[3] The evacuation took place primarily from the Defense Attaché Office compound, beginning around 14:00 on the afternoon of 29 April, and ending that night with only limited small arms damage to the helicopters.

[6]: 35 On 7 April Air America pilot Nikki A. Fillipi, with U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Robert Twigger, assigned to the DAO as the U.S. Navy liaison officer, surveyed 37 buildings in Saigon as possible landing zones (LZ), selecting 13 of them as fit for use.

The 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (9th MAB), which was to supply helicopters and a security force for the evacuation, sent a delegation to consult with Ambassador Graham Martin on current plans on 12 April.

Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th MAB, flew to Saigon the next day to see Martin; he later said, "The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador".

[6]: 24  On 4 April, a C-5A aircraft carrying 250 Vietnamese orphans and their escorts suffered explosive decompression over the sea near Vũng Tàu and made a crash-landing while attempting to return to Tan Son Nhut; 153 people on board died in the crash.

In addition, military aircraft from Australia, Indonesia, Iran, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and other countries flew in to evacuate their embassy personnel.

In addition, a flotilla of Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships were assembled and these carried out seaborne evacuations from Saigon Port, this fleet comprised: Tugboats: and the following large transport ships: On 28 April at 18:06, three A-37 Dragonflies piloted by former RVNAF pilots, who had defected to the Vietnamese People's Air Force at the fall of Da Nang, dropped six Mk81 250 lb bombs on Tan Son Nhut Air Base destroying several aircraft.

[6]: 73 At 03:30 on 29 April a PAVN rocket hit Guardpost 1 at the DAO Compound, instantly killing Marine Corporals Charles McMahon and Darwin Judge.

[14] At 03:58, C-130E, #72-1297, flown by a crew from the 776th Tactical Airlift Squadron, was destroyed by a 122 mm rocket while taxiing to pick up refugees after offloading a BLU-82 at Tan Son Nhut Air Base.

The biggest problem occurred when the ARVN unit guarding the main gate at Tan Son Nhut refused to allow the last convoy of buses into the DAO Compound at about 17:45.

[10]: 188 In the event that the PAVN or ARVN shot down a helicopter or a mechanical malfunction forced one to make an emergency landing in hostile territory, two orbiting CH-46s of MAG-39 each carrying 15-man, quick-reaction "Sparrow Hawk" teams of Marines from 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, from USS Blue Ridge, were ready to land and provide security enabling a search and rescue helicopter to pick up the crew.

[6]: 99  The Hanoi leadership, reckoning that completion of the evacuation would lessen the risk of American intervention, had apparently instructed General Dũng not to target the airlift itself.

After receiving permission from the airborne commander, the Wild Weasel marked the three 57-mm sites with an AGM-45 Shrike missile and took evasive action to escape the tracers coming in.

[21] Air America helicopters started flying to the rooftop LZs in Saigon and either shuttled the evacuees back to the DAO Compound or flew out to the ships of TF76.

[21]: 22  By 10:30 all of Air America's fixed-wing aircraft had departed Tan Son Nhut, evacuating all non-essential personnel and as many Vietnamese evacuees as they could carry and headed for Thailand.

[21]: 29 At approximately 14:30, Air America Bell 205 serial number "N47004" landed on the roof of the Pittman Apartment Building at 22 Gia Long Street to collect a senior Vietnamese intelligence source and his family.

[6]: 91  During their approach to the compound, Carey and Gray got a firsthand view of the PAVN's firepower as they shelled nearby Tan Son Nhut Airport with ground, rocket, and artillery fire.

[10]: 186 "Alpha" command group, two rifle companies, and the 81 mm mortar platoon were deployed around the DAO headquarters building (the Alamo) and its adjacent landing zones.

[10]: 197  With the evacuation of the landing control teams from the Annex and Alamo completed, Carey ordered the withdrawal of the ground security forces from the DAO Compound around 22:50.

[6]: 103  At 00:30 on 30 April, thermite grenades, having been previously placed in selected buildings, ignited as two CH-53s left the DAO parking lot carrying the last elements of BLT 2/4.

Martin had remained optimistic that a negotiated settlement could be reached whereby the US would not have to pull out of South Vietnam and, in an effort to avert defeatism and panic he instructed Major James Kean, commanding officer of the Marine Security Guard Battalion and Ground Support Force Commander United States Embassy Compound, that he could not begin to remove the tamarind tree and other trees and shrubbery which prevented the use of the embassy parking lot as a helicopter landing zone.

[22]: 6  At the same time, General Carey met Admiral Whitmire to convince him to resume flights to the embassy despite pilot fatigue and poor visibility caused by darkness, fires and bad weather.

[22]: 8 At 11:30 PAVN tanks smashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace less than 1 km from the embassy and raised the flag of the Viet Cong over the building; the Vietnam War was over.

Chambers ordered the flight deck crew to clear the landing area; in the process an estimated US$10 million worth of UH-1 Huey helicopters were pushed overboard into the South China Sea.

A flotilla of 26 Republic of Vietnam Navy and other vessels concentrated off Long Sơn Island southwest of Vũng Tàu with 30,000 sailors, their families, and other civilians on board.

President Ford later called it "a sad and tragic period in America's history" but argued that "you couldn't help but be very proud of those pilots and others who were conducting the evacuation".

[10]: 201 During the demolition of the embassy, the metal staircase leading from the rooftop to the helipad was removed and sent back to the United States, where it is now on display at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum.

[36] On the afternoon of 29 April 1975, Hubert van Es, a Saigon-based photographer for United Press International, took the iconic photo of Operation Frequent Wind of an Air America UH-1 on a rooftop picking up Vietnamese evacuees.

[40] The second act of the stage musical Miss Saigon depicts events leading up to, and during Operation Frequent Wind, with the main protagonists (Chris and Kim) becoming separated as a result of the evacuation.

[42][43] The 2007 PBS documentary Oh, Saigon by DAO Compound evacuee, film director Doan Hoang, tells the story of her family's escape and resettlement.