Questions from Chi Lan Anh

Vui, Hi.

How are you and your wife? I enclosed the same picture of me, but I saved it in paint and then reopened it. It appears larger this time. Sorry it took a while but they stole my digital cam, and I didn't have any more pictures.

In any event, out of curiosity : What kind of ship that we were on when we were leaving VN for the Philipines. It was your dad's naval ship. And what was your dad official military title?

I was telling my children the story but I can't remember for nothing. Also, did your family arrived at Guam the same time my family did? I know Co 7's family arried a little later... i can't remember clearly.

Thanks.

Lan Anh here!

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Chi Lan Anh:

So good to hear from you and I hope you are doing well. Dung and I are doing fine and we are meeting up with Anh Quoc, Co Lisa and Anh An tomorrow for lunch. I will let you know how Anh Quoc is doing tomorrow. Meanwhile thank you for the photograph.

About our trip to America, it was quite an adventure. My Dad was a career military man. He graduated valedictorian of his Officer Class in Da Lat and served in the South VN Armed Forces for more than 25 years, and was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Special Forces on the last day of the war. During his service, he has met and worked with lots of other career military folks that he is still keeping in touch with til this day. One of our relatives, Duong Hung, is also a good friend of my Dad. They grew up together in Nha Trang and joined the war efforts together. Duong Hung rose through the ranks and was the Commander of the VN Naval Destroyer Ship 07 that we docked on May 1st near Con Son Island outside of Vietnam. It was his ship that took us to the Philippines for processing as refugees.

Before leaving VN, Duong Hung was transporting supplies and Special Forces soldiers to the frontline. When the war ended on April 30, he and his ship got stuck out at seas and could not make it back to port. His wife was nine month pregnant then and she could not risk coming with us on a small fishing boat that we were on. When we got on his ship, and he found out that his wife could not make it, he was totally desvastated. He even thought about getting into one of the life boats and go home to his wife at the time. Glad he didn't, as now he was reunited with he wife and is living with his daughter in California.

During the last days of the war, your Dad was the only civilian in our family in Saigon. My Dad and Duong Bay were career soldiers, and if it was not for the sensibility of your Dad, we probably are still in VN now. Your Dad pressured my Dad and Duong Bay to stock up supplies and prepare for the exodus. He forced my Dad to evacuate all of us away from Saigon the night of April 29th. It was that decision that led us to the small fishing boat evacuating on the last day of the war. The fishing boat took us to the last river fuel tanker that left VN. It was this little tanker that survived the seas to get us to Duong Hung's 07 Destroyer.

Once we got to Subic Bay in the Philippines and got processed, we all were splitted up to different groups of refugees and were assigned various areas as we got on the huge oil super tanker named the Green Forest. The Green Forest took three days and nights to get us to Guam, where we all were scattered throughout the numerous refugees camps. Your Dad spoke English better than my Dad and Duong Bay and he was able to get your family better places to stay and got you folks out to the US Mainland earlier than anyone else. I don't recall why Cau Nam has selected St. Louis to settle down, but I know that he was the best educated man in the group and his decision must have some good reasoning behind it. My family was one of the last ones to leave the refugees camp. We moved to Houston in 1978 and were here for the past 30 years. Cau Nam came down approximately 15 years ago, and this is almost his home for a long time.

It was so good to see you and the rest of your family recently. I wish we could have more time to learn about each other and catch up for the past 30 years. I am sure glad, however, that we have had a chance to stay in touch.

Vui

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Wow Vui.

I can't tell you how thankful I am for your email. It was very detailed. More than I had expected. My brother couldn't Anh 3, couldn't provide me the details that you did, or maybe he couldn't write such details because they are watching his every move in VN.

It's not that much better in VN now, as far as Catholic faith and preaching the bible..I know they got priests over there, but you have to keep a lid on it... not too liberal about it........ I remember my brother asked my mom to send him his book that he has left behind, to VN, because he was there.... that he prefered using this book over any other book.

My mom wrote back and said: " Oh, you mean the bible." Not realizing what kind of danger she had put him in.

Please stand by as I may have other questions for you in the near future.

Again, my appreciation for your reply. WOW.. you blew my mind with such details.

Oh, we settled in STL because the church that sponsored us is in STL.. so that was how we got out of PA... somehow, we left Guam and ended up in a closed Air Force Base in PA.. and then from there, a church in STL sponsored us.... ...and the rest is history.

Lan Anh here!