John Riordan is an American banker credited with saving 105 South Vietnamese lives during the Fall of Saigon. He is known as the " Oskar Schindler of the Vietnam War".

Actions during the Fall of Saigon

In April 1975, Riordan was an Assistant Manager at

Citibank Citibank, N. A. (N. A. stands for " National Association") is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of financial services multinational Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, and later became First National City ...

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

(modern-day Ho Chi Minh City). He was ordered to evacuate along with other Americans as North Vietnamese Army forces approached the city (then the capital of

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

) during the final days of the Vietnam War. Riordan initially obeyed the evacuation orders and was flown to nearby Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Riordan began plotting ways to rescue his South Vietnamese coworkers, who were ineligible for evacuation (because they were not Americans) and who were likely to be executed by the Vietcong (because they were closely affiliated with Americans). He proposed numerous plans to

and the US government but was repeatedly turned down. Eventually,

told him to cease and desist his rescue efforts or be terminated from employment. On April 19, 1975, Riordan flew back to Saigon alone. He gathered all of his South Vietnamese coworkers and their families (105 people in total) and hid them in his villa and a nearby villa near the city. Facing no other options, Riordan decided to claim the 105 people as his dependents so that they would qualify for evacuation aboard US military cargo planes. He applied at the evacuation office ten separate times, listing several of the 105 as his dependents each time. Riordan himself flew out with the last group a few days before the Fall of Saigon.Stahl, Lesley (October 13, 2013). "Daring Rescue Days Before the Fall of Saigon". ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

''. CBS News. Retrieved October 15, 2013.

Recognition

, instead of terminating Riordan, praised his efforts and worked to resettle all of the South Vietnamese workers and find them new jobs. Nevertheless, his story was largely unknown until October 2013 when Riordan was profiled on

Personal life

Riordan is openly gay.Riordan, John P. (2015)
''They Are All My Family: A Daring Rescue in the Chaos of Saigon’s Fall''
New York: ''

PublicAffairs PublicAffairs (or PublicAffairs Books) is an imprint of Perseus Books, an American book publishing company located in New York City and has been a part of the Hachette Book Group since 2016. PublicAffairs was launched in 1997 by Peter Osnos. ...

''–''

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...

''. pp. 50, 88. Retrieved May 6, 2015. .

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riordan, John Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American bankers American expatriates in Vietnam Citigroup employees American LGBT military personnel Gay men