Q: How did you travel from Vietnam to America? Please include as many details about the moving process as you can remember such as how long it took to become US citizens.
A: While the communists were advancing towards Saigon, my family and your great-grandparents’ family moved to Vung Tau Port, Vietnam, in the hope of fleeing Vietnam by sea. WE stayed there for about three weeks, waiting for the opportunity to get out, God know where and finally we succeeded in purchasing a small fishing boat and got out into the Pacific Ocean, not knowing exactly where we would end up going. After one night long, we got picked up by the American 7th Fleet. We were hoisted u onto the deck in a net and transported to the Philippines where we stayed for one day and then from the Philippines to Guam, them to Indian Town Gap in Harrisburg. I and my children including your four aunts and your dad, who was only two years old at that time, were flown to Los Angeles to be reunited with your grandfather, who was finishing his studies. We then moved back to Pennsylvania to be together with your great-grandparents’ family. Eight years later, we all got naturalized as American citizens.
Q: What was Vietnam like at the time that you were leaving?
A: South Vietnam was a free, peaceful and most prosperous country in South-East Asia before the communists form the North took over. The situation was somehow comparable to that of North and South Korea, economically speaking and regime wise. Your dad was only two years old then and your oldest aunt, 11 years old. Your grandfather was a high ranking official in the Ministry of Education and I was a high school teacher.
Q: Did most of your family move to the United States? If so, did you travel together or separately?
A: All members of my family- including me, your dad and the four aunts your yours –except your grand father who had been at the University of Los Angles and of your great-grandparents’ family succeeded in moving to the United States. And we all traveled together. Vietnamese people have very strong extended family ties.
Q: Once you got here, what were the hardest things to adjust to?
A: The most difficult things I personally had to adjust to are language and culture. My English was extremely limited. It took me a couple of years to master the language and work did not come easily unless you are proficient in English. Secondly, not being culturally adjusted could cause a lot of hurt. Our family had been among the upper echelons of the Vietnamese society and coming to the United States, I had to start taking some menial jobs and some of the usually considered good-hearted acts in the American society by my boss were interpreted by me as humiliations, e.g. the carcass of a turkey was given to me to bring home for the children.
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