In April 1975, as the North Vietnamese closed in on Saigon, Americans and their allies rushed to evacuate the city. Amid the chaos, the images of U.S. soldiers tossing perfectly good helicopters into the ocean were seen by some as symbols of failure. But the truth behind those images reveals a different story — one man's decisive action that ultimately saved lives. That man was Lawrence Cleveland Chambers, a retired Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy and the first African American to command a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. But his most defining moment didn’t come from this prestigious achievement — it came when he was just 30 days into his new role as Captain of the USS Midway, stationed in the South China Sea. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/entertainment/television/brightside/beautiful-people/larry-chambers-vietnam-war-uss-midway-helicopters/67-7b60b5d1-d6db-475d-9a7c-98207b7d7797