1.
GV US base and flags (2 shots).
0.06

2.
SV US troops on tarmac.
0.10

3.
GV & SV US aircraft on tarmac (2 shots)
0.16

4.
SV PAN US troops across airfield.
0.19

5.
GROUND TO AIR Aircraft flying over.
0.24

6.
SV troops watching aircraft in flight (2 shots).
0.35

7.
SV equipment being packed for loading (2 shots).
0.46

8.
GV troops clearing airfield.
0.50

9.
GV helicopter flying over (2 shots).
1.01


TRANSCRIPT: "The government of Thailand has asked the United States to withdraw all of its combat men and equipment from various bases in Thailand by March 1976...and the United States has agreed. It is all part of Thailand's efforts in the post-Vietnam War period to pull back from its commitments with The United States and come to terms with its now Communist neighbours. The next base to close is Nakhon Phanom. All Americans will be gone from the installation by the end of October. N.K.P. -- as it is called -- was one of the bases in Thailand financed and built by the Americans strictly for use in connection with Indochina activities. It was from here that American officers planned and controlled all of the bombing in North and South Vietnam as well as Cambodia during the height of the wars. After the final withdrawal of Americans from South Vietnam in 1973, the base became the headquarters for the American command in Southeast Asia. American officials say they will have no difficulty meeting the withdrawal deadlines. Logistics are the hardest part, moving tons of equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars to new locations outside of Thailand. Exactly how many Americans will stay on in Thailand in non-combat roles, and what they will be doing, are among the subjects still being negotiated between Thailand and the United States.




Initials MV/1940 1230/1545/1950


This film is serviced with narration by N.B.C. reporter A1 Chambers. A transcript appears overleaf.

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Preparations are underway at Nakhon Phanom airbase in northeast Thailand to pull out all United States aircraft by the end of the month. All 20 observation planes and 15 big helicopters stationed at the base -- once the command centre for the U.S. air war in Indochina -- will leave by next Tuesday (30 September), according to an announcement made in Bangkok earlier this month.

The departure of the aircraft is part of a phased withdrawal of all U.S. servicemen in Thailand by March 1976. The Thai government formally demanded the end of the U.S. military presence on Thai soil following the end of the wars in South Vietnam and cambodia earlier this year.

Nakhon Phanom airbase -- financed and built by the U.S. for the Indochina conflict -- is due to be closed by the end of the October. By then, the number of authorised U.S. troops remaining in Thailand will be cut by 3,000 to 16,500, At the beginning of this year, the total number of U.S. servicemen stationed in Thai bases exceeded 27,000.

Negotiations are continuing between the United States and Thailand over the situation of U.S. citizens wishing to remain in Thailand in non-combat roles.

The demand for the withdrawal of the U.S. military presence in Thailand coincides with a new government policy of establishing diplomatic relations with Communist states in the region.