The Penguin Review
Abstract
The topic of South Vietnam has always been one close to home. My mother and grandma were evacuated from Saigon before the country fell to North Vietnam in 1975. They hopped on a US military helicopter, taking multiple stops on ships and islands before eventually landing in Orange County, California. Because of the evacuation, my family members were forced to start a new life; however, it was better than being sent to a re-education camp. My Grandma had done some business with an American, and she could have lost her life if she had been sent to the camps. Tens of thousands of South Vietnamese fled the country. The death tolls of the camps were similar to the evacuation tolls, with a rough estimate that 130,000 South Vietnamese escaped from the country1 and about 165,000 South Vietnamese passed away in these camps.2 For those who fled, these
people were making last-second desperation attempts. Many of whom hopped the fences into the US embassy in Saigon. Others would helicopter their families to the US ships or would take a boat and drive it to the ships to lead them out of the country. These would lead to a large presence of Vietnamese refugees in the US, who would have a huge presence felt in California’s Bay Area and Orange County. Whether that was through religion, business, or livelihood, these people would flourish after losing everything, trying to protect their families and themselves .
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