Leaving Vietnam
How do you feel when you left Vietnam; what was that experience like?
When I left Vietnam, it was nothing compared to the war because of my aunt. She sponsored my family here. Took me sixteen years to get here and then we wanted to find a better life in America.
And how did friends and family that stayed back in Vietnam; how did they react to you guys coming – ?
Oh they definitely… Like their own, like somebody have to go for another country before long; never come back. So kind of this.
And have you ever gone back to Vietnam since you – ?
[Shakes head] Nothing.
And do you want to go back at all?
Maybe just for a visit. Just go around; look at what is different.
And how do you think people would react if you were to come back?
I think they still welcome but the life is different so I don’t think I will be able to. Many of my friends, they’ve been here for five or six years and they want to go back and they expect to have, like back to normal, like in Vietnam they had a lot of fun but no.
Do you stay in contact with a lot of your family and friends back in Vietnam?
[Shakes head] Just a little; very little.
And do they talk about any kind of changes that are going on in Vietnam?
The city has grown up; it is actually changing a lot. They, especially the American, many countries, they come and build up the cities. So it looks very nice and a lot of difference.
Did your opinion on the War change at all when you came to the United States?
Yeah, a lot.
And how did it change?
Before I’m more, like I grow up and went to education, even my family taught me the war is that that that [gesture toward left to middle to right]. Back then I was still confused. Now when I live in here in America, I have more details of the war. I stay more on the side of the Americans.
And why do you feel that? Why do you feel like you’re more on the side of the Americans?
Because in Vietnam, when people fought for war, they fought, more of them like the farmers don’t have enough education to understand what the other people are telling them. They just hear they have to go to do it; to get freedom. But they don’t actually understand what they do after that.
So do you think it was right for America to have gone into Vietnam?
Yes.
Has anybody else, anybody in your family visited Vietnam since you guys have moved here?
Yes.
And what has their experience been like?
Yeah, they went and visited family and go back there. They don’t do anything with political…
Are they kind of welcome with open arms when they come back [to Vietnam] or is there some kind of tension when they come back?
Yes, ten years ago there was a little tension when you get to a family house. You had to tell the neighbor. In Vietnam people live in like we neighbors; we know one another but we have to tell all of them. Now we okay since a lot of Vietnamese-Americans went back so it became normal now. So we don’t have to look like, when we visit, “Oh that one is from America!” But now it is more welcome.
Okay, do you consider yourself Vietnamese or American or both or neither?
I’m Vietnamese and I think of myself as Vietnamese because I was born in Vietnam, my skin is Viet. So I’m actually Vietnamese.
Do you think you will ever feel like you’re American or consider yourself American?
No.
And why do you think that is?
Because for me, I look Chinese. So when I get here, I’m an Asian, Vietnamese and then yes I see in America, you have different language and everything and it makes me more challenged and I like it that way.
In your opinion, what are some of the strongest misconceptions about the War in Vietnam here in the United States?
About Americans thinking about the war or Vietnamese?
Both. So we can start with the Americans. What are some of the misconceptions about the Americans that we in the United States have?
About the war?
Yeah.
I don’t know much about that one. Okay, so do you think we understand the war well here in the United States or do you think there are things that we don’t understand about the war here that we’re not talking about war here?
Uh, I don’t know about that one. Yeah, because I don’t have enough information for that.
Have you talked to other Americans about the Vietnam War?
Not at all.
Did you ever learn anything about the Vietnam War in American schools?
Yeah, a little.
And what was that experience like?
Most of the books here is wrote from the people, Vietnamese people who actually get here. So it, I would say seventy percent – eighty percent is true and twenty percent is misleading.
And what is a lot of the stuff that is in that twenty percent?
Sometimes, they’re overacting. Something that not really actually happened in Vietnam but they think it has happened.
Do you talk about the War in Vietnam with any of your friends from Vietnam here in the United States or is it something that is not discussed?
They think on the other side so they cannot tell you their life. If I say something on my ideas that I see over here, then over there they think, “No no no, it’s different!”