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Project Jenny KLIK - 1st Inf Di v Women in Vietnam RELATED-- To AFVN To Saigon To Vietnam Further Afield Index
From: Rick Fredericksen
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Topping
Thanks for the good tip Preston!!
Rick Fredericksen
Last Flight Out and Al Topping
July 2019
From: Mike Jackson
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Marc,
I don't know if you know it, but Eddie Weller (Volker Weller wellerv@gmail.com) was our receptionist at AFVN in Saigon when I was there in 1971. Her husband was Volker Weller, head of Pan Am in Asia. They had transferred from Germany where he was head of Pan Am there - I had met them previously when I was stationed at AFN, Europe. When I got to Vietnam and walked through the door at the station in Saigon, Edie was there to greet me. It was one hell of a surprise!
They knew Al Topping - in fact Edie sent me several years ago a DVD of "Last Flight Out" signed by Al. An email to her might get you a lot more information about him.
BTW, one interesting story about Volker is this: AFVN was having difficulty in receiving tapes and films from AFRTS LA. This was especially impacting on the timely reporting of news and sports to the troops. And Pan Am (Volker) was having one heck of a time getting the word out to the troops about Pan Am's R&R flights.
I suggested that if he would fly AFRT's tapes and films aboard Pan Am's daily flights going east from LA to Saigon, I would try to tag the end of all our newscast with "Portions of this news broadcast were brought to you by Pan American Airlines, the Airlines with R&R flights to Hawaii, Taiwan, Thailand, etc. etc." He went completely nuts and started having AFRT's content for us on the next day's flight to Saigon!
MikeJ
From: Marc Yablonka
Date: July 3, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Thanks for that, Jim. Quite a remarkable person Topping was!
Marc Phillip Yablonka
From: Marc Yablonka
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Great story Mike. I wasn't looking for anything in particular about Mr. Topping for the AFVN book I'm working on, but there now several historical drop ins in between the interviews I've conducted. Can't promise but perhaps your anecdote can be worked into one, giving you full attribution of course.
Marc Phillip Yablonka
From: Marc Yablonka
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Preston,
Reading the web sites that mention Al Topping, I just recalled the made for TV movie on Pan Am's last flight out. If memory serves, one of the actors in the movie, the Vietnamese actress Kieu Chinh ("Hamburger Hill", "Joy Luck Club", and a plethora of other work), was actually on that flight. When the plane landed, Saigon had fallen, making her and others aboard effectively "stateless". I've taken the liberty of attaching the piece I wrote on Chinh for Pacific Stars and Stripes several years ago.
Marc
From: Preston Cluff
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Topping
I am more than half way through the book mentioned here recently, "Honorable Exit" by Thurston Clarke.
I bring it up again because there is one individual highlighted whose name is Al Topping. He worked in Saigon for Pan Am, and was one of numerous identified in the book attempting to aid Vietnamese evacuees..
It also mentioned that he did a show Saturday evenings on AFVN titled Al Topping With Good Vibrations, but I was unable to find him anywhere on this site.
Anyone here ever know/meet him; possibly Rick or Marc during your extensive coverage of the country?
Preston
From: Jim Anderson
Date: July 3, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Last night I had a conversation with a friend that, like me, had met Topping in Saigon during his time as Pan Am's Vietnam manager. Both of us never heard of Topping doing a show on AFVN. The friend added the comment that Topping had advanced into Pan Am management from a beginning as a ticket agent.
From: Marc Yablonka
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Topping
Preston,
Here is what I've found on Al Topping:
Saigon Farewell: 1975 - Pan Am Historical Foundation
From: Preston Cluff
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Thank you, Marc, so much for the followup.
Preston
AFVN Group Conversations
From: Marc Yablonka
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
Sorry I couldn't find anything on Mr. Topping and AFVN, Preston. When I Googled Al Topping Good Vibrations, the only thing that came up was Beach Boys and more Beach Boys. I'll keep searching though!
Marc Phillip Yablonka
From: Walt Christiansen
Date: July 2, 2019
Subject: Last Flight Out
A very good move on your part, and one that sure benefited AFRTS plus Pan Am.
Walt