Voices from Vietnam - Sample Stories

TORN BY TWO NATIONS

"The noise of the war was always in the background when I grew up in Saigon in the 1960s. I didn't pay much attention to it, though, until 1968 when the fighting came to my city's streets." Hoi Quang was in the eleventh grade when his city came under attack. "I remember houses in flames, people screaming and dead bodies lying in the streets." After hesitating for a long moment, Hoi Quang goes on to say, "I was really scared." Because he was born into a wealthy family, he could have avoided military service. But, despite his family's status and his own fears, Hoi Quang felt compelled to do what was right. At the age of 17, he enlisted in the South Vietnamese Navy.

Shortly after joining the Navy, he had the opportunity to become a Navy frogman. He trained for a year, learning to become a skilled scuba diver and studying explosives disposal. He graduated in 1970 and joined the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Team Five. He married the same year.

"I was sent all over the south of Vietnam to check for enemy booby traps planted on American and South Vietnamese ships." During silent nights and quiet early mornings, Hoi Quang would dive into the calm sea just after low or high tide. He discovered and defused many bombs on both American and Vietnamese boats. The most terrifying situation he encountered was on April 22, 1972. During a routine check, he spotted three mines attached to the Upshur, an American Navy troop carrier that held thousands of sailors. "After evacuating everyone from the ship, I removed the bombs and towed them 500 yards out to sea, where I set up explosives and blew them up." The pumping adrenaline of that dark, intense night is felt as Hoi Quang retells the story. Six months after this successful mission, the United States government awarded him the Bronze Star medal for heroic achievement in connection with combat operations against the enemy.

Hoi Quang remained in the Navy until the war ended in 1975, at which time he went home to his wife and children. His service records indicated only that he was a low-ranking regular Navy man; therefore, he was interned in a re-education camp for only three days. After being released from the camp, one of his neighbors betrayed his friendship and informed the Communists what Hoi Quang's job had really been during the war. He was immediately arrested and hauled off to another camp, where he was sentenced to one year of hard labor.

After being released from the camp, Hoi Quang worked as a diver for a private company that lifted sunken boats out of the sea for salvage. But within two years, the new government of the North took over the company. "When that happened, I quit! I would not work for a company run by the Communists." From that day on, Hoi Quang expended all his energies pursuing a better life for his family. "It took me two years, but one of my sons and I finally escaped on a small boat that left from the southernmost part of Vietnam." Hoi Quang captained the boat, which took 32 others to safety.

"We were stopped three times by pirates. The first time was the worst. It was our second day at sea. They held us captive from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon." Hoi Quang remembers as if it were yesterday. "They stole all of our valuables and without any care or concern, they used a hammer and screwdriver to extract the gold teeth from the mouths of the old people." After taking a deep breath, he continues, "They raped one of the women. At first, she tried to escape by jumping into the ocean and killing herself, but they pulled her out of the water, and then fifteen of the pirates gang-raped her."

"One hour later, another boat came. This time they took the only thing remaining—our tool box. After they left, our engine stopped working. We were drifting in the middle of the ocean, and I was sure we were all going to die." With that thought in his mind, Hoi Quang turned to his six-year-old son to talk to him. "My son knew me so well. I will never forget his words and the look of hope on his young face. He looked up at me and said, 'No Father—we aren't going to die. You can fix the engine.'" Somehow, Hoi Quang did fix the engine, and on the third day another boat came. "Surprisingly, this last boat gave us food and water, and showed me the way to Thailand. We were lucky, very lucky."

After spending some time in a refugee camp, Hoi Quang and his son came to America, and settled in California. They immediately sent for the rest of their family in Vietnam. "My wife's reply shocked me. She and my two other children were staying in Vietnam." Hoi Quang plummeted into despair. He did not know what to do. He felt torn by two nations and by two families. "I decided to stay in the States, go to school for automobile mechanics, and raise my son—alone."

In 1987, Hoi Quang's childhood girlfriend phoned him. They reunited and married in 1988. "I'm really lucky to have come to the United States. We have so much freedom here. I won't go back to Vietnam as long as the Communists are there, not even to visit." Hoi Quang turns and reaches for a picture of his children who are still in Vietnam. "I miss my kids so much." Even though they are now grown and married, Hoi Quang dreams about them as they were the last time he saw them, as little children. Today, Hoi Quang spends his days working as an automobile mechanic, but some of his nights are still consumed with fear. As the past lurks in the dark, quiet shadows, he waits for the Viet Cong to break down the door and take him away.