Q: Could you do a quick introduction about yourself?
My name is Angela Ho, I go to USC, I’m a third year doing Fine Arts.
Q: What role did your mom, dad and grandfather play in the war?
My grandfather was actually a soldier in the war. He kind of played every role in the war, I think during war that’s just what happens. He was a cook, he did medical, he fought.
My mom, she was a little younger than my dad. She wanted to have a college education, it didn’t happen because she was a communist. Eventually, her whole family was able to immigrate to America because one of her brothers was half American, so that was the way out.
My grandfather was involved in the war the whole time, that’s truly a miracle. I look at him and I was just like, “I don’t even believe you are a person.” He has all these scars from the war and I am just amazed how he is still alive, how he managed to do all those things. He is such a skilled, smart man. He definitely still remembers everything very clearly and he talks about it all the time, and how bitter he is about Vietnam, and how he never wants to go back. Which is still crazy to me, because that’s where he grew up.
Q: Has your parents/grandparents ever experienced flashbacks? If so, have you ever been in the same room when it happened? My sister, still remembers the flashbacks he(grandfather) had. He would kind of freak out on occasion for no reason at the time. Sometimes he will wake up in the middle of the night screaming, thinking that there was a grenade somewhere in the house. He had to go through a lot of therapy to get out of the PTSD.
Q: How are your parents now?
My dad is just the most positive human being ever. He’s always grateful even when things go wrong. He had the toughest life I ever heard of. His dad was a communist, he left his family while they weren’t, his mom passed when he was 18. He grew up very fast, I think he too is a miracle. My mom is a miracle. Whatever they did, they did it perfectly.
Q: How was your father able to immigrate to the United States?
My dad he got on a fisherman’s boat, it’s really crazy. All of his siblings were in prison for five years. He went on a boat, not knowing he could survive. There were pirate invasions and all these crazy things and he survived them. His step-sister attempted it, but she actually committed suicide during the journey. Because the pirates raided her boat and she just gave up on it. My dad was able to travel and get to America.