posted on November 25, 2002 03:52:20 PM new
Nov. 25, 2002, 10:54AM
Vietnamese group honors military veterans at event
By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
Many years ago, they shared battle and they shared the loss of family and fellow
soldiers in a war that many Americans would like to forget.
On Sunday, they shared dinner in downtown
Houston, an early Thanksgiving meal at which
the Vietnamese Community of Houston and
Vicinity hosted dozens of American military
veterans who fought for democracy in
Southeast Asia.
"This is a great occasion so we can appreciate
the people who came to my country to
sacrifice their lives for our freedom," said Do
Minh Duc, vice president of the group that
hosted the dinner at Fu Kim Restaurant
attended by more than 400 people of
Vietnamese descent.
"We have to honor them," said Duc, a former
South Vietnamese Air Force helicopter pilot
who once rescued the pilot of a downed U.S.
fighter.
"For us, the American veterans are our heroes," said Kim Nguyen, the group's
president. "They have given so much for us."
The evening began with a color guard in uniforms of the former South Vietnamese
Army presenting the U.S. and former Vietnamese flags. After singing both national
anthems, the group fell silent, its members bowing their heads in memory of soldiers
and civilians who died fighting communism in Vietnam.
Many in the crowd have worked together for years to try to achieve the goal of
freedom for Vietnam that the war did not procure.
"We've demonstrated with them all across the country for the God-given rights the
Vietnamese people should have as humans and citizens," said Sibley Cooley,
president of the Houston Light Guard Veterans' Association.
Connected through the International Freedom Alliance, groups around the world still
work for Vietnam's freedom, Cooley said.
"We stand up with them," Cooley said of the many veterans of the South Vietnamese
army who attended the dinner. "They were inspirations to us."
The night was emotional and difficult for some, including former U.S. Army combat
nurse June Collier of Seabrook.
Collier recalled bitter days after her return from the Vietnamese battlefields when she
felt that many refugees from there were treated better by the U.S. government than
were returning combatants.
However, "I think it is nice of them to do this," she said.
Americans likely will never be able to understand what she and her fellow veterans
lived through there, Collier said.
Throughout the night, diners shared memories of the war and, for many, their escapes
to the freedom they hope their former homeland will one day share.
Some in the room shared the last days of American presence in Vietnam, before the
U.S. Embassy in Saigon was taken by enemy troops.
Mike Pham, of Houston, told how he, his pregnant wife and four children took to a
boat and made their way down the Saigon River to the sea.
"We found the Seventh Fleet," said Pham. "The boat that picked us up was the
(USS) Duluth."
For many, freedom didn't come for years.
It was 1983 before Joseph Nguyen escaped in a boat, a teenager who had to leave his
family behind.
"My parents told me, `If you die on the sea, it is better than staying in this country,' "
Nguyen said, choking back a sob.
posted on November 25, 2002 05:01:29 PM new
From Bear's article...
"Collier recalled bitter days after her return from the Vietnamese battlefields when she felt that many refugees from there were treated better by the U.S. government than were returning combatants" "However, "I think it is nice of them to do this," she said." "Americans likely will never be able to understand what she and her fellow veterans lived through there, Collier said."
Maybe some of us can get a feel for the horror of war by reading this. It's a long article by Patrick J. Sloyan, a Pulitzer Prize journalist.
Leon Daniel, as did others who reported from Vietnam during the 1960s, knew about war and death. So he was puzzled by the lack of corpses at the tip of the Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Iraq on Feb. 25, 1991. Clearly there had been plenty of killing. The 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized) had smashed through the defensive front-line of Saddam Hussein's army the day before, Feb. 24, the opening of the Desert Storm ground war to retake Kuwait. Daniel, representing United Press International, was part of a press pool held back from witnessing the assault on 8,000 Iraqi defenders. "They wouldn't let us see anything," said Daniel, who had seen about everything as a combat correspondent.
