General Homer Smith, DAO Saigon

He was in charge of DAO where I worked until the end and used to come to our reunions until he died.

Vietnam War

On 15 October 1969, Smith, then a Colonel, became Commanding Officer Danang Support Command.^[2]

In August 1974 Smith was appointed as head of the Defense Attaché Office (DAO) South Vietnam, making him the highest-ranking U.S. military official in South Vietnam. In this role Smith was a key figure in the last year of South Vietnam's existence, finally overseeing Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon in April 1975.^[3] Smith left Saigon on 29 April 1975 and the DAO ceased to exist.