C. Tran |
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Escaping Vietnam
My family and I lived in Nha Trang Vietnam. Nha Trang is a beautiful city with magnificent beaches.
We were met at the airport by an American coworker of my dad we also had I believe nine other families that also knew this American gentleman. When we were going through the lines, there were young American soldiers with big smiles on their face just trying to get us through as fast as they could.
I don’t remember the rest of it until I remember we were sitting in a ditch. Again I looked up and I saw the control tower right in front of me and then it got dark. We were all together, but I don’t remember being panicky or screaming. There were lots of screaming around us, but for me I don’t know. It was either out of fear I was frozen.
But I remember it starting to get dark. And no one knew what was going on and then all the lights went off so it was completely dark at the airport. And then all of a sudden, again looking up at the control tower, and on the left of it we start seeing warplanes flying across and also we saw bombs coming down. And again there was no fear in me. I was just sitting there like watching a fireworks show or something. But it was scary. You know as soon as someone was like, “look at the bombs.” There was just too much to take in at the time.
And once again there were people screaming, trying to run away, or you know do something. But somehow our group just stayed. And then, at some point in the night, we saw this image just coming towards us. And the closer it got, it turned out to be a big cargo plane. But of course, they didn’t have their lights on or anything because I guess they didn’t want to get bombed on. Then the back of the cargo plane opened up and I think we got the command from someone to run.
So all of us, everybody, just ran into this cargo plane and we were just standing around or grabbing on to a rope or anything that we could. They just packed it in and I don’t know at what point they closed the door. I don’t know how they determined…I don’t remember that part. And then we took off.
The next day when we woke up and went to the breakfast place, that’s when we found out that the airport was bombed the night before and we were the last plane out. My first reaction or just first memory was of course everybody who was camping out at the airport would be dead or injured. My vivid memory was those young soldiers, which were not scared but were wiling to help us to get out. They may not have gotten out before the airport was bombed. So I felt sad about that part of it.
We stayed at an island for a about a week or so then we were transported to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas.
Object Description
| Profile of | C. Tran |
| Title | C. Tran |
| Profile bio | Ms. Tran was born in 1962 in Vietnam and lived in the coastal city of Nha Trang with her parents and five siblings. She recalls enjoying school, the outdoors, and many childhood friendships despite the war. But that changed on New Year’s Day 1975 when bullets penetrated the family compound. In late April 1975, she was told the family was going on a picnic, but instead the family drove to Saigon and shortly thereafter were taken to the airport to escape the country. With the sights and sounds of nearby bombing and under the darkness of the night, her family, along with nine other families, boarded a cargo plane on the unlit runway. Her journey continued through the Philippines, Hawaii, Wake Island in the South Pacific, Fort Chafee, Arkansas refugee camp, and eventually to the San Francisco Bay area. As a teenager, she excelled in her English language acquisition, joined the high school tennis team, and then attended and graduated from UCLA. Ms. Tran has worked in the healthcare industry for many years and currently enjoys taking long walks with her dogs in the Bay area. |
| Profiler bio | Robert Eskanos is a junior majoring in Economics at USC. Victoria Berggren is a Sophomore majoring in Broadcast Journalism at USC. Piyounik Hakopian is a Senior majoring in Civil Engineering at USC. |
| Subject |
refugee camp immigration assimilation warzone Vietnam war escape |
| Profiled by | Eskanos, Robert; Berggren, Victoria; Hakopian, Piyounik |
| Profile date | 2016-04-01 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | San Francisco; Nha Trang; Saigon; Ho Minh City |
| Geographic subject (county) | San Francisco |
| Geographic subject (state) | California; Arkansas; Hawaii |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA; Vietnam; Philippines |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/c-tran/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 3 video files (00:12:40); 3 transcripts |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
| Filename | tranc |
Description
| Profile of | C. Tran |
| Title | Escaping Vietnam |
| Format | 1 transcript, 2p. |
| Filename | tranc-vid1_tr1.pdf |
| Full text | Escaping Vietnam My family and I lived in Nha Trang Vietnam. Nha Trang is a beautiful city with magnificent beaches. We were met at the airport by an American coworker of my dad we also had I believe nine other families that also knew this American gentleman. When we were going through the lines, there were young American soldiers with big smiles on their face just trying to get us through as fast as they could. I don’t remember the rest of it until I remember we were sitting in a ditch. Again I looked up and I saw the control tower right in front of me and then it got dark. We were all together, but I don’t remember being panicky or screaming. There were lots of screaming around us, but for me I don’t know. It was either out of fear I was frozen. But I remember it starting to get dark. And no one knew what was going on and then all the lights went off so it was completely dark at the airport. And then all of a sudden, again looking up at the control tower, and on the left of it we start seeing warplanes flying across and also we saw bombs coming down. And again there was no fear in me. I was just sitting there like watching a fireworks show or something. But it was scary. You know as soon as someone was like, “look at the bombs.” There was just too much to take in at the time. And once again there were people screaming, trying to run away, or you know do something. But somehow our group just stayed. And then, at some point in the night, we saw this image just coming towards us. And the closer it got, it turned out to be a big cargo plane. But of course, they didn’t have their lights on or anything because I guess they didn’t want to get bombed on. Then the back of the cargo plane opened up and I think we got the command from someone to run. So all of us, everybody, just ran into this cargo plane and we were just standing around or grabbing on to a rope or anything that we could. They just packed it in and I don’t know at what point they closed the door. I don’t know how they determined…I don’t remember that part. And then we took off. The next day when we woke up and went to the breakfast place, that’s when we found out that the airport was bombed the night before and we were the last plane out. My first reaction or just first memory was of course everybody who was camping out at the airport would be dead or injured. My vivid memory was those young soldiers, which were not scared but were wiling to help us to get out. They may not have gotten out before the airport was bombed. So I felt sad about that part of it. We stayed at an island for a about a week or so then we were transported to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. |
| Archival file | Volume3/tranc-vid1_tr1.pdf |
