South Bay Vietnamese community reflects on 50th Anniversary of fall of Saigon
South Bay Vietnamese immigrants gathered for ceremonies on Wednesday marking five decades since fall of Saigon.
For many South Bay Vietnamese immigrants, the fall of Saigon was a traumatic point in history that forced them to flee their country and seek refuge in the United States. The Bay Area has one of the largest Vietnamese immigrant populations in the U.s. Many of them shared personal stories of what this day has meant to them.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon that ended the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975, brought together Vietnamese immigrants in the South Bay who were forced to flee their homeland and start over as refugees in the United States.
They gathered on Wednesday at ceremonies held in San Jose on Wednesday to commemorate that somber moment in history.
San Jose memorial services
The Vietnamese American Service Center held a flag-raising ceremony that included veterans of the South Vietnamese army who wore their uniforms and saluted both the U.S. flag and the red-and-gold flag of South Vietnam, as a young woman sang the former South Vietnamese national anthem.
Many of those attending the ceremony recounted their memories of fleeing their country by boat or helicopter as North Vietnamese forces took over Saigon. On that day and in the years that followed, many South Vietnamese who had worked with the United States during the Vietnam War fled the country to avoid persecution. Some made dangerous escapes by sea on small, fishing boats, packed with men, women, and young children.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong's parents were among those migrants.
"They were part of the boat people migration. They pushed off on a fishing boat in the middle of the night. They floated out a sea," Duong said.
Settling in the South Bay
California's Camp Pendleton was one of several refugee stations that brought many Vietnamese migrants to California. The South Bay eventually became home to one of the largest Vietnamese immigrant communities in the United States.
Professor Hien Duc Do, who teaches sociology and Asian American Studies at San Jose State University, says one reason so many Vietnamese immigrants settled in San Jose was due to the availability of jobs.
"The electronics industry was just starting, before Silicon Valley became Silicon Valley. So you had a lot of opportunities to have jobs as assembly line workers. So you had a lot of Vietnamese women and men who were both working in the assembly line and as tech," said Professor Do. "Then once you had the critical mass of people, then they began to create services that were important and necessary for the community. 2537 so hair salons, for example, nail salons, pho places, little restaurants."
Do himself was a refugee who had to flee Vietnam when he was a child.
"When I was 14, right at the end of the war, I came here with my mother, a single mom, an older sister and a younger sister," Do said.
The Viet Museum in San Jose
In San Jose, the Viet Museum was opened for a special ceremony on Wednesday for South Vietnamese veterans. Outside, replicas of boats explain the traumatic journey many of the refugees took. Inside the museum, the walls are lined with artifacts, including a compass donated by one of the boat people who said it helped guide the vessel at sea.
Hoang Vo Thu, who goes by the name Megan William, organized the memorial service and said her goal was to preserve South Vietnam history for younger generations.
Quinn Tran is President of the Viet Museum and its parent organization, the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center. She says she felt sad on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, remembering her family's loss. She was a student in the U.S. at the time, and watched with horror as her siblings tried to flee.
"The battles that my brothers and relatives fought. One of them lost their life on this day," Tran said
Lessons learned on immigration and new generations
The South Bay's Vietnamese community has gone through changes over the past five decades, with differences emerging between generations, and between older South Vietnamese refugees and new waves of immigrants from Vietnam.
"They come from a country that won the war and unified the country. Whereas those of us here, we lament the fact that we lost the country," Do said. "My dad served in the military, so for him...til his dying days, he said I'm never going back."
Do says the 50th anniversary has prompted reflection on what it means to be an immigrant in the United States, and some broader lessons to be learned.
"It's an important lesson in American history, that immigrants and refugees have always been sort of the blood that helped fuel the success of America. And it's important for people to remember that," Do said.
There is also hope and optimism that young people can be a bridge across generations, as well as between Vietnam's past and its present.
"A resilience, but also of compassion and tolerance. So there is a lot of forward-looking and bridge-building," Tran said.
"Being a refugee baby. Being born from the diaspora, being raised on county services, being born into the refugee resettlement program. There is a continuation and continuity of how do we build a better world? That's my focus. How do we build a world that I wish my parents and refugee community had when they first arrived here?" Duong said.
Jana Katsuyama is a reporter for KTVU. Email Jana at jana.katsuyama@fox.com. Call her at 510-326-5529. Or follow her on Twitter @JanaKTVU and read her other reports on her bio page.