Final Adobe Express Page Project Outline and Transcript
Title: The Vietnamese American Refugee Experience
Produced by: Ryan Tran
Interviewee: Hiep Tran
Outline and Interview Transcript:
I.
Introduction
A. A brief introduction to the project and oral history interview
II.
Historical Background of Vietnam War
A. Addressing the Vietnamese Perspective
1. Interviews from South Vietnamese military leaders and politicians (video)
2. Articles addressing South Vietnamese hardship
3. North Vietnamese propaganda
4. Vietnamese Perspectives on the War in Vietnam by John C. Schafer
5. The Fall of South Vietnam: Statements by Vietnamese Military and
Civilian Leaders by Stephen T. Hosmer, Konrad Kellen, Brian Michael
Jenkins
B. Pictures from Associated Press
1. Nguyen Van Lem shot in head
2. Napalm Girl
III.
Oral History Interview Transcript (Interviewee: Hiep Tran)
A. Childhood
1. Where were you born? Please describe your hometown.
a) I was born in Sai Gon, Vietnam. It was considered the Pearl of SE
Asia. It was a fairly modern city, and was built by the French. At
the time, it consisted of 10 districts, similar to Paris and other
French cities. I grew up in District 10 because my dad was an
officer in the Vietnamese army. He was granted a house in the
district where I lived with my seven older siblings, my parents, and
my grandmother. The neighborhood I grew up in was well to do
due to the military officer presence. I was recommended to go to
preschool early, however, I had to go to school near my dad’s work
because the local school did not admit me.
2. What was your childhood like?
a) My childhood was considered privileged; I had a chauffeur to drive
me to and from school. If the chauffeur was busy, I could walk
over to my father’s office and wait until he was done with work.
My father was a major in the army, and worked on
communications. It was very typical and idyllic in the sense that I
did not feel the effects of the war until towards the end of the war.
3. What is your favorite memory of Vietnam?
a) My father came home and took me to a street food vendor and we
had balut. While it was not the most memorable moment, I had the
opportunity to spend time alone with my busy father and will
cherish that memory.
B. War
1. What are your first memories of the War?
a) Our neighborhood was next to a South Vietnamese National Guard
base, and I remember hearing gunshots for the first time in 1968. A
Viet Cong soldier tried to penetrate the base but was shot trying to
climb over the barbed wire fence and his body hung there. My
father also brought an M-16 rifle home for the first time even
though he was a civilian officer. During and after the Tet
Offensive, we started to hear a lot of artillery being fired and we
were forced to hide in bunkers. When you heard the “boom” sound
of the artillery and then heard the whistle of the round passing by,
you knew you were safe. If you did not hear the whistle, then the
round was coming towards you.
2. Where were you during the Fall of Saigon, and what was your reaction?
a) My family was at my oldest sister-in-law’s aunt’s house which was
near the main bridge on the major highway into Sai Gon. I began
to hear a lot of fighting and shooting as the army was defending
the bridge but it suddenly went very quiet as an official
announcement over the radio called for the South Vietnamese army
to surrender. The last president of South Vietnam, Duong Van
Minh, called on the army to lay down their arms to prevent more
bloodshed. My family and I cried but since I was only 10 years
old, I did not know the impact of the situation at the time. I only
knew that the Viet Cong were the enemy but I didn’t know exactly
how bad the situation was. My father was at work at the time of the
announcement and due to his extreme loyalty to the South
Vietnamese republic, despite people calling the war effort a lost
cause. He was able to join us but we lost our house after the
Communists took over Sai Gon and were forced to live in an
apartment in hiding. After 30 days, the Communists then purged
old officers of the army, including my father and eldest brother,
and sent them to prison.
3. What was your life like after the Fall of Sai Gon?
a) I still had to continue my education after the Fall of Sai Gon,
however, my old school was now under Communist rule and was
run by the Viet Cong. However, because my school was the top
high school in South Vietnam and well-known for opposing
Communist ideology, the Viet Cong was unable to convert or force
feed us propaganda. Eventually, the school was closed and all of
my classmates were separated.
4. What led to your decision to leave Vietnam?
a) The Communist government invaded Cambodia after the Khmer
Rouge repeatedly attacked southern Vietnam in 1977. The
government was then drafting all men aged 18 or older to fight
against the Khmer Rouge. However, those affiliated with the
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), like my family, were not
given guns as the Communists were afraid that we would use the
guns against them. One of my older cousins was drafted and sent
to the Cambodian border to find land mines but was killed. One of
my older brothers also scored the top score on the college entrance
exam but was denied entry into college due to my family’s
affiliation. Because my other brothers were also coming of age and
the conflict with Cambodia escalated, my mother decided that
there was no hope or future for my siblings in Vietnam and had to
make the difficult decision to send us abroad. My mother was
extremely distraught since the only options for me and my brothers
were to eventually be drafted and probably die, or take a 50/50
chance of survival escaping Vietnam. There were no other options
and unfortunately, we had to act on pure desperation. I was sent by
myself to escape since I was the youngest and if I got caught, I was
held for a short period of time before being sent back home again,
whereas if my older brothers were caught, they would be
imprisoned for much longer.
5. How did you escape Vietnam?
a) My first attempt was out of Phan Thiết; I traveled with a group to
find a deserted beach on the coast but we had to stop in holding
houses to not look suspicious as a large group traveling together.
At night, we would move through the forest and eventually to the
beach to meet up with a fishing boat. One problem was that the
Communists were aware of people trying to escape by boat and
regulated the amount of fuel each boat could receive to prevent
fishing boats from reaching refugee camps. Thus, some escape
boats bought fuel from other fishing boats and stored them at the
deserted beach. We made our way to the beach but the boat never
showed up and we had to turn back.
b) The second time, the boat didn’t show up again. We spent 7 days in
the forest and ran out of food so we had to steal food from a local
farm but were reported to the authorities by the farmers and then I
went to prison for several weeks.
c) On the third attempt, my mother decided to send me south since
escaping from the central coast was not working. I finally escaped
through Mỹ Tho and spent about a week on the fishing boat before
arriving in Indonesia. The boat conditions were very bad; I had to
sit in the compartment where they stored the fish. Many people
became seasick and vomited; the stench was awful and there was
extremely little food and water. We also had to avoid the Gulf of
Thailand due to Thai pirates. These pirates were encouraged by the
Thai government to stop refugee boats to prevent refugees from
entering Thailand, yet they committed extreme atrocities such as
rape. Our boat captain planned to go to Singapore but we were
stopped by the Indonesian navy who were welcoming refugees;
our captain still wanted to go to Singapore and we decided that we
would jump ship since we did not want to go further. Eventually,
the captain followed the Indonesian navy and we arrived at the Air
Raya refugee camp. I spent 15 months in Indonesia before I was
able to sail to Singapore and then fly to the US on sponsorship
from my brother who had arrived in the US a few years earlier.
C. New Life
1. How, when, and where did you arrive?
a) I arrived in LA from the refugee camp in October of 1980 and was
put up in a hotel before being bussed to Orange County.
2. What was your first impression of the US?
a) When I arrived at the refugee camp, I was excited to arrive in the
US but after spending 15 months at the camp, I became jaded and
lost my excitement. After seeing people arrive after I did in the
camp and leave before me, I felt hopeless for a long time. Thus,
when I came to the US, I was excited to reunite with my brother
but I didn’t feel any emotion towards the US.
3. What was your transition into your new life like?
a) I enrolled in Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, CA, and
struggled to communicate with my peers since I was unable to
speak English. However, the community was very welcoming and
while I did encounter bullying, I felt well protected by many of my
peers.
4. When and how were you able to reunite with your family?
a) When I arrived in the US in the 1980, I was able to reunite with
most of my brothers who arrived before me. My sisters were also
able to escape and arrive in the US after me. My parents were the
last to arrive in the US in 1992 under the Orderly Departure
Program under the family reunification condition.
5. What is your life like now?
a) My life is typical but comfortable; middle-class lifestyle but happy.
D. Reflection and Insight
1. What does being a "Vietnamese Boat Person" mean to you? What do you
want future generations to learn from the experiences of the boat people?
a) I learned that any hardship that I face in life, I will be able to
overcome it with a strong mind and will. Being a refugee as a
Vietnamese boat person was a test but I was able to pass. I gained
confidence from my experience. “If you started from the bottom
and you hit the bottom again, you know that you can rise from it.”
2. What do you think about the American withdrawal from Vietnam in 1973?
a) The Americans used the South Vietnamese army and government
as a scapegoat to exit a failed Vietnam. By saying the American
army trained the locals to fight and later transfer power to them,
the American government tried to distance themselves from the
conflict. The American involvement was politically driven and
there are too many changes in policy due to the shifting direction
3.
4.
5.
6.
of the government. This was echoed in Afghanistan and now in
Ukraine.
The model minority myth is being purported by the media and politicians.
What is your opinion on this myth?
a) This model minority myth and its comparison to other racial
minorities is unfair because of the backgrounds of the racial
minorities. Many Asian Americans that immigrated were able to
arrive in the US because of their high socioeconomic status and
came to study or work in white-collar jobs. However, other racial
minorities such as African Americans and Latinx Americans have
backgrounds in slavery and/or cheap labor, and thus have not had
the opportunity to ascend the socioeconomic hierarchy.
Vietnamese Americans as a whole are one of the most poorly performing
ethnic groups in terms of English proficiency, educational attainment, and
median household income as compared to the Asian American population.
Why do you think this is so?
a) Vietnamese Americans arrived in the US as political refugees and
have had to start anew in society as compared to the makeup of
other Asian American ethnic groups.
The Vietnamese American community is one of the most prominent ethnic
groups to support President Donald Trump, who threatened the rights of
refugees in America and lowered the refugee ceiling to an all-time low.
What is your opinion on this contradiction?
a) Many Vietnamese that arrived in America were apart of a political
party in Vietnam that aligns similarly to the Republican party and
are staunchly anti-Communist. Thus, because Trump is very vocal
about his anti-Communist beliefs, the Vietnamese American
community widely supports him but fails to recognize the nuances
of his rhetoric.
Do you have any goals or dreams for the Vietnamese American
community?
a) I hope that the younger generation of Vietnamese Americans can
adapt to the American lifestyle but most importantly, to not lose
sight of their cultural heritage. By maintaining a healthy
relationship with their ethnic identity and cultural traditions, it
encourages diversity and adds to the richness of the fabric of this
country.
E. Pictures
1. To be provided by family
IV.
Vietnamese Americans in the Present Day
A. Vietnamese in the U.S. Fact Sheet by Pew Research Center
B. The Experience of Vietnamese Refugee Children in the United States by Min Zhou
and Carl L. Bankston, III
C. Vietnamese Americans: History, Education, and Societal Context by Stacy M.
Kula, Vinh Q. Tran, Iraise Garcia, Erika Saito, and Susan J. Paik
V.
Conclusion
A. Summary of theme and conclusions made
VI.
Bibliography
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B. Budiman, Abby. “Vietnamese in the U.S. Fact Sheet.” Pew Research Center's
Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 24 May 2022,
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/fact-sheet/asian-americans-vietnamese
-in-the-u-s-fact-sheet/.\
C. CSPAN, director. Vietnam War: A South Vietnamese Perspective Preview.
YouTube, YouTube, 21 Apr. 2015,
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D. Hosmer, Stephen T., et al. The Fall of South Vietnam: Statements by Vietnamese
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https://theintercept.com/2017/09/28/the-ken-burns-vietnam-war-documentary-glo
sses-over-devastating-civilian-toll/.
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