Reminiscence of an Army Captain

Narrator: An Nguyen
Place of birth: Go Cong, Vietnam
Occupation during the War: Army captain
Year arrived in US: 1992

Interview Date: November 16, 2014 
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Linh Biscan
Photographer: Frank Bui

Mr. An Nguyen was born in Go Cong, Vietnam. He was a South Vietnamese Army captain in Vietnam from 1961 to 1975.  During his time in the military, he worked in intelligence. Mr. Nguyen was kept in a re-education camp for 10 years by the North Vietnamese.  During his time in the re-education camp, he was forced to disclose everything that he owned and knew. The camp officials' philosophy was that land owners were bad people. Every now and then, they would re-test his honesty by telling him to disclose the same information again. If he differed in what he had previously wrote, he would be punished. Mr. Nguyen stated that in order to avoid such an outcome, he would hide a piece of paper with what he had to recite to them. But he had to be careful doing so, as the officials who ran the camp would always conduct random searches. 

The time he spent in the re-education camp was an experience he never forgot. Many people tried to escape the camps. He was transferred to many camps and his family, like many others, would not know where he would be at. At the camps, he did various jobs such as cutting down trees and planting vegetables. There was little to eat. One memorable experience was that they caught a bird in the camp and had to split it in to seven portions. He knew people that died while living in the re-education camp, but to his good fortunes, he never was punished during his time there, as many were.

During that time, his wife would visit him. To make a living, she did various things to support the family. His wife and he were able to leave in 1992 and come to the United States. They flew from Vietnam to Thailand to Japan, then to the United States, landing in Louisville, Kentucky.  Since then, he has been residing in Louisville with his wife and kids. One hardship he experienced early on in Louisville was getting robbed the first time he moved into his first place of residence.  They took almost everything, even the food from his refrigerator. The only thing that was left behind were clothes that the robbers could not fit. During his time Louisville, KY, he worked in the computer industry and has since retired in 2011.