In March of ’97 things got a little crazy in Albania and we went on a vacation of sorts to Italy and elsewhere in Europe for a little while. The evacuation even had an official name- ‘Operation Silver Wake,’ we were lifted out on Super Stallion choppers and made a pit stop on the USS Nassau on our way over to Italy. There are some great pics of evacuees boarding the helicopters here, including one of our beloved President Holman and Elder Szamosfalvi!

• Evacuees Find Safety on Ship
  A great article from the Boston Herald (3/15/97) by Jules Crittenden about someones experience of seeing some Mormon missionaries during the evacuation from Albania.
• A series of NPR reports from their archive on the evacuation and its aftermath (click previous or next to go forward or backwards in time).

  An interesting news briefing from the Department of Defense on the evacuation.

I took some time to write down my recollection of being evacuated shortly after it happened- warning, it is long and not necessarily written for anyone who wasn’t there or doesn’t care.

Let me know if you have other pictures or good links that you’re willing to share.