Mary, tell me a little bit about your family and how you were living before April, 1975.

Um, we came, uh, we lived in a Tay Ninh, a small province of Saigon, and that place was in peace, so we moved to Saigon and my father decided to leave because he knew the Communists would take over. So on April 31st, uh 30th of 1975, my family went to, my father tried get to another island so we can board on ship to leave that way.

And we, during the time that we left from the house to the destination point to meet the ship, the Communists came in that day. So they told us to stop and they searched for thing and asked my father where we would be going and he told us, I mean he told the comrades that were...

Hold on...let’s change focal length and go back. I think you were in a car?

Yeah, we were in a car.

Start from there...We left our house.

Okay. We left by the car, two family cars with another family, of this friend. The communists came like eight o’clock, because at 6:00 we heard on the radio that from General Minh, that everyone, the soldier, have to give up, so the Communists will come in for peace.

My father didn't believe that so he decided to go no matter what. So we went, and at 10:00 the Communists came in, during the route, the Communists came in so, we have to stop because they come in with bombs and tanks. There wasn't any peace like they have agreed on.

So, uh, they were bombing at the time, but my father had to take a chance to leave. So the Communists stopped us and asked where we would be going. My father said, we have to leave to the countryside.

And they didn't believe, but my father had to bribe them by giving a diamond watch. And maybe some money. I didn't really look at what they were doing, but I saw my father slip his watch to the comrades hand, so the guy was smiling and he was satisfied, so they let us go.

How old were you at the time and how many were in your family? How many were going on this?

Um, approximately like twenty.

Start by saying, at the time I was...

Okay. At the time I was my um... my year? I was fourteen years old...

Start again.

I was fourteen years old. I was fourteen years old when I left Saigon in '75. There were more than twenty of us, My family – eleven members, my father, my grandmother, and nine of us kids. And the other one is his friend family.

And you did eventually get...Cut. Airplane.

Tell me how you felt that day and were there things that happened that were particularly frightening?

Yes, it was like a movie to me, because during the trip along the roads, of the two sides, a lot of corpses, dead corpses were lying on the street, and no, no, I mean nobody seemed to care, to bury them, to get them away. They just put over a piece of newspaper to cover their faces, and a lot of their clothing or things that they want to bring with them were lying along, all over the streets.

And we saw one bus, with no dead corpses in there, but a lot of bloodstains, and with the helicopter lying over the bus. And we didn't know what’s going on. I was so afraid.

And you did eventually get to a place where you needed to cross by a ferry. What happened there?

There wasn't any ferry service for two weeks ago, prior to the date we came. And so there were a lot of food supplies that were delayed, got rotten, 'cause there was no ferry service like I said. So finally, it was luck that my father met his friend who is like Chief of the Province, and immediately he called the ferry man to get the service.

So everyone was so happy and they were rushing to the ferry. And we got over to the other island. When we came to the destination point, that time the Communists didn't come into this island yet. It's called

And then you got on a ship and what happened?

We had the problem with the fuel – the food supplies the water supplies, and then the leaking problem with the cargo. It's like a small cargo. And so the man, who's the captain of the ship, he refused to leave. And so my father said you know you have to. With the Chief of the Province, he came along too. And a lot of other soldiers.

As the man tried to get onshore, that time we were on the ship already, to get the supplies, as they were entering the ship we heard on shore a lot of um, ah noises from the comrades, ‘cause we heard they were shooting up in the skies, told us to stop leaving, otherwise they would shoot at us.

So we had to take a chance, because we have made it this far. And we took up and luckily they left us alone during the daytime. It was three, I would say, three, four o’clock in the afternoon. So during the night was another fear was coming up. A lot of helicopters, it must be like four or five, were searching for us, so we have to put the lights out.

And everybody, like women or kids have to hide underneath of the boat. And during the time each of the men took turns to – water out – because of the leaking problem.

Okay, so you're out there and you're about to be rescued. Tell me what happened.

After the fear and after three days...

Cut. Wouldn't you know.

After the fear and after three days sailing on the ocean, we saw the American fleet and we have to wait for rescue and so they got us on their own fleet and they shipped us over to Subic Bay. Is a Filipino Island where the American people stationed there.

We stay for a week and then we were transferred to Guam Island and from there we live for a month.

Finally we were once again transferred to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That's the final destination and were were supposed to wait for someone to sponsor us to Pittsburgh.

While you were in Guam, something happened that involved people leaving in the other direction. Tell me about that, what you remember about that.

A lot of people.

Hold it. Just start again.

Yes.

Okay.

Okay. A lot of people, they didn't know at the time where they would be going in the future and whether they should have left their family behind or not. So between decided and undecided, they chose to the...decided to return and we told them, advised them that it's not going to be easy, because the communist is in now.

Everything would be changed then and if they're being a soldier before, they would be in trouble because of concentration camp. They knew how it's like to live in a communist, because of family and because of not knowing where to go and what to do, they decided to return.

What...How did you find America and what has life been like for you and your family since you got here?

A lot of difficulty that we have been confronting with like um the customs and people. Everything was so strange when we came here. We felt very isolated at the time and lonely even though my father's sponsor who was a Doctor of American Friends and with the help of the parish church around the neighborhood, they were giving us everything that we need like a house and paying for rent and everything.

But somehow we didn't feel the same and it's always that no place like home. But after eight years living here, we have to adjust to living anyhow and no matter what, this is my second country.

Are there, do you see big differences between the people who came out when you did in 1975 and the boat people?

Um, m...

who came out later on?

Yes, do you mean do we look at them differently?

Do you feel that you are different from them and in what way?

I don't think so. I don't think there is any difference because...

But I don't think there's...Say it again, full sentence.

Okay. Um, I don't think there's any difference between the people that came in 1975 and the people that came now. For one thing that I admire at them is they have gone through how it's like in Vietnam now and they have experienced so many things that I wouldn't be able to survive if I had gone through that experience.

’Cause I heard a lot of stories like concentration camps and people are starved right now, no food and no jobs and people are homeless because the Communists just move in their house and live with them. So, it won't be the same. You can't even communicate with your own members in the family.

Tell me about that letter that you sent your friend.

I was trying to contact with her.

Uh. Start again, with “My friend…”

I was trying to contact with my friend. The last letter that I wrote to here contained some information like, if I have a chance to sponsor you to the US, I would try to find out and you just have to let me know if you agree to go and since then it's been maybe a year. I haven't heard from her. I didn't know what happened, but from what my cousins have told me, they have lived here for two years now. They told me it's very hard to contact with the relatives you have in Vietnam now because the information on that relative give our you right in. They would go through...I mean the communist would check and they would use what they call a steam machine to read your letter so you can't be able to contact.

What do these cousins tell you about what happened about people coming to look for your father?

The communists just came inside of the house and they were friendly at first and they said, "Ah, tell me where was Mr. Minh and his families?" My relatives at the time had no idea where we were because we were not contacting each other. So they didn't know. Some of the relatives said we must have been dead in the ocean, in the sea.

And some said maybe somewhere in America and one of the comrades said, "Do you have the address" and the relative were kind of afraid to give out...of course they didn't know but they knew somehow that we would be somewhere in America. They said they didn't know and the comrade said, "Well, he used to be a CIA agent because he knew the day to get out and he was dealing with the American people which is a terrible thing that he not deserve to live."

And what was your father actually?

He was a...

My father...

Oh, I'm sorry. My father was a businessman and he happened that he was wealthy. He didn't get involved with the government, I don't think. He was a part of the bank of where we were in that small province. He had shares in that bank and he's like the manager.

Okay. One last question. Looking back in the last forty of Vietnamese history, what do you think about it? What lessons have you learned or would you tell people about the meaning of the history of Vietnam in the last forty years.

For what has happened now, the...and what people have told me about the experience of living under the Communists, going back to the history, we were dominated by the Chinese, the French, the Japanese, all that.

I wasn't born at the time, but there wasn't...it wasn't that terrible as compared to now. Because under the ruling of the people that I have told you, the Vietnamese didn't try to escape out of the country, that's the fact. But now with the communist ruling, a lot of people were willing to take a risk to die for freedom.

So it must have been very terrible to live under the Communists and well, I'm lucky that I didn't have to experience under the Communists, but for what I have heard, I think it's just terrible and I'm glad that I got out of it, but it doesn't mean that I would ignore my own country which is Vietnam. I hope that in the future, we can return uh to Vietnam, only if the Communists is out. That's all I can say.

Cut.