 In April 1975, Rockoff was one of five US newsmen to remain in Phnom Penh when the US embassy launched a helicopter evacuation of its staff.On the morning of the city's fall, he was visiting the Preah Keth Melea hospital with reporters Sydney Schanberg of "The New York Times" and Jon Swain of "The Sunday Times" when they were arrested by a furious company of teenage Khmer Rouge soldiers.Only the intervention of Schanberg's assistant Dith Pran saved their lives.