From War-Torn Hue to America
Profilers: Brandon Pham, Jadden Le, Vincent Wang, Derek Guillen, Ian Jin
DURING THE WAR
Q: What is your name, where are you from, and what year were you born?
A: My name is Nhat. I’m from Thai Duong Ha Thuong Giap Village, Hue, Vietnam. I was born in 1958.
Q: During the war, what did you know about it or hear? Did you know anything?
A: During the war I was still young. I was only 10 years old at the time. I knew about the bombs, bullets, guns, bombs exploding, I heard bullets.
Q: How did you hear about the war? Who told you about it?
A: I heard bombs falling and fighting, I didn’t know, I was still young. The soldiers who came back told us. At home I heard about it. I listened to the radio.
Q: Did you hear about it on the radio?
A: I did hear it on the radio.
Q: Growing up, what were your opinions on the war?
A: When I was young, I didn’t know about it. Hearing about war was normal. I was too young. I was in elementary school.
Q: Until when?
A: After elementary school I stopped going to school. After that I helped my father work at sea.
Q: Why did you stop going to school?
A: I had no money to go to middle school. The economy was very difficult. Once I went to school and couldn’t sleep, then I went and didn’t have money to stay. Then I studied for the secondary school exam, at the time I was testing for 6th grade.
Q: In your family, was there anyone that went to war?
A: My older brother went to war.
Q: Who else? Did your brother write home when he went to war?
A: Only him, He was 18 years old, so old enough to fight. During the war he came and went, came and went. When there was no war then he came home, but when there was war he left.
Q: When your brother left for war, did you know if he was still alive? How did you know?
A: I knew. If he came home then we knew he was alive.
Q: Did you stay in touch with him?
A: Yes, we were able to communicate with each other. We had the radio.
Q: Your village was much more remote compared to the city, did you still see bombing? Was the village afraid of the bombing?
A: I heard bombs exploding and bullets firing, about 20 kilometers away from the city center. I only heard it but didn’t see it. The villagers were afraid, afraid the bombing would happen in the village. Everyone is afraid of death.
Q: What did you do in the village to protect yourself from the bombing?
A: We made underground shelters.
Q: Where?
A: Behind the family house, in the yard, there was a shelter for the war.
Q: When you grew up, was anything different? Did you see the war differently?
A: When I grew up I saw it differently. When the South was liberated, the war ended. After that, when I was older enough, I went to the army.
Q: Was that after the war? Did they go to war themselves or did someone call them for service?
A: After liberation, when we grew up, we had to do 3 years of military service. They called people for service if you meet the age requirement for military service, If you’re 18 years old you have to go.
Q: So anyone who turns 18 has to go?
A: They have to go, if they meet the age requirement they have to go. When I was 18 years old I went. After 18 years old you have to go; 17 year olds can’t go yet. Everyone is like that. My brother went to war. My brother fought for the old regime (South Vietnam). The army in the regime (North Vietnam) is different. The regime (French) when I was a child was also different.
Q: Did the people want to go to war?
A: Generally speaking, no one wants war, but they are just forced to do military service, 3 years. Everyone wants peace, no one wants war, but the government forces you to go to war.
Q: What if people don’t want to go to war? What if you refuse to go?
A: They force you to. If you don’t want to go, they will send you to prison.
Q: How about years in prison?
A: That depends on the government. It is the choice of the government for how long someone goes to prison. Someone against the government still has to go to the army. Who’s out there protecting the country while you sit comfortably at home?
Q: Is there anyone in the village who refuses to go?
A: There are some people who refuse to go, but are forced to go. Some go into hiding.
Q: Where did they go into hiding? Do they go to other countries?
A: They went to other places. Let’s say we are in Hue, Hai Duong, we will hide in the South so they don’t know. They also go to other countries. Some go to Laos, Cambodia. They escape.
Q: Were there people who cut their fingers? Why?
A: Yes, there were. Those who were 18 years old or older wanted to cut their finger so they couldn’t join the army. They cut off their index finger so they can’t pull the trigger of the gun. If your index finger can’t pull the trigger, they will let you stay home. If these other fingers are weak, but the index finger is strong, you will have to go.
Q: If they see your hand, what do they say?
A: If the military sees that then they won’t call you. They will call you up but let you go home. People don’t want to go and the military calls them when they are 18 but they have already cut off their index finger. They go to do military service and the military will call up for a health check; if they do a health check and have no index finger, they let them go home.
Q: They don’t arrest people for that?
A: They won’t be arrested. If you have all the documents, they don’t get arrested. Because you have poor health. You have a disability that prevents you from going.
Q: Are there any specific moments of fear or hope?
A: Generally, when you’re 10 years old, you don’t know how to be afraid of bombs, it’s normal.
Q: What about your family? Were you afraid when you heard the bombs?
A: My family was afraid. The adults were afraid; I wasn’t afraid. Children didn’t know, so it’s normal to hear bombs exploding. The adults understood what they were, but I was young so I didn’t know, didn’t understand.
AFTER THE WAR
Q: How has your community changed after the war?
A: Generally, after the war, peace was restored, so people did honest business. We were happy, there was no more war so we were happy.
Q: Was the village poorer?
A: The village was already poor.
Q: Also before the war?
A: Before it was poor too. When there is war, there is poverty, because there is no work to do. There were jobs, but we couldn’t work because we feared bombs exploding and bullets. The elders told me that they worked, but when they worked during the war, they were afraid of bombs exploding. When the bombs and bullets were gone, you went back to work.
Q: Was there anyone in your family who didn’t come back?
A: In the village, in the countryside, some people didn’t come home, some people came home. Some people’s bodies were lost, some people’s bodies were found.
Q: What percentage of people didn’t come back? How many people in the village went? A few hundred?
A: Only about 2 percent. I am not sure. In the village, there were about 200 people aged 18 and over, but only a few dozen people went.
Q: Was there any land redistribution in your village?
A: No, people stayed wherever they lived. A few people came back after we were devastated by bombs and bullets, then they divided the land again, because the land was damaged. There was no war In my village, Thai Duong Ha, so whoever owned the land lived there.
COMING TO AMERICA
Q: When and why did you come to America?
A: I came to America in September, 2023. My daughter sponsored me.
Q: After the war, why didn’t you go to America at that time?
A: At that time, I did military service in 1980. After the war, I was already in the North. In the village, In my household, Uncle Hien and Aunt Bua escaped by boat in 1980.
Q: Who is Aunt Bua?
A: Aunt Bua is my sister. My sister and my younger brother went. My brother went to live in Australia; my sister lives in America.
Q: But you didn’t go because you did military service?
A: I did military service for 3 years.
Q: Why did only your sister go, but your younger sibling didn’t go?
A: My younger brother also went. Some people could go, some people couldn’t go. My older brother also tried but he couldn’t go.
Q: How many siblings are in your family? How many went?
A: 7 siblings. At the time, 2 people went. My brother, Hoa, went after. One person went after sponsorship. My brother Hoa tried to go by boat but the boat turned back. He was caught in a storm and turned back. He drifted back to Quang Tri.
Q: Why did they leave? How did they leave?
A: The economy was difficult. They went to find better economic opportunities, a higher standard of living. It was too hard at home. When they left, they didn’t know when they would return. They left by boat.
Q: If some people could go, how many people couldn’t go? What percentage?
A: The people who couldn’t go means they were dislocated. 70% of people weren’t able to leave. Generally speaking, if you know how to leave, you go, if you don’t know how, you can’t go
Q: How many people who went by boat were lost at sea?
A: The people who left didn’t let anyone know. If they told us, then they were already able to make it. Some people were lost, in my village there weren’t. Some died at sea, from storms, or killed by pirates. Suppose there are 10 ships, 6-7 were safe; 2-3 had engine failure, were lost to storms, or pirates killed them.
Q: If they knew that, why did they still go?
A: If they stayed at home, they starved. They were working just to have enough to eat.
Q: There wasn’t enough to eat? What about your household?
A: No, there was not enough to eat so they were willing to take the risk. Everyone’s household was like that. Every household had people trying to escape. Some families wanted to go, but couldn’t make it.
Q: How has your perception of America changed before and after you came?
A: In general, when I came to America, my perception is that the economy is different – it’s more abundant. I have a steady job.
Q: Before you went, what did you think about America?
A: If the economy is good, then you have to go. Generally Speaking, if the economy is difficult, then don’t go; if the economy in America is good, then go.
Q: Afterwards, did you see any difference?
A: Definitely different, generally speaking, the US economy is much different.
Q: What is different?
A: The US is more modern, less so in Vietnam.
LASTING CONSEQUENCES
Q: During the war, did you ever have to evacuate because of the war?
A: At that time, there was no evacuation because of the war. In my village, there was no war; I only heard about war in Quang Tri, or in the suburbs. Only on the outskirts of the city, but not in the city.
Q: Do you know about Agent Orange?
A: There was Agent Orange during the war. The water was infected. We were afraid of the chemicals. The spraying of chemicals affected the water we drank.
Q: Did it affect you or your area?
A: We smelled gunpowder where I was. The gunpowder affected us, or the water we drank had gunpowder in it, which means affected by Agent Orange.
Q: Were there people in the village affected in some way by it? What did they have?
A: Yes, definitely, there were a lot of people affected. Like my sister, Vui, was affected by Agent Orange (show picture). She is disabled. We are not about Agent Orange’s effect on her. She was born before 1975. She went to the hospital but they couldn’t help and now has a birth defect. My sister, Vui, is about 51 or 52 years old but is like a 3 to 5 year old.
Q: So Aunt Vui was affected by Agent Orange?
A: Yes, we can only guess that. We are not sure. We just think that.
Q: What are the symptoms of the people affected by Agent Orange?
A: Some people have disabilities, some have birth defects, some suffer from Agent Orange exposure. Many types.
Q: So after you finished school, you went to work at sea?
A: Some people have disabilities, some have birth defects, some suffer from Agent Orange exposure. Many types. When I finished school, at 15-16 years old, I already went to work at sea. After I was done working at sea and getting older, I got married. Now I have children. When my child came here, they sponsored me to come to America.
Q: Has your village improved? Has it become less poor?
A: It is better now. After coming to America, the village is less poor.
Q: A lot of people came to America right? In the village, were there a lot of people who came to America?
A: Many people came to America. There are people who came to America, like my sister. Others went to America, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Belgium. Generally speaking, they went to other countries.
Q: From 1975 to now, what percentage of people still live in the villages?
A: There are still many people. More and more children were born. The more people go, the more children that are born. In my village, a few thousand have gone abroad.