An oral history of Ms. Trần Thị Phụng who was born in Sài Gòn in 1952. This interview focuses on her life before, during, and after the Vietnam War. Before 1975, Ms. Trần lived a joyful and content life. She went to numerous French schools and eventually transferred to a Vietnamese high school before securing an accountant position for an American electricity company through familial connections. Despite also having a husband who trained in the US Air Force, her life was seemingly untouched by the war ravaging the rest of the country.*

Image 1: Cousins Minh, Phụng, and Phúc (left to right).

Childhood Memories

Born to an upper class family, Phụng never had to long for anything. During the interview, she reminisced fondly about her childhood memories. One of the biggest pillars of her life is her family. Her mother was a stay at home mom that provided her round-the-clock care along with her nanny. However, if you look at the image below (Image 2), you can see that there's one individual missing from her life. Phụng's father separated from her mother in 1957, when her mother was pregnant with her sister, Trần Thị Loan. Even without a father, Phụng's uncle stepped up. He made sure she had the best education, the money to continue to live her lifestyle, and all the cousins she could ever play with.

Image 2: Phụng's mother, sister, aunt, Minh, Phúc, Phụng, and Phụng's aunt's maid (left to right).

French Education

As typical for upper class families, Phụng attended private school. Specifically, she attended two different French elementary schools. The Marie Curie School and Colette Secondary School were established during the French colonial rule and are still active schools in Hồ Chí Minh City (present-day Sài Gòn). Just like other French schools in the Republic of Vietnam, the Western educational system hybridized with Vietnamese Confucian ideas. Phụng's early exposure to Western culture would influence how she saw Western intervention in Sài Gòn during the war and the new world she wanted to go to.

Finding a Balance

In school, she could only speak French. For these upper class individuals, the school is where they embraced Western culture and the home is where they embraced traditional Vietnamese values. However for Phụng, this divide wasn't as clear. When she came home, her uncle still forced her to speak French. According to Phụng, it even got to the point where she was falling behind in Vietnamese. Even though it seemed like Phụng had a more Westernized lifestyle, she was still raised with traditional Vietnamese values. She was raised in a Buddhist family and went to temple every week. She still greeted her elders as per the Confucian values of filial piety. During Tết, Phụng was taught to donate food to the less fortunate.

Image 3: Courtyard of Marie Curie School.

"Bà ngoại nhỏ xíu mà biết nói tiếng Pháp. Trong đó là có những cái môn mà, giống như là bây giờ tụi con học thêm cái cái môn như là chạy trong đó bà ngoại học vũ ba lê."

"I was still young, but knew how to speak French. At [school], they had classes like the class you have here. Class like running. At [school], I learned ballet."

A Whirlwind Romance

Image 4: Phụng and Anh on a date at Cam Ly waterfall.

Image 5: Phụng and Anh (unknown location).

In 1973, a family friend introduced Phụng to her future husband: Phan Tấn Anh. Originally from Nha Trang, he trained in Texas, United States, for a year and was a cargo pilot for the RVN. His Western schooling and American connection would play an integral part in their lives. As a pilot, Anh won over Phụng with destination dates across the country.

A Tea Ceremony to Remember

After six months, the pair got married in Nha Trang on June 19, 1973. They moved to Sài Gòn and stayed there until 1978. She continued to work as an accountant for an American electricity company and he continued his duties.

Throughout these events of her childhood and young adult life, Phụng's life was untouched by the Vietnam War in all aspects. She enjoyed American products and never had a bad experience with American soldiers. She didn't hear the bombings that occurred in the city and she never worried about her husband's safety. Life was joyous and blissful.

"Bà ngoại sống sung sướng mà sống vui vẻ, không có biết mất, không có cha mà vẫn cảm thấy đầy đủ lắm."

"I was blissful and happy. I didn’t know anything. [Even though] I didn't have a father, [my life] still felt very warm [and complete]."

How Untypical?

Until 1975, Phụng lived a joyous life that many people envied. She was sheltered from the Vietnam War and looked back on these memories fondly. But how untypical was her life? Was she the only one who experienced this bliss before 1975?

For an average Vietnamese person, her life was very extraordinary. But as a woman, the opposite may be true. If we look at the oral histories of other Vietnamese women, such as Chau Huyen Do or Mary Hoang Long, they also had a very comfortable and carefree childhood. This was the case because many of these women were sheltered by the men in their lives. For some, this bliss extended to their adulthood. It is only with the end of the war on April 30, 1975, did the realities of the outside world come crashing down on them.

While others might have had a "rất là khổ" life during the war period, Phụng had the exact opposite. She had easy access to Western goods. She often went to the cinema or out dancing. She had an American-trained husband that flew her to destinations the average Vietnamese person could only dream of. Her life couldn't have been any more "sung sướng."

The Bubble Popped

However, this joyous bubble popped on April 30, 1975. After her family was left behind in Vietnam, Ms. Trần was forced to raise a newborn daughter alone as her husband was sent to a reeducation camp for a year. They failed to escape Vietnam in 1978 and lived life on the run until their escape in 1986. Ms. Trần, her husband, and two daughters went through Cambodia and stayed in Thailand for two and half years as they waited for US approval to enter the country.*

The End of the War

Life was joyous until 1975. Because of complications during the birth of her eldest, Phan Anh Thư, in March of that year, Phụng and Anh were unable to take part of Operation New Life: a US initiative designed to evacuate high-profile and US-affiliated Vietnamese people of the RVN. As a result of their Western connections, Phụng and Anh were sent to a reeducation school and camp respectively. Anh was released from the camp a year later, but was unable to find a job due to his time there. As a result, Phụng provided for the family with her accounting job. This changing family-gender dynamic was typical of the time, as women took over the male-role of household head due to their husbands being sent to these camps. Even with the job, she recalls the money dwindling up faster than she can replenish it. She wasn't the only one to experience this new wave of poverty that took over the city.

With the retreat of American soldiers, also came the retreat of American goods. The United States already had a trade embargo on the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1964. However when the RVN and DRVN reunified, the embargo extended to all of Vietnam. After years of Western goods, Hồ Chí Minh City (present day Sài Gòn) and the rest of South Vietnam now had fend for themselves.

Other accounts describes waiting in line for rice rations. According to Phụng, rice was once plentiful before April 30, 1975. Afterwards, the government rationed out a mixture of rice and another grain.

"Nó không có muốn mình theo cộng hòa nữa—như là theo nhân dân theo cộng sản, theo đồ vậy đó. Học cải tạo xong ba ngày rồi nó cấp phát cho bà ngoại cái, cái tờ giấy mà bà ngoại đưa cho con đó."

"They don’t want us follow the Republic of Vietnam anymore. [They] needed the people to follow the communist. After the three days of reeducation, they give us the certificate that I gave you."

The document below is Phụng's certificate of completion of her reeducation. On the top left, "Ủy Ban Quân Quản" refers to the "Governing Committee." This is the group that took over this specific region after April 30, 1975.

The words directly to the right of her image contain her full name, date of birth, birth location*, and current address.

The four lines below the image pertain to information about her reeducation. The blank spaces in this section are information specific to military service members, which she isn't. The first line is her ID number. The second line contains her occupation, in which she wrote "Accountant." The last line asks for how many days she spent at the reeducation school. She answers "Ba," which means three. Next to it, Phụng filled out the company she worked for.

*Quê Quán does not translate directly to birth location. It refers to where you are from/where you were raised. It can be where you were born but it can also refer to where you moved and settled as a child.

Looking Beyond

Image 9: American news article about Operation New Life (Provided by Memoirs Pasifika).

Despite being better off than most residents of Hồ Chí Minh City, Phụng and her family knew they couldn't stay in Vietnam. While Anh's inability to have a job in Vietnam played an integral part, it mostly had to do with their ideology. Phụng grew up with Western teaching and a city heavily changed due to American ideology. Anh had first hand experience of what it was like to live in a free world like America. Phụng was not alone in this ideology and the urgency she and her husband wanted to leave. If she could, she would've left during Operation New Life. Instead, they were on their own to figure out a way out. And they wanted to do it as soon as possible.

They went through many trials and tribulations to escape when they did. When questioned why they went through these hardships and not just wait until 1995 (after diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam normalized), Phụng said:

"Nếu mà bà ngoại chờ đi chính thức thì rất sướng, không phải qua mấy cái trại mà ở cả năm này qua năm kia vậy. Nhưng mà chờ không nổi tại vì muốn đi sớm để cho mẹ với dì Mi học sớm hơn, để mà dễ dàng hơn vậy đó. Thành ra mong mỏi đi, muốn đi liền à chứ nếu mà bà ngoại chờ là bà ngoại đi chính thức sướng hơn nhiều đó, không phải khổ cực như đi vượt biên đâu."

"If I waited to go legally, it would have been better because we wouldn't have to go through all these refugee camps and stay there year over year. But we could not wait. Because we want to come early so that your mom [Phan Anh Thư] and your aunt [Phan Thị Hoàng Anh] can go to school early. And [it would be] easier. That’s why we hoped and wanted go early. If we wait to go legally, we wouldn't have to suffer through the border crossover, and be in danger."

The First Attempt

Until this point, the things in Phụng's life came easy to her. However, escaping Vietnam would be unlike anything she experienced. Phụng quit her job and moved the Nha Trang in 1978, where she made her first attempt to escape with her mother, sister, husband, and daughter by boat. They were caught and imprisoned. While Phụng was released early from prison due to having a young dependent, Anh remained. She had to borrow gold from family and friends to help pay for his release. From that point on, Phụng was too afraid to return to her home in Hồ Chí Minh City. Instead, her family of three—which became four in 1980 with the birth of Phan Thị Hoàng Anh—lived life on the run. They worked odd jobs to save up for their next attempt.

Image 10: Phụng, Hoàng Anh, Anh, and Anh Thư at a beach (~1985).

The Successful Attempt

Phụng and her family moved back to Hồ Chí Minh City. With the money saved and gold borrowed from family members, they left Vietnam in 1986 and paid smugglers to move them from Cambodia to Thailand.

"Life was very difficult staying at home, without a house, and living on the streets. [We] stayed at relatives' houses and then went to work. When you went to work, you also asked people to [smuggle] you in to work, and then you work and you have money to get by so you can live."

"Cuộc sống rất là khổ cực mà ở nhà, không có nhà cửa, ăn nhờ ở đậu. Ở đậu nhà bà con thân nhân rồi đi làm cũng vậy, đi làm cũng nhờ người ta đem vô làm, rồi làm, làm thì cũng có tiền sống qua ngày, cũng sống được."

In 1979, the United States enacted the Orderly Departure Program (ODP). With this new program, they hoped to control the refugee crisis happening in Southeast Asia—where Vietnamese people fled to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, and more. However, the outflow of Vietnamese refugees was more than expected and the US government had to prioritize who to admit into the US and criterias for those admission.

Priority I: People who had close relatives in the United States
Priority II: Former employees of former US government agencies
Priority III: People who were "closely associated" with US policies and programs
Priority IV: Anyone who has not been admitted to another country

Land refugees must spend at least one year in Thailand before relocating.

Image 11: Phụng, Hoàng Anh, Anh, and Anh Thư in Thailand.

Phụng and her family mainly fell under Priority III. Although, Phụng's family in the United States certainly helped ensure that they didn't stay for the typically three years at the "Panat Nicom" refugee camp in Thailand. For two and a half years, they went through the rigorous process of gaining approval. Phụng's aunt, Trần Anh Kim, who lived in the United States obtained and sent Anh's certificates of training from his time in Texas. They were interviewed by the Ethnic Affairs Officers to confirm that their relations to the US was true.

The "Panat Nicom" refugee camp Phụng mentioned in her interview is actually referring to the Thai province Phanat Nikhom. This was a very popular camp for Vietnamese refugees who used Thailand as a temporary stop.

A New Paradise

Once approved, Ms. Trần’s family went to the Philippines where they learned to acclimate to daily American life. In 1989, they arrived in Hollywood, California, and eventually settled in the San Gabriel Valley indefinitely. Never forgetting her home and the fortunes life has granted her, Ms. Trần has given back by working with Buddhist organizations to do humanitarian work through donations and volunteer work.*

New Beginnings

For many, the trials and tribulations ended once they stepped foot in the United States. For Phụng, a new blissful bubble emerged earlier: in the Philippines.

Phụng's family was transferred over to the Philippines to learn English and to acclimate to an American lifestyle.

They weren't the only one in the Philippines. Once a Vietnamese refugee has been assigned a country through the ODP, they went here to learn the language of their new home.

For six months, her daughters went to school everyday. Phụng and her husband got into the habit of going to work everyday and then returning home to take care of the family. However, there was one aspect that stood Phụng out from the others: her familial connections.

While the program in Philippines provided them with everything they could need, Phụng's family lived a more comfortable and joyous life than others there. This was because her Aunt Anh Kim, the same aunt that helped with their documents, sent money to the family. In 1989, Phụng's family completed their schooling in the Philippines and immigrated to Hollywood, California. Aunt Anh Kim housed the family, enrolled Anh Thư and Hoàng Anh in school, and helped Phụng and Anh get back on their feet as they settled into their new paradise.

Image 12: Phụng in class in the Philippines.

"Đó thành ra làm ở đó rất là vui, từ sáng tới chiều, đi làm về có đồ ăn ăn...vậy đó rất là vui mà trong dòng sáu tháng thì mỗi tháng bà cô của bà ngoại thì gửi tiền qua đều đều để cho hai vợ chồng, hai đứa con được sống xung sướng hơn như những người khác vậy đó."

"So working there was very fun, from morning to afternoon. When I came home from work there was food to eat... so it was very fun for those six months. Every month my aunt sent money over regularly, so that the couple [Phụng and Anh] and two children [Anh Thư and Hoàng Anh] can live happily like other people."

Troubles In Paradise?

The troubles did not magically disappear when they stepped foot in America. Family members constantly showed up to their front door, hounding for Phụng to repay the gold she borrowed prior. This didn't even include the money she had to send back to Vietnam as well. Because she did not have a US accredited college degree—this was often the case for educated Vietnamese refugees—Phụng and her husband worked as a seamsters to pay back those debts. This was typical for many Vietnamese women but not men. Despite these obstacles, life was good as long as they were in America. When asked if she regretted leaving Vietnam, here's what she had to say:

"Um không, tại vì qua bên đây là cuộc sống sung sướng hơn nhiều. Tương lai đầy hết, và nhất là tương lai của mẹ con, của dì đó học...Bà ngoại không bao giờ hối hận hết trơn, rất là cảm ơn chính phủ Mỹ nhiều tại vì mấy con của bà ngoại dì, tức là mẹ với dì đã học thành tất tới rất là tốt đẹp."

"Um no, because coming here is a much happier life. The future is full, and especially the future of your mother and that aunt [her daughters]...I never regretted it. Thank you very much to the US government because my children, that is, your aunt and your mother, went to school and became successful."

Image 13: Phụng, her husband, and her daughters at the Hsi Lai Temple in California (1994).

Her mentality about her situation demonstrates the impact her upbringing had.

Family: Phụng was born into a large family and therefore the support and luxuries that comes with it. I mentioned before that Phụng's father left when she was young. However, it was his sister that helped Phụng get the necessary documents and money needed to live in Thailand and the Philippines. When she went to live with Aunt Anh Kim, her father and his new family was there too and the father and daughter reunited.

Her strong familial loyalties is what drove her to come to America when she did: for her daughters. This ties in with the second prevalent feature of her upbringing.

Western Culture: Phụng's early experience in Western education taught her the benefits of this type of education. In fact, she had so much faith in Western education, that she left Vietnam in a dangerous escape just so her daughters can start school in America as early as they can. Phụng and Anh had so much faith in the American/Western idea of freedom, that they no longer wanted to stay in their home land, even if they could eventually find success there. The promise of a world Phụng and her husband only caught a glimpse of was enough for them to risk it all.

A Full Circle

In Phụng's childhood, she had to find a balance between simultaneously maintaining her Vietnamese identity and Western influences. When she arrived to America, she was faced with the same dilemma. However, unlike in the past, she wasn't in Vietnam anymore. She wasn't surrounded by family and friends.

However, that didn't stop her from finding a new community. Even though she lived in Los Angeles, Phụng frequently visited Little Saigon of Orange County. And just like the name suggests, it was like entering back into her birth city. Here, Phụng found familiar foods, store-fronts with Vietnamese names, people who spoke Vietnamese, a community that celebrated the same holidays as her—such as Tết—and so much more.

Image 14: Phụng in the Philippines.

Phụng held on to her Buddhist upbringing and it's something she still practices today. Later, I will go into my depth on the role of Buddhism played in the later years of her life. Besides from Buddhist teachings, it was important to Phụng to instill a Vietnamese identity in her grandchildren. She spoke to them only in Vietnamese at home. In fact, her eldest grandchild's first language was Vietnamese despite being born in the United States. Similar to her childhood, she taught them to greet their elders when they came home from school, to respect their elders in general, and other Confucian values.

Never Forgetting

It's safe to say that Phụng's life is unlike most others. The joyous bubbles of her youth in Vietnam and life in America is a rare experience for Vietnamese refugees. Phụng acknowledges that she was more fortunate than others and she made sure to put her fortunate life to good use by giving back. While she was never part of the poverty-stricken communities in Vietnam, she hasn't forgotten about them.

She wasn't the only refugee to think about her homeland. In communities like Little Saigon of Orange County, organizations rally the community to advocate for religious, political, and economic freedom. While Phụng donated to these organizations, she took it one step further.

Image 15: Phụng overseeing the doctors treat patients from remote locations (2011).

Once Phụng was able to repay back all of her debts and created a solid foundation of her life in America, Phụng returned back to Vietnam to do humanitarian work. With the help of her sister who still lives in Vietnam, Phụng worked with Thầy Chân Tịnh (a Buddhist monk). Together, Phụng and Chân Tịnh would help bring doctors to remote locations (Image 15), bring people from remote locations to hospitals, fund for cataract and uterine cancer surgeries, release fish into depleted bodies of water, build wells, donate food, and so much more. It's been a while since Phụng returned to Vietnam, but she still donates money to various organizations through the help of her sister.

Image 16: Anh Thư (purple striped), Thầy Chân Tịnh, and Anh Thư's husband (blue shirt) handing out food (2011).

Image 17: List of donated items to the hospital, including misspelled names of Phụng's grandchildren on number 2.

Image 18: Anh and another donator posing with cataract patients (2011).

Phụng is not the only member of her family to give back. She has instilled this principle into her daughters. Image 16 depicts Anh Thư, her husband, and Thầy Chân Tịnh helping pass out donated goods like rice and instant noodles. Not depicted in the images above, Hoàng Anh also returned to Vietnam with Phụng to do similar work. In Image 18, Anh poses with cataract surgery patients that he helped fund. Phụng even donated in the names of her grandchildren, Jason and Jasmine, in Image 17 (even if the hospital ended up spelling their names wrong). Even though Phụng has made a joyous home for herself in California, she never forgot about her first warm and blissful home.

Image 19: Phụng, Thầy Chân Tịnh, his assistant, and Loan in front of a temple entrance (2012).

Conclusion

After looking through Phụng's life, it's easy to tell what parts of her life she considers to be Sung Sướng. Despite living in four countries at one point of her life, there is only two she would consider home. First, it would be her home in Sài Gòn from the time of her birth until 1975. Her second home is in California, from 1989 to now. In one home, she had everything. In the other, nothing. Yet, she would happily say they were both joyous and blissful. In these two moments, life was so blissful and joyous, many would call it Paradise. However, you wouldn't know you're in paradise until you experience life outside the bubble.

From April 30, 1975, to 1989, Phụng experienced a Khổ life. However, what made the journey between the paradise so difficult? Like in America, she also had nothing. In contrast, until 1975, she had to long for nothing. While she had nothing in America, she did not have to long for the idea of freedom and the economic opportunities that came with it. The difficult journey was a means to an end to reach freedom. It was a means to an end for her daughters' future. This journey was difficult because she knew what she lost and was willing to do anything to get it back.

Citations

Dror, Olga. Making Two Vietnams: War and Youth Identities, 1965-1975. Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Dang, Thuy Vo, Vo, Trinh Linda, and Le, Tram. Images of America: Vietnamese in Orange County. Arcadia Publishing, 2015.

Lipman, Jana K. ''A Precedent Worth Setting …Military Humanitarianism: The U.S. Military and the 1975 Vietnamese Evacuation.” In The Journal of Military History. Edited by Bruce Vandervort. Virginia Military Institute, 2015.

The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation: Stories of War, Revolution, Flight and New Beginnings. Edited by Chan, Sucheng. Temple University Press, 2006.

“Timeline of US Relations With the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.” Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States of America, n.d. https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/vietnam-us-relations/timeline.

US General Accounting Office. Issue brief. Refugee Program: The Orderly Departure Program From Vietnam. Washington D.C., 1990.

US General Accounting Office. Issue brief. Report—Indochinese Exodus. Washington D.C., 1979.

*Headers are taken from the Abstract

Field Notes—Session 1—Session 2—Session 3AbstractLife MapTime Logs—Session 1—Session 2—Session 3Transcripts-—Session 1—Session 2—Session 3

Key WordsDRVN, RVN, Sài Gòn, Nha Trang, Buddhism, Operation New Life, Marie Curie School, French education, reeducation camp, reeducation school, Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, refugee, philanthropy work, donations, volunteer, divorce

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