"There was no question really for me about taking the helicopter out. First, I was the only NBC Correspondent in Phnom Penh. Our film needed to get on air. The story of the Americans pulling out after five years was a big one. Second, and just as important in my mind that day, was the effort to get my girlfriend, Sinan, out.  I thought the Embassy airlift would work. Unlike Saigon a few weeks later there were very few Khmer clamoring to leave. The helos had room. Unfortunately, when I went to Sinan's apartment early on April 12th, she was not there.She was nowhere to be found. The memory still haunts me to this day. So I left without her, hoping somehow she would escape — maybe to Saigon, maybe to Bangkok.

Jim Laurie, NBC News