Vietnam War - Tracy Yeung

Interview #1
To Truong was born in 1939 and is now 71 years old. She was born and lived in Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War.

I was twenty-eight or twenty-nine during the war. It’s been forty-two years now. It started in 1968. I lived in BUN DANG. That was a small city. It began on the first day of New Years. I had to run away with my mom at night, maybe eleven o’ clock. We ran until the seventh day of New Years. The U.S. and Viet Cong came. We could hear the planes come and then the bombs would drop. They were like lightning at night. We ran to my aunt’s house. I only took a few clothes, no money, nothing else.
I had no work. We got money from the government to make a house. In May and June of 1968, people got materials.

I worked in a battery factory, labeling the batteries, for six to seven hours a day. The company was owned by the U.S. Their company had a cat as the logo. There were even Americans in the factory. I stopped working during the war. The Viet Cong took over the company and then the owners ran away.

I went to another country, it was private. Then I went back home.

We ate dried goods, like rice. My aunt had food. The government gave us yams, some cheap brown rice, stuff like that.

After the war, many people committed suicide. They drank [poison]. Many of my neighbors died. The communists took over, the rich were killed.

My grandma, my mom’s mom, her house was bombed. She was trying to protect my cousin (my first uncle’s son). She put him under the bed. But then she herself was crushed when the house feel down.
My cousin died in the end too.

My friend’s husband was killed by the Viet Cong, in his own home. He was killed by a sword. He had fought on the U.S. side. The streets were full of dead people then. That same friend, her name was Flower, her sister joined the army on the U.S. side and she was killed by a land mine.

Before the war, life was pretty good. Afterwards, the Viet Cong didn’t allow any private businesses. The rich were forced to farms. So many people escaped. My uncle’s entire family, maybe almost ten people, rode a boat called 337 to escape. But the boat sank and everyone on it died. They used gold to buy their way. They probably spent two or three bars of gold.

My aunt (father’s little sister), her son died too. I had many, many friends and relatives try to escape and end up dying.

I saw the Americans myself before.

When the French was here, the economy was good. They came to do business. The Viet Cong were bad. When the French were here, one worker could support his whole family! My dad was a technician and he supported my family of 7!

And now there is no work and so many people have left and are in America.

The Viet Cong, they gave us very little materials to rebuild our house; just ten sheets of metal and ten bags of concrete. My dad knew how to make a house. And his friends helped him. I lived in that house for ten years. The Viet Cong took it. My dad died and my relatives couldn’t even live in it or sell it because it was under my father’s name.

In the market, the cloth stalls, the bombs came, and they burned all the stalls.

All the good things were moved to the north

Since I came to the U.S, it’s been twenty-two years. I came to the U.S. in 1988. I married in 1970 when I was thirty-one years old.

There was another war before- the French versus the Japanese. I was eight years old. There were many bombs then on Vietnam. Our whole family ran. There were eight kids, six boys, all older than me, then me and my little sister. My aunt and my grandma came with us too. It was maybe one or two o’ clock. We walked for a very long time; I don’t know how many days. Of course, there were no cars. But when we found another house, there would be thieves who dug under the houses to steal things. So we left after a week. People tried to block their houses, their doors, from the bombs. They were so dumb! So crazy! My house was still there though.

Too bad the Chinese helped the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. The Chinese suck.

I was so scared. Very, very scared. The planes would fly up above and then dive down and release so many bombs.

It was over in 1970.

In 1978 the communists started to take things from people. They took refrigerators, furniture. They gave them to the villagers. Everyone ran to the villages from the cities. Among the rich, those who knew left early for America. Many brought their parents and family later on.

Villagers also got houses. My house used to be big, with four rooms. We even had a pig and could grow vegetables. My grandma (dad’s mom) would sell the vegetables.

My brothers all left and all separated. There’s one in Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canada (Toronto), California. They sent mail to Vietnam afterwards. I don’t know how they left. They probably left with their friends. My parents let them leave, of course! Otherwise, they would be drafted for the communist army. My little brother was nineteen years old. My older brothers were thirty and thirty-five…

After the war, I was like a housewife. I had three sons. My first born was in 1970. Sometimes I would sell things in front of my house. I sold snacks and candy, cigarettes, soda. We were very poor though. We could barely have two meals. And there was no meat.

In 1978, my first daughter, Diem, was born. Then, each family only got $200. It didn’t matter how much you had before. Some had ten million dollars. Many committed suicide. So my family struggled a lot. All our savings became nothing. It was a really sad time and everyone was poor and the living standard was lowered. Because of that I tried to abort my daughter. There was no money to raise another child. Many people even gave away their children or sold them. My abortion was unsuccessful.

The war was scary, but afterwards, the situation was even worse. No one trusted the government. The currency kept changing and changing so money was worthless. People kept gold instead, in bars, like chocolate bars.

Interview #2
Sieu
Sieu is the father of TInh Lam, who has been a close family friend for many years. Now sixty-six years old, he has lived most of his life in South Vietnam. He escaped from the Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War.
The “they” in this interview most often refer to the South Vietnamese army that fought alongside the United States.
I was born in 1944.
In 1962, I was eighteen years old. Fighting had started in the north but it was not very serious. They hadn’t begun arrests. We didn’t need to hide.
When I was nineteen I had to start hiding. If you were twenty years old, you were drafted for the army. When I was about eighteen years old, I started working in a factory, doing molding work. I used to sleep in the factory, along with the other guys working there. Our boss became scared though, that they’d find us and arrest him for hiding us. They searched everywhere for young men.
In 1963, our boss wouldn’t employ us anymore. So I had to work at home. I still did molding. I started my own little business. I worked from morning (sunrise) to night (sunset). I had to hide while I worked. I couldn’t leave the house. Luckily, I lived in the middle of a long alley. If we heard people were coming I would climb over the roof top and run toward the back toward a big rice mill and hide there. All the houses there were one story high. I hid until 1968.
It was 1968, on New Year’s Eve. I took a neighbor’s birth certificate. He was sixteen years old. We still didn’t think they would take us but I just wanted to be safe. I went to the temple and bowed and prayed to the gods. That was about 9:00PM. There were firecrackers and everyone was very happy and I went home at about twelve o’ clock at midnight. Not long after, I heard gun (pop!) sounds, many gun sounds. However I thought they were firecrackers so I didn’t care much for them. However, later we heard mortar rounds. Then I knew there was something, something wrong.
The next morning, I heard the Viet Cong had entered Saigon. We lived in Xam Cuoi, which was a neighborhood in Cho Lon, a city nearby Saigon. So I had to run. I ran to the 5th county, from the 8th county, where I lived. It wasn’t very far. About a ten minute bike ride. I went to my uncle’s house, went to sleep. At about midnight, the Viet Cong came again. In the morning there were soldiers searching everywhere for the Viet Cong. They told us not to be scared; they just wanted to see our identifications. I didn’t want any trouble so I used my own, real birth certificate. And they took me too. At the time, I felt okay, I wasn’t too scared. I was with my uncle’s son then. We happened to have the same name.
From about seven o’ clock in the morning we were in an office until four or five o’clock. Then they called everyone outside and passed out bread. They were long, like French baguettes. Ahh, we ate all of it.
Then we were brought to Dung Tau, which was a training center for the army. We trained for about one month, or maybe three months. Three months, I think.
My dad visited me.
I wasn’t even supposed to be taken. I was so light, only thirty-seven kilograms. I was underweight. I was very skinny then.
After three months, after the training, they sent me to Tang Nguyen Mountain. There were already soldiers there. But they didn’t have enough, so we were sent there. When we went there that night, we rode in one of those little helicopters. We had dinner, and watched the sunset. Then we heard the sound of bombs. The other side of the mountain was a jungle. Out of the jungle came other helicopters, dropping illumination bombs.
In the morning, they took us out to patrol for the Viet Cong. There was nothing. We went back to the mountain. We put our guns down. We asked/told the general to let us go to the market so that we could buy foods and other stuff.
I had money from my dad. We didn’t receive any money. There was no salary for fighting. We came back at around twelve at noon. There were many people that went along in our group. At the foot of the mountain, a friend turned to me and asked, “Do you want to go back [to the mountain]?”
I said, “Of course not.”
He said, “Then let’s not go back up yet.”
We waited for the rest of the people to go back up. At the bottom, we smoked cigarettes and loitered. My friend was in the same division as me, but a different brigade. An army car passed by and my friend waved to the driver and asked him to bring us to the [other] market. Fortunately, that car happened to carry rice and there was a big thick cloth to cover all the rice. We hopped on in the back and hid behind the cloth.
At the marketplace there were a lot of military police so that people couldn’t try to escape. We saw a little store and bought a pack of cigarettes. Then we said to the lady who sold us the cigarettes that we wanted to see our families again and how could we avoid the police? Well, she was so nice; she pointed to a little road behind the store and told us there were no police there. So we walked there and went on a bus and rode to my friend’s house. We were still wearing our army uniforms. We told my friends dad to tell my dad I had gone back.
My dad got an ambulance to take me home. Since ambulances wouldn’t be searched. When I got home, I hid and worked again. I hid in the closet, ceiling, I ran to my neighbors when the Viet Cong came. I climbed on the roof to go to work. I worked until 1971 or 1970. Then, they fought a lot everywhere.
A friend helped me make a fake ID so I could work outside. It wasn’t very expensive. It was actually a real ID card, but with a little money, you could change the year you were born. I said I was sixteen years old. Good thing I had a young face. I plucked my beard every day. I didn’t have to be scared then. I started dating.
In 1972 the U.S. bombed very seriously. And in mid 1973 the U.S. began to retreat. The Vietnam army had to fight by itself.
When I was in the training camp, I learned to shoot. It was really fun. We didn’t know what we were doing. Just shooting a lot. And walking a lot.
After the war…the day after, many left. Some stole things and went to the ocean and left. It was very chaotic. People played with guns, like firecrackers. People were all scared the communists would take their things so many things were sent to relatives far away. They were scared to be arrested too. Not long after, the currency changed. The southern currency changed…before a hundred dollars was now one dollar. People had too many products and had to sell them. Everyone was leaving and people were scared no one would buy their stuff. If you had too much money you couldn’t exchange it, you couldn’t exchange a large amount. My dad bought a house, even though I told him not to. It was a bad idea. He spent all his money on it. All our gold necklaces were exchanged.
After the war, there were no businesses for a while. No production at all. If we carried products, they would search us. It we got caught, we’d send us to the farms. After a while, people became carefree. Many people cold medicine, since that was always needed. Then they would come out and arrest everyone. The men would go to the farms and work for a half a year, a year, or two years. My wife’s big brother was arrested. His wife was a nurse, that’s why. He was sent to the farms.
The minority groups were the smartest- they all left very quickly.
There was a song we sang, “After the U.S. came, they brought good changes, like watches, and automobiles. They were a good influence.” We had no houses; all the watches were gone or sold by then. In 1989, my family and I left Vietnam.
Life was all right. I had my own business. I was scared until 1979. In 1980, things started getting better. But many relatives had left already, and escaped to the U.S. on boats. They were all illegal immigrants. Our family had no money so we couldn’t leave. Many of my friends left though.
On November 6, 1975, I got married.
We couldn’t contact anyone, since I was in hiding.
In the training camp, my dad was the first to come and visit. Everyone gave him their address and he sent letters to all their families, like a mailman. I was in charge of the house before so of course my dad was worried and tried to help me get out. The second week, other families came with so much food, good food. They had dumplings, and shark fin soup, etc…they would all give me their food. Everyone was very good to me. I don’t even know why. When we had to go on night watches, I didn’t have to go. I just stayed behind and sang and talked. I didn’t even have to go get my own food. People fought to do stuff for me and take my shifts, looking out for the Viet Cong. They liked to be with me. I liked to sing. A group of six or seven guys were just sit around and drink. I couldn’t drink very much.
There were seven kids in my family; I was the sixth. I had one older brother, but he worked in the church so he wasn’t drafted.

Interview #3
Keyun Huang
Keyun is the aunt of close family friend Diem Huynh. Although ethnically Chinese, Keyun was born and lived in South Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War.
There was the New Years in 1968. Before that the fighting was not serious. The Viet Cong would occasionally come out and try to mess with people. I lived in South Vietnam, in something like the Chinatown in Seattle now. It was called Tai Lun, or Cho Lon now. There were many people from mainland China and Taiwan. I was born in Vietnam but my dad was born I China. He had tried to run away from the communist China.
The South was kind of like they had a lot of freedom. And the north was trying to take over us.
In 1968, when I was little still, I saw bombs land on my neighbors’ house and they would have a hole in the middle of their rood. I could many gun shots too.
We didn’t need to run but many people did, to their relatives’ house. Even I did, my family did; we ran away for a week but nothing happened so we went back.
The Viet Cong had attacked in jungles before. Everyone didn’t like the communists because we all wanted freedom. The U.S. was here fighting for us until 1975.
The attack in 1968 failed.
In 1975, everyone piled on boats and planes and tried to leave. Many people died in the ocean. If they didn’t die, they still had to adjust to [the new country] Like in America, we could feel the difference, when before there was so much control from the communists. And it’s very different; you can feel what you have left, and why you left.
Cho Long was like a business district. After the war, all the businessmen left. It used to be like heaven, then it became like hell, that’s what we used to say. It was really sad. There was no money, and those who had money all left. The first few left in 1975, then 1976 and 1977. If you didn’t have money you couldn’t leave.
The communists tried to brainwash people. When you hear them, they make you think that they’re right. The rich are the same as the poor, stuff like that. All different groups would go and listen to them. We couldn’t not go. But it’s not that easy to just follow them, since you already have your own beliefs. So you hold onto your beliefs from before. And that’s how I went to the meetings. North Vietnam had a “Father of the Land” (Ho Chi Minh) and they would talk about his thinking. Sometimes the meetings were at night, after dinner. Adults, teenagers, everyone went.
The communist controlled everything. The rich joined the poor and they had to wait in line, just like us, for things. They traded or used all their money from before. Those who didn’t leave before, and had money, were now poor. However, the rich were still richer. They had gold and family jewels. So it was not that bad for them.
The food…before we were free to buy food and however much we wanted, like rice. The communists controlled how much food we could buy. And the rice was not even good rice anymore. They mixed things in there. The government would pass out rice, even though it was sold cheap, it was not good rice. Many families were forced to add yams to it.
We could see the soldiers come in, who were from the north. There were very nice, not mean. Honest. They weren’t evil and antagonistic. They didn’t yell at us or shoot their guns. So people in south Vietnam had good relations with them. It wasn’t their fault, was how they thought, they were just coming in because they had won.
Education…everyone had to go to school to learn the communist thinking. At that time, many parents didn’t want their kids to have this thinking so they didn’t let them go to the schools. And then many private teachers appeared. Together with a friend, I taught classes to younger kids. She came to my house. I was in my 20s by then. There were many students, going in and out. I held three classes in the morning, afternoon, and at night. At nighttime, most of the students were older girls. They learned English, but very basic English. Since many of them were learning with hopes of leaving Vietnam. They had to learn some simple answers to questions first, right? So I taught for a while. But there were some government people nearby and they came by and said we couldn’t teach. And if we wanted to teach we had to teach in their schools. They weren’t mean about it; they were very nice actually, just kindly asked us. We stopped teaching for a while though. There was a time when they swept the all the houses so no one was teaching privately. They wanted everyone to only be Vietnamese and have the Vietnamese thinking and learn their ways.
1975 and after was the worst. People born then, they had bad Chinese and were not very smart. That was only because they didn’t have the opportunity to lean and there was no money. Of course the communists weren’t very nice. They attacked the rich, specifically. After May 30, 1975 people lived very sad lives.
In 1978, they came to attack those who owned businesses, and restaurants, and stores. They came at night, maybe eleven or twelve o’ clock. They knocked on your door and said you had to get in their car, which was a big truck. You packed a few things and your whole family had to go. Then they drove you to the camps and you could farm there and plant food. The government took their houses. The rich were sad but they still had money/gold. They would keep it on themselves. People heard what was happening and they packed up what they had and left. The people who worked in ships, they didn’t use the communist government money. So the rich all had U.S. currency or gold. And you used that to buy for passage in ships.
Under the communists government you couldn’t have businesses, you didn’t have freedom, so everyone wanted to leave.
I witnessed man people in our district, many neighbors left. People would knock on their doors and they would leave for the camps. It was like a dead city, that’s what people called it. At night it was pitch black. Before, it was always busy, full of people, the streets were all bright. It was very sad.
In 1978, my friends were taken away, they all had money. They went to work in the fields but came back eventually. Their house was gone but they found another house in another city. They had no money, their house had been taken. Actually, the house was given to the servants. The servants were lucky back then. By that time, our Cho Lon district had very little Chinese families. Maybe two or three, including mine. It became mostly Vietnamese. Some were from the north too. Diem played with the servants sometimes.
We couldn’t listen to the English songs or Chinese songs. Stations like BBC, London radio, American radio, we couldn’t hear the news. Since we were all trapped we had to rely on the news and the T.V to know what was going on. But everyone was scared to listen. If they did, they did it quietly, for fear of being caught. They would call you a revel and then late at night they could arrest you for whatever crime. So there was no freedom.
All those Vietnamese in Chinatown right now, they were the early refugees. So they were very rich and could open restaurants and supermarkets and other businesses. They brought a lot of gold here. Many Vietnamese were actually generals, and businessmen, many here are important, rich people.
You have to be good in this free country. Be good to your mom and dad, and this country. You have so much freedom and you can see how good it is. Imagine if you lived in Vietnam during my time. So be good, okay?
Now that the government has loosen up, many people have gone back to help their families rebuild their homes and stores and things.
In 1975 the situation was okay. But after that, it was very bad. It slowly got better though. By the time we left Vietnam in 1988…it still wasn’t that good. We had to give my dad’s house to the government so that they would let us leave. We rode an airplane here. They still controlled us, you see? Whoever wanted to leave had to give up whatever they had to the government or else they couldn’t leave. Our house was very valuable; it would probably have a very high price now. It was in like the downtown here; a very good area. We had a lot of electricity. Even electricity was controlled, and our house had three power boxes. We could use the electricity to carry a business. It was very popular to have business from your house at that time. Other people couldn’t have that though. We got very little money for giving the house away. I remember our neighbors next door, they were Vietnamese, from the north, and they bought our house. So now we have no house in Vietnam. If Diem didn’t come to America, she wouldn’t go to college, and she wouldn’t have a goal now. There’s nothing to do, nothing to live for in Vietnam.
Many, many people died (while escaping), like the girls that I taught. I was in my 30s then, still teaching sometimes. When the girls didn’t come, I knew that they had left. Most of them stole away. The poor girls, they saw the pirates. Of course it’s scarier for girls. The pirates threw them onto their own ship and you knew they could never see their family again. It was a very good thing, lucky thing, if the pirates didn’t catch your eye. The refugees, that’s what you call them right? They went to the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and many other countries. Of course to America too.