About Trai Tran
Trai Van Tran was born on January 1, 1970 in Hue, Vietnam. He was one of the ten children of his family. Although he was just a young child when the war concluded, the Vietnam War had lasting consequences on him and his family for the next two decades. After the conclusion of the war, his father was discovered to have been working with the Americans and Southern Vietnam government, fighting against the communists with them. Faced with the threat of execution, his mother pleaded for his life and mercy for their family. Instead of execution, his father was sent to a reeducation camp for the next decade, leaving him and his family without a father figure growing up. During that time, his family was in even more poverty than before, surviving on rations and having to learn how to make ends meet without a father. When his father was released, his father became a different person, carrying the physical and emotional weight of the trauma he had experienced. Over time, his father began to heal, reconcile, and deal with his trauma with his family. Trai immigrated to the U.S. on May 31, 1994 along with his mother and younger sister after his father was granted asylum through the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) for his involvement with the Americans during the war. In this interview, he reflects on his childhood in post-war Vietnam and his life in America after being granted asylum.
