Siagon, 1971, by Donna Besch

From MemoryArchive

Who: Donna Besch
What: First CIA wife in Siagon
When: 1971
Where: Siagon, South Vietnam

You might say that my "special memory" began with a phone call in November, 1970. I was living in Northern Virginia and working in Washington, DC for a lobbyist, after several years of working for a U.S. congressman on the Hill. I had attended a Thanksgiving Dinner at a old Victorian mansion beside the Potomac River along with a number of other young people and while there met the man who would later become my husband. Our first date was the following Sunday for church and brunch at the Watergate Hotel, followed by his flying lesson in Leesburg. Then he proposed...and I accepted the next day. I called my Mom from the office on Monday and told her what had happened. Her reply was "You have waited a long time to fly, so go to it!" I suspect the woman then dropped to her knees in thanksgiving that her daughter was finally getting married. We were married in February and in May flew to Hong Kong, where I was to be safe-havened while he was serving at the American Embassy in Saigon, SVN. It was a very interesting experience living on my own in a foreign country, working at the American Consulate, and spending my free time with the other wives shopping and eating out. I loved the people, their culture, art, food, and the history of the island. But sadly, my safe-haven status ended much too soon, as my husband was able to get permission for me to join him in Saigon as the first non-working CIA wife. And my Mom, she never could have forseen that "flying" was to be an important part of my life for the next three years. Later in our tour, I worked for the Chief of Air at the Embassy. We made a point to see as much of that part of the world as possible and when it came time to return stateside, choose to return the long way home rather than back across the Pacific.