VIETNAMESE IN AMERICA: The Untold Story
The plan was for the family to rendezvous May 1, 1975 and meet at the back door of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.
But on the morning of April 30, the North Vietnamese tanks had already rolled onto the streets of Saigon. For Dam Thuy Nguyen, it could have meant desperation. Instead, it made her even more determined to escape.
With her twelve-year-old nephew in tow, first by car, then by foot, she made her way to the dock on the Saigon River where they boarded a makeshift boat bound for the Philippines. Taken aboard the USS Kirk when their boat took on water, with thousands of others, they finally made it to Subic Bay. However, the fleet of 30 ships and boats was refused anchor as long as it flew the flag of South Vietnam, no longer recognized.
Eventually, after all flags were lowered and the American flag raised in their places, the boats were allowed to enter the harbor. As the Vietnamese flags were lowered, Dam Thuy Nguyen recalled: “We looked up and sang the Vietnamese National Anthem. It was the last image of our country.”
America’s longest war was over. But for millions of Vietnamese who lived through it, it was only the beginning of a bad dream.
The end of the Vietnam War and the surrender of the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, meant many things to thousands of Vietnamese. For Gwen Coronado, stranded as a student in the United States, it meant abandonment. For David Pham’s mother, ten years old at the time, it meant the long anguish of separation from her parents. For a woman named Hue, and hundreds like her, it meant experiencing unimagined barbarity. For Simone Whitesell, it meant a harrowing escape, with shells falling on every side. And for Nam Nguyen, it meant a rebirth that took forty years.
These are their stories. And the stories of sixty others – famous and not so famous.
They include Marine Major Michelle Pham, one of this nation’s first fighter pilots, as well as Army Brigadier General Viet Xuan Luong, the first person of Vietnamese descent to reach that rank; the famous, such as actress Hiep Thi Le and U.S. Congressman Joseph Cao; and the equally accomplished -- people like chiropractor David Nguyen and educator Charles Nguyen (See the Charles Nguyen story here).
The U.S. today is home to 1.5 million Vietnamese Americans, the largest refugee group ever taken in by the country. Most are just ordinary people who under extraordinary circumstances have fashioned or tried to fashion a new life. Some were able to do that; some were not. But they all have one thing in common: They are survivors.
The Vietnam War is the most written about war in history – almost all through the American lens. With the exception of a handful of fiction, little has been told from the viewpoints of those who lived through the desperation, lost everything and survived, most to lead meaningful lives beyond even their wildest dreams. Finally, this is their story – a collection of reminiscences and reflections, straight from the heart, poignant, heartbreaking, joyous and inspiring.
We call it “Pho For The Soul” because like the famous Vietnamese broth, the variety of ingredients, or stories, explodes in a cacophony of viewpoints intended to soothe the heart and soul of anyone who cares about survival and the human condition.
For many Vietnamese Americans, that war will always remain the core of their lives because it defines who they are and what they or their families have become. The successes of these people is easy to understand when you reflect where they came from. After all, what do you have to lose when you already have lost it all, including your freedom?
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can‘t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
We invite you to be part of this project in several ways:
*Contribute your story. If you are Vietnamese, whether you were forced to leave the country, or grew up here, we are interested in hearing from you, if not for this book, for its sequel.
* If you know any Vietnamese community leaders in one of the population centers below, help us reach out to them so they may make their friends and neighbors aware of this project.
* Help fund the publishing. It will cost $43,000 to produce the first 2,500 copies, including hundreds of photos, art works, poems, maps and other related material. Copies will be distributed to all public libraries, middle schools, high schools and academic institutions in San Diego County, California. Later, we plan to produce a second printing for the state of California.
*Participate in a national fundraising campaign so that the book may be distributed to every history department of every college and university in the United States.
CONTACTS: [email protected] or 619.683.7822
Cities with largest Vietnamese populations: San Jose, Garden Grove, Westminster, Houston, San Diego Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Or.; Arlington, Tex.; Boston, Garland, Tex.
The plan was for the family to rendezvous May 1, 1975 and meet at the back door of the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam.
But on the morning of April 30, the North Vietnamese tanks had already rolled onto the streets of Saigon. For Dam Thuy Nguyen, it could have meant desperation. Instead, it made her even more determined to escape.
With her twelve-year-old nephew in tow, first by car, then by foot, she made her way to the dock on the Saigon River where they boarded a makeshift boat bound for the Philippines. Taken aboard the USS Kirk when their boat took on water, with thousands of others, they finally made it to Subic Bay. However, the fleet of 30 ships and boats was refused anchor as long as it flew the flag of South Vietnam, no longer recognized.
Eventually, after all flags were lowered and the American flag raised in their places, the boats were allowed to enter the harbor. As the Vietnamese flags were lowered, Dam Thuy Nguyen recalled: “We looked up and sang the Vietnamese National Anthem. It was the last image of our country.”
America’s longest war was over. But for millions of Vietnamese who lived through it, it was only the beginning of a bad dream.
The end of the Vietnam War and the surrender of the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, meant many things to thousands of Vietnamese. For Gwen Coronado, stranded as a student in the United States, it meant abandonment. For David Pham’s mother, ten years old at the time, it meant the long anguish of separation from her parents. For a woman named Hue, and hundreds like her, it meant experiencing unimagined barbarity. For Simone Whitesell, it meant a harrowing escape, with shells falling on every side. And for Nam Nguyen, it meant a rebirth that took forty years.
These are their stories. And the stories of sixty others – famous and not so famous.
They include Marine Major Michelle Pham, one of this nation’s first fighter pilots, as well as Army Brigadier General Viet Xuan Luong, the first person of Vietnamese descent to reach that rank; the famous, such as actress Hiep Thi Le and U.S. Congressman Joseph Cao; and the equally accomplished -- people like chiropractor David Nguyen and educator Charles Nguyen (See the Charles Nguyen story here).
The U.S. today is home to 1.5 million Vietnamese Americans, the largest refugee group ever taken in by the country. Most are just ordinary people who under extraordinary circumstances have fashioned or tried to fashion a new life. Some were able to do that; some were not. But they all have one thing in common: They are survivors.
The Vietnam War is the most written about war in history – almost all through the American lens. With the exception of a handful of fiction, little has been told from the viewpoints of those who lived through the desperation, lost everything and survived, most to lead meaningful lives beyond even their wildest dreams. Finally, this is their story – a collection of reminiscences and reflections, straight from the heart, poignant, heartbreaking, joyous and inspiring.
We call it “Pho For The Soul” because like the famous Vietnamese broth, the variety of ingredients, or stories, explodes in a cacophony of viewpoints intended to soothe the heart and soul of anyone who cares about survival and the human condition.
For many Vietnamese Americans, that war will always remain the core of their lives because it defines who they are and what they or their families have become. The successes of these people is easy to understand when you reflect where they came from. After all, what do you have to lose when you already have lost it all, including your freedom?
As Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “If you can’t fly then run, if you can‘t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.”
We invite you to be part of this project in several ways:
*Contribute your story. If you are Vietnamese, whether you were forced to leave the country, or grew up here, we are interested in hearing from you, if not for this book, for its sequel.
* If you know any Vietnamese community leaders in one of the population centers below, help us reach out to them so they may make their friends and neighbors aware of this project.
* Help fund the publishing. It will cost $43,000 to produce the first 2,500 copies, including hundreds of photos, art works, poems, maps and other related material. Copies will be distributed to all public libraries, middle schools, high schools and academic institutions in San Diego County, California. Later, we plan to produce a second printing for the state of California.
*Participate in a national fundraising campaign so that the book may be distributed to every history department of every college and university in the United States.
CONTACTS: [email protected] or 619.683.7822
Cities with largest Vietnamese populations: San Jose, Garden Grove, Westminster, Houston, San Diego Santa Ana, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Philadelphia, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Or.; Arlington, Tex.; Boston, Garland, Tex.
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