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Angry Waves
I believe our our voice should be heard, our haunting memories should be shared… Because it’s part of our heritage.
It was Black April- April 30th 1975, when Saigon fell. Phuoc Thi Minh Tran was a young law student at that time. "Even now, it feels like yesterday," she says. She was surrounded by explosions and bodies on the street. Her brothers were sent away to re-education camps for years.
“We had no hope, no future. That’s why a lot left Vietnam and fled on the South China Sea.” In a story that she shared at the 2018 World Storytelling Day event in St. Paul, she describes her harrowing journey in a search for freedom.
"I am a Boat People, a refugee, a Vietnamese-American, a librarian, a storyteller,
and a published author. For me I was lucky and blessed. I am here today."
"I spent 4 nights and 5 days on stormy oceans, soaking wet. There were no stars in the sky, only the thunder, lighting, and torrential rain."
Vietnamese refugees rest as crewmen aboard the guided missile cruiser USS FOX (CG-33) give them something to drink. Public Domain.
"I believe our our voice should be heard, our haunting memories should be shared… Because it’s part of our heritage.”
South China Sea. Crewmen of the amphibious cargo ship USS Durham (LKA-114) take Vietnamese refugees aboard a small craft. The refugees will be transferred later by mechanized landing craft (LCM) to the freighter Transcolorado. Public Domain.
35 Vietnamese refugees wait to be taken aboard the amphibious command ship USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). They are being rescued from a 35 foot fishing boat 350 miles northeast of Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, after spending eight days at sea. Public Domain.
“To our Vietnam and U.S. veterans who are not here today with us, to all of you here tonight, to men and women who served in Vietnam, from bottom of my heart, and on behalf of Vietnamese community, we thank you for your service, bravery, compassion and endurance.”
Biographical Details
Submitted From: St. Paul, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Saigon, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Refugee
Affiliate Organization: World Storytelling Day
This story was captured at the March 24, 2018 World Storytelling Day in St. Paul with the help of TPT's Minnesota Remembers Vietnam Team.
Story Themes: Boat People, Fall of Saigon, Refugee, Veterans for Peace, Video, Vietnamese, World Storytelling Day
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