What would be a good way to start a research paper on the Fall of Saigon in the point of view of being someone waiting for an airlift in...

In movies and TV shows, they often do what you are trying
to do by starting with the character in the "present."  The character then goes into a
flashback sequence as a way of showing how he or she got to where they are.  I think
that you could do something like that with this paper.

The
exact way of doing this is going to depend a lot on who you pick for your character.  If
it is a Vietnamese person, you might be able to go all the way back to the time when the
French were ruling Vietnam.  If your character is an American, you could go back at
least to the fall of Dien Bien Phu and the increase in American involvement after
that.

So, if I were doing this I would start with the
person waiting for the airlift and thinking about his or her life.  I would have them
think first about what they are doing "now" and then I would flashback.  Maybe something
like

"As I sit here waiting for the last scheduled flight
out of Saigon, I can't help but wonder how we went so wrong.  When I came to Vietnam as
an advisor for the new country of South Vietnam, I thought things were going to go so
smoothly.  I couldn't have been more wrong..."