagues and their families would be stranded in a city teetering on total collapse, he knew he could not leave them behind. Defying the objections of his superiors and going against the official policy of the United States, Riordan went back into Saigon to save them.In fifteen harrowing trips to Saigon's airport, he maneuvered through the bureaucratic shambles, claiming that the Vietnamese were his wife and scores of children. It was a ruse that, at times, veered close to failure, yet against all odds, the improbable plan succeeded. At great risk, the Vietnamese left their lives behind to start anew in the United States, and now John is known to his grateful Vietnamese colleagues and hundreds of their American descendants as Papa. They Are All My Family is a vivid narrative of one man's ingenious strategy which transformed a time of enormous peril into a display of extraordinary courage. Reflecting on those fateful days in this account, John Riordan's modest heroism provides a striking contrast to America's ignominious retreat from the decade of conflict.

They Are All My Family Reviews

A nail-biting account of one man's quiet heroism in the face of impossible odds.-Kirkus Reviews The book provides lots of details, replete with lots of reconstructed quotes, of Riordan's against-the-odds mission. And it has a string of happy endings--a rare and good thing for a book about the American war in Vietnam.-VVA Veteran John Riordan is a quiet, gentle man who defied his bosses and in many ways his own nature when he rescued 106 of his Vietnamese colleagues and their families in the closing days of South Vietnam's collapse. He did it in a plot so devious and ingenious, I doubt even Graham Greene could have thought it up. Now he is telling the story in a book masterfully written with verve and heart. So hats off to John Riordan for his astonishing act of derring-do and for writing a great book. -Lesley Stahl, correspondent for 60 Minutes John Riordan has provided a moving testament to the redeeming power of human decency even in one of the darkest chapters of American history. Bravo for what he accomplished and for this riveting book. -Craig R. Whitney, former Vietnam bureau chief of The New York Times

About John Riordan

John Riordan is a former vice president of Citibank. He served in the US Army, landing in Vietnam at the end of the 1968 Tet Offensive, and then went on to a career at Citibank, with a focus on the bank's branches in East Asia. Riordan now owns and runs an environmental farm in Wisconsin. Monique Brinson Demery earned an MA in East Asia Regional Studies from Harvard University and is the author of Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu. She lives in Chicago.

Additional information

CIN1610395034VG
9781610395038
1610395034
They Are All My Family: A Daring Rescue in the Chaos of Saigon's Fall by John Riordan
Used - Very Good
Hardback
PublicAffairs,U.S.
20150407
256
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - They Are All My Family