A Minnesota PBS Initiative
Minnesotans who made a huge difference for good
1) William Colby was born in Minnesota. He was Deputy COMUSMACV for CORDS from 1968 to 1970. Under his leadership the CORDS organization working with the South Vietnamese in villages defeated the Viet Cong guerrillas.
2) General John Vessey, born in Minnesota and later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, negotiated with the Vietnamese Communists to release the nationalist officers kept in concentration camps after 1975 to come to the US and the children of Americans living in Vietnam.
3) in March 1975 I started the refugee effort which brought Vietnamese refugees and later Hmong, Lao and Cambodians refugees to the US. I moved to Minnesota in 1980. Taking a lead role in the 1975 effort was Parker Borg in the State Department. Parker was born in Wazayta.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: St. Paul, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Saigon, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Civilian
Story Themes: Civilian, CORDS, General Vessey, Humanitarian, Jack Vessey, John Vessey, Parker Borg, Read, Refugee, Saigon, Saint Paul, St Paul, Stephen Young, Steve Young, Viet Cong, William Colby