Chapter1

The Promise

April 30, 1975, offshore near Vung Tau, Vietnam

Relieved but totally numb, I stood on the bow of an American cargo ship. We had just been lifted onto the deck in a large cargo net that had been lowered onto our fishing boat. As I watched the chaotic, frantic scene unfolding below, an unforgettable image was seared into my mind. The ship’s crew continued to lower their cargo net onto other small fishing boats filled with dozens of frantic refugees; people clambered to get into the net, but I also saw many fall to the choppy seas below as the net was raised. One image, however, has haunted me ever since: I saw a young mother struggling to hang on to the net with one arm and grasp her baby in the other. After being weakened by days at sea, she no longer had the strength to hold on. First the mother dropped the baby, then she fell into the ocean below, and both drowned immediately. The scene was totally chaotic, with refugees so desperate to survive that no one even tried to help them. While seeing that scene of death and despair, I made a solemn promise to God that if my family and I were able to escape, I would live a life of service. I didn’t know when, where, or how, but I would keep my word and honor thepromise.

Refugees being lowered onto the crowded deck of a US freighter after fleeing Vietnam in 1975 (AP Peter O’Laughlin1975)

The Escape

The days leading up to our escape were the most terrifying time in my life. On April 30, 1975, the government in Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese, and that effectively marked the end of the Vietnam War. I remember the whooshing sound of the incoming artillery and feeling the ground shake under my feet from the many explosions. As my family and I were trying to make our way to a hidden dock to escape the death and destruction, the streets were littered with corpses, and we saw widespread looting of houses. My father had arranged for our family to escape by fishing boat, but none of us knew exactly where we were going. We only knew that we were trying to get away from shore to avoid the terrifying violence and chaos at the end of thewar.

As we left the harbor from Vung Tau, we quickly realized that we were still in grave danger. Our boat was immediately fired upon by a group of South Vietnamese soldiers who also wanted to escape Vietnam and had commandeered a fishing boat of their own. Their boat, however, was completely overloaded, and they didn’t really know how to operate it. The soldiers fired shots across our bow and demanded that we stop to help them. They wanted to board our boat, but my father convinced them that our boat was too small to add anyone else. The fishing boat we were on was already dangerously overcrowded with approximately 45 people onboard. My father explained that we all would die because our 25-foot boat would swamp, and many of us, including the soldiers, didn’t know how to swim. Everyone finally decided that it was best for us to tow their boat away from the shore. As they threw the line over to be towed, my father whispered to the skipper of our boat to steer in a circle, which would make it appear like towing the soldiers’ boat was impossible for our boat. After several minutes of struggling but making no headway, my father told the soldiers that their boat was too heavy for us to tow, and they should consider taking over one of the bigger boats that were also heading out to sea. Thankfully, that made sense to them, and after a few minutes, they started shooting at larger boats and let us go on our way. We all felt greatly relieved because the soldiers were all carrying heavy weapons, and we were just unarmedcivilians.

Refugee boat similar to the one my family used. The sheet draped over the side was a distressflag.

Our boat was carrying not only my family but also my eldest sister’s family, her in-laws, and the boat owner and his extended family members. With our destination unknown and heading straight out to sea, our boat began taking on water. My brothers and I took turns feverishly bailing our slowly sinking boat. Almost everyone on board didn’t know how to swim, so our bailin