A Heroic Story

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The Vietnam war was just ending. North Vietnamese troops (the NVA) had descended upon South Vietnam and seized its capital, Saigon. The US military was frantically trying to evacuate Americans as well as South Vietnamese refugees.

Off the coast of South Vietnam, the USS Kirk was patrolling the waters looking for NVA aircraft and boats that might attempt to shoot down U.S. helicopters transporting evacuees to aircraft carriers awaiting…