The Tale of a Pharmacist and Wife of a South Vietnamese Army Doctor

Narrator:  Hao Tran

Place of birth:  Vietnam

Occupation during the War:  Pharmacy Student/Pharmacist
Year arrived in US:  1980

Interview Date:  March 14, 2015 

Interview Location:  Elizabethtown, KY

Interviewer:  Angela and Sarah Cao

Photographer:  Dede Tran

Mrs. Hao Tran was born in Ninh Binh, Vietnam, and is one of seven daughters and two sons. However, she grew up and studied pharmacy in Saigon.  In 1974, she married her husband, Khue Tran. He was a physician who had just completed his training as a captain for the South Vietnamese Army. She spoke of the uncertainty and angst that filled the city in the days leading up to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. They had two different opportunities to leave Saigon by air because her husband came from a high-ranking South Vietnamese military family.  But Mrs. Tran was not ready to abandon her family, her home, and her life in Saigon.

Mrs. Tran spoke of life in Saigon after the city fell to the communists. She said in order to do anything, they had to get permits. There were curfews and random roll calls at people’s homes. 

Like many other South Vietnamese military leaders, her husband was sent to reeducation camp. They were told that he would only be gone for ten days, but that was merely to lure him to the camps. He was held for nearly three years before Mrs. Tran hatched an escape plan. She, along with a few friends, drove motor bikes to a remote location where they knew Mr. Tran would have to walk past on his way to work in the reeducation camps. After much anxiety and fear, they found and took him with them. For fear that they would be caught, they stayed at different people’s homes for a few months before returning to their own home in Saigon.

Mrs. Tran and her husband finally flee Vietnam by boat, along with seventeen other Vietnamese people. Soon after, their motor died and they were stranded at sea for nearly seventeen days. They lost three people on board – one jumped off the boat, one died of natural causes, and one died later in the refugee camp. They were saved by a naval ship whose route had gone off-kilter and spotted their boat. Mrs. Tran says that, without her faith and God, she would not be here today.

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. 

Wishes for Lunar New Year

In February of 2015, Moving Voices set up an interviewing booth at the annual Lunar New Year (Tet) celebration in Louisville, Ky. Several young people shared with us their wishes and thoughts for the new year and reflected upon Vietnamese culture in America.

Narrator: Mai Nguyen 
Place of birth: Louisville, KY
Age: 18 years old 
Occupation: Student 

Interview Date: February 28, 2015
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Dede Tran
Photographer: Dede Tran

"(Tet) basically means Vietnamese culture to me because it is one of those events around the year where it is all about Vietnamese people, and it's all about, you know, family and friends and red and gold and a lot of dance practices because I usually have to perform in the Tet events. Also my name is Mai. So I mean Tet is kind of special to me since my name is supposed to be for the spring flower."

"My favorite part...probably the food that they sell because it makes me feel like I am back in Vietnam with all the night markets."

"To be Vietnamese for me, especially a Vietnamese woman, is to be independent, outgoing, strong and at same time you have to know humility, know your family, and understand people. Growing up my mom and dad always stressed to me that I am a Vietnamese person living in America."

Narrator: James Rein 
Place of birth: Manassas, VA 
Age: 11 years old 
Occupation: Student

Interview Date: February 28, 2015
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Dede Tran
Photographer: Mai Nguyen

"I just think (Tet) is just a really special holiday so we can celebrate the Vietnamese culture and how it works because Vietnamese culture is really important...I just love Tet."

"When I was seven, I visited my grandpa (in Vietnam)...Vietnam was awesome. There was a lot of farms. My grandpa owed a wood workshop, he had two K-9s.... He had a farm, shrimp farm, and huge balcony. My favorite part of Vietnam was like...there were a lot of hammocks there. I would always like to layout with my sister. We would always like to roll out on the grass when were little and have fun. It is so different here where there are so much buildings and you don't see that much grass."

"I just hope (for the new year) that everyone understands how special the Vietnamese culture is." 

Narrator: Jongin Choi 
Place of birth: South Korea
Age: 23 years old
Occupation: Student

Interview Date: February 28, 2015
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Kyle Vuong
Photographer: Dede Tran

"I am part of the VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) at U of L (University of Louisville), and I thought it would be cool to see what Tet is all about."

"(Tet) is very lively. I think the Vietnamese community in Louisville is very tight. They keep close to each other. It is kind of different than the Korean community. But I like it... The community is what I really like the best... In the Korean community in Louisville, everyone wants to leave Louisville, Ky. But in the Vietnamese community, everyone wants to stay. They don't mind staying."

On being Asian-American:
"There's definitely some difficulty in making friends. I was able to adapt. I faced some discrimination in high school. Because of my extroverted personality, I was able to go out and make a lot of friends. But other than that, it is a pretty good experience for me. I am proud to be an Asian American."

Moving Voices would like to thank all the individuals who told us their stories that day.

To hear more interviews, please contact Moving Voices via email at movingvoices.ky@gmail.com.

Official Logo Unveiled

Moving Voices unveiled its logo in February of 2015 (pictured right). We would like to thank and recognize Louisville creative designer Loi LeMix for creating it.

A statement from Loi LeMix:

"The challenge with this logo design is tying the Vietnamese culture and voices into an image. How do you depict sound in a visible form? I wanted the logo to have deep meanings with a monochromatic color scheme.

So, I opted for a simple silhouette layout, drawing out a family of four with their lips apart to promote the ideology of sound resonance. Adding the geography map of Vietnam and matching it the same color as the male’s silhouette, who serves as the father in this picture helps promoted the idea of foundation. Foundation as in where we came from, our roots, Vietnam. And foundation in the sense that a father is one who also shelters his family.

As an advocate for supporting local communities, I am very glad to be able to provide logo design assistance for the Moving Voices’ oral project. The design process was both fun and experimental. My original intent was to invoke emotions through simple lines and tints of a hue, and I hope that viewers get the meanings behind the logo. Thanks for the opportunity."

Wife of Imprisoned Officer

Narrator: Mrs. Dinh Nguyen 
Place of birth: Hải Phòng, Vietnam 
Occupation during the War: Wife
Year arrived in US: 1994

Interview Date: September 20, 2014
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Thao Tran & Linh Biscan
Photographer: Frank Bui

Mrs. Nguyen, the widow of a former South Vietnamese officer, sat down with Moving Voices to share the story of a charmed life changed dramatically after the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.  Shortly after the Communist Government took over, her husband of five months was ordered to a "reeducation camp" along with her father, brothers, and in-laws.

During the ten years of her husband's absence, Mrs. Nguyen grew from a privileged, demure girl to a cunning business woman in order to help her family survive.  She talked about working and taking bribes for the communist commerce agency, achieving success in starting a business, and losing everything to help her siblings escape Vietnam by boat.

Mrs. Nguyen's narrative is one of growth, sacrifice, and the will to triumph over adversities in a post-war Vietnam and a foreign new home in Kentucky.

To hear the full interview, please contact Moving Voices via email at movingvoices.ky@gmail.com.

Former Leader of South Vietnam

Narrator: Dr. Gary Minh Tran
Place of birth: Châu Đốc, Vietnam
Occupation during the War: Government Official
Year arrived in US: 1975

Interview Date: January 24, 2015
Interview Location: Louisville, KY
Interviewer: Dede Tran
Photographer: Frank Bui

In this interview, Dr. Tran recounted his time as a high-ranking government official for the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) during the Vietnam War.  As a national expert in agriculture and veterinary sciences, his wartime positions included Vice Minister of Agriculture, Director General of Agriculture, and Administrator General of the National Food Administration.  His government roles helped to push several national food and land programs, including the landmark rural revolution in South Vietnam known as the Tiller Land Reform Program.

Other highlights of the interview include his poignant reflection on South Vietnam's loss and his advice to future generations of Vietnamese-Americans to always remember their roots.  Today, Dr. Tran works as a veterinarian and academic instructor.  Moving Voices would like to thank Dr. Tran for allowing us to record his story.

To hear the full interview, please contact Moving Voices via email at movingvoices.ky@gmail.com.

UofL's Commemoration of 40th Anniversary of Vietnam War

The Moving Voices team would like to invite members of the public to attend the University of Louisville's commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Vietnam War honoring Vietnam War veterans and families. The event will feature a panel discussion by five Vietnamese-Americans who either led or fought in the Vietnam War for South Vietnam and later settled in Kentucky. The speakers will share their personal accounts of the War and life after it.

The event is on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. It will begin at 6 pm in the Elaine Chao Auditorium, which is located in the basement of UofL's Ekstrom Library. A reception with appetizers will follow. The program will be conducted in English.

More information can be found online: http://louisville.edu/admissions/apply/transfer/veterans/vietnam-veterans/folder-1/unheard-tales. The event is free and open to the public. To learn more about about UofL's commemoration of the Vietnam War, you can read more at: http://louisville.edu/admissions/apply/transfer/veterans/vietnam-veterans.