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Vietnamese American Oral History Project, UC Irvine
Narrator: THANH NGUYEN
Interviewer: Justin Minh Nguyen
Date: May 11, 2014
Location: Garden Grove, CA
Sub-collection: Vietnamese American Experience Course, Fall 2012
Length of Interview: 00:40:52
Transcriber: Justin Minh Nguyen
Translator: Joe Reinsvold
JN: My name is Justin Minh Nguyen and today is May 11, 2014. I am going to interview Thanh
Nguyen for the Vietnamese American oral history project.
JN: What is your name? When is your date of birth? Where were you born?
TN: May 22, 1955, in Dalat city.
JN: What are your parents’ names?
TN: My father’s name is Nguyen Thuong, and my mother’s name is Hoang Thi Dung.
JN: Can you tell me a little bit about your parents?
TN: My father was a police officer for the republic of Vietnam government. My mother worked
in commerce.
JN: Where did you grow up?
TN: I grew up in Pleiku province, Vietnam.
JN: Please tell me more about your native land, and where you grew up…
TN: My hometown where I grew up was Pleiku city, near the border of Cambodia and Laos,
which was a city tied to the lumber industry.
JN: Did it change over time?
TN: Yes, it did change over time, because during the war it was still a small city and life there
was primitive and backwards. But later on when the war was over more people began to live and
work there so it became busier and more densely developed.
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JN: What were the things that caused it to change?
TN: It changed due to the increase in population. Before that when the war was going on, the
populace had to go far away and many were killed because of the war. Now that there’s no more
war, the (city) population has started to become crowded, life has stabilized, and the number of
people earning a living there has greatly increased. So there have been changes to the city.
JN: What places have you lived at in Vietnam?
TN: In Vietnam I’ve lived in Pleiku, Nha Trang, Hue, and Saigon.
JN: Could you talk about some of your childhood experiences?
TN: During my childhood I just went to school and participated in activities with my friends at
school, so normally I just went to school and then back home again.
JN: What games did you usually play as a kid?
TN: When I was little I played normal kids’ games like soccer or basketball.
JN: Do you have any stories you could tell me?
TN: I really don’t have any stories to tell other than average everyday things, so nothing special.
JN: What types of industries were there in your hometown (agriculture, manufacturing)?
TN: It was a city that manufactured forest products. They cut down the forest trees to make
chairs, homes…
JN: What were your neighbors like?
TN: My neighbors were just regular people yet because the war was going on back then all my
neighbors had family members who were soldiers in the army, but our life was still normal.
JN: What are the reasons for getting together during the holidays and on which days?
TN: The purpose for the holiday is just that it is the traditional Tet (Lunar New Year).
JN: How do you celebrate the Tet?
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TN: During Tet our family members usually relax by getting together to talk and inquire about
each other’s health.
JN: How do you celebrate birthdays?
TN: On the day of someone’s birthday we do something fun like have a dinner party.
JN: How are funerals organized?
TN: I haven’t organized a funeral ever since I’ve never encountered that situation.
JN: Do you celebrate any other special holidays?
TN: Regarding other holidays particularly religious ones, I really don’t follow any religion, but I
still enjoy taking a break to go to places that hold ceremonies that I can participate in, such as
temples or churches, but only during the holidays.
JN: Do you know any specialized trade, for instance agriculture, or sewing clothes?
TN: One specialized trade that I know is working as an electrician.
JN: How did you learn your trades?
TN: I learned that trade by studying in school. While I was at that school they offered classes in
science, math, and electronics, which I studied, and then after that I continued to study and
develop knowledge on my own. I never heard of there being any field of specialty like here in
the United States, since there were no such schools in Vietnam.
JN: When did you learn all that, and what was the hardest part to learn?
TN: When I was in Vietnam I knew that after finishing school I still needed to acquire
knowledge and find out how to earn a living, yet the hard stuff wasn’t all that difficult since I had
already learned much since my high school program so it was quite easy.
JN: What is the most important aspect of doing electrical work?
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TN: The most important part of an electrician’s job is making sure things are done correctly and
safely, avoiding causing fires and getting into dangerous situations, safety is most important.
JN: Do you know about the origins of that occupation? And how it has been applied…
TN: Honestly I have no idea where the occupation originated from, I only know that there are
many people who do it for a living, giving us electricity to make things brighter, and so we can
use fans and other machines.
JN: How has the trade changed over time?
TN: Of course, because before the instruments were more primitive, whereas now the
development of high-tech scientific instruments has improved overall quality, function, and
safety.
JN: What was your job in Vietnam?
TN: First I went to school, then I worked as an electrician.
JN: What was your education at school like?
TN: After finishing and graduating from high school I studied law at the university until the day
Vietnam was lost.
JN: Were you encouraged to learn and how do you feel about education, also what is your
current occupation by which you earn your living?
TN: These days living in the U.S., well I’m old already, so I no longer go to school; whereas I
currently earn a living working as a barber.
JN: What do you think about the education in Vietnam?
TN: Vietnamese education has its own culture, because the Vietnamese people have their own
particular culture and their education reflects that. Compared with the United States it is very
different but wherever one goes one learns to adjust.
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JN: What do you remember about your parents and grandparents when you were little?
TN: I just remember that my parents went to work so that I could go to school, was well fed, and
had all my schoolbooks. My parents worked by day and came home in the evening. Those are
the images that remain constantly in my mind and I have no other recollections besides those
images.
JN: What do you know about your last name?
TN: My last name well… That was the name given to me which I’ve had my entire life. In
Vietnam there are many last names. The Nguyen last name is just a regular surname like any
other, there’s nothing special about it.
JN: Are there any stories related to the history or roots pertaining to your last name?
TN: The roots and history behind that name are quite ordinary, nothing ever changed. Many
families have family histories and roots. Their surnames came about because during a time of
war they declared false names. People would migrate from place to place so they assumed false
names, after which their roots would change. Our family didn’t have that situation so nothing
(about our roots) was ever changed.
JN: In your family do you have any traditions regarding your name or middle name?
TN: We don’t have any.
JN: Any traditions regarding your children?
TN: No.
JN: Could you tell me any stories which your parents or grandparents told you when you were
little?
TN: When I was little I heard my paternal grandfather, that is my father’s father, talk about the
French period, the Indochina War, and when the Japanese gained control over Vietnam and made
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it extremely hard for the Vietnamese people to live. After the Second World War the Japanese
surrendered, and France regained control over Vietnam, at which time the Vietnamese people
rose in revolt against the French.
JN: Do you know any stories about them, or about any of your ancestors that came before them?
TN: Living during the period before 1975, when the war was going on we lived normally like
anyone else, our lives consisted of going to work and not much else.
JN: What were the occupations of your family members in the past?
TN: Like I said previously, my paternal grandfather was a police officer of the Republic of
Vietnam, while my paternal grandmother worked in commerce, and their children went to
school.
JN: What was everyone’s level of education like?
TN: Everyone’s educational level reached high school.
JN: Do you know of any historical stories connected with your family members, like how did
your parents and grandparents meet before they got married?
TN: Usually they met each other in a workplace environment, or at school, and those encounters
would lead to marriage.
JN: Were they married and could you also talk about getting betrothed?
TN: Yes, your parents met each other during an activity for work.
JN: Do you have children, how many, what do they do, what do you share with them, if so can
you provide details?
TN: Yes, one child.
JN: Does your family have a special way of talking, expressing themselves, or thinking? How so,
and is it a good thing?
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TN: We speak and express ourselves normally, nothing special, because I am not an expert or
famous person so I talk in a regular way. I am not a journalist so I don’t have a fancy way of
expressing myself. I am just an ordinary citizen, with a regular way of talking, culture, and
family activities, nothing at all special.
JN: There are many Catholics in Vietnam, so why don’t you follow the Catholic religion?
TN: There are two types of religion in Vietnam, one is Catholicism and the other is Buddhism.
Those are the two main religions. Besides those two there are other religions like: Hoa Hao
Buddhism, or ancestral worship, but Buddhism and Catholicism are the religions that most
Vietnamese follow, depending on the family. Some families are Catholic, while others are
Buddhist, but when their children grow up they no longer like to go to church or to the temple.
Just like our family is Buddhist, yet I don’t like to go to the temple, nor do I like to go to church.
For example if it is a Buddhist holiday then I will go to celebrate, and I go to church during the
Catholic holidays, while at home I remember my ancestors by presenting offerings on specific
days.
JN: In Vietnam or the U.S., does your family ever organize get-togethers?
TN: In Vietnam we would often get together, because over there we had more free time. Here in
the United States we do not have the time, because we work so much. So often when we do have
free time we only gather together to eat, rather than spend a long time together, since there is no
special occasion or person to honor.
JN: When and where do you get together, and who is present?
TN: We often meet on the spur of the moment. For example, if I have time off during the week
then we will get together, anyone’s house is fine, to simply enjoy a meal together, nothing
special.
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JN: How long do the get-togethers last, and what activities take place on those days?
TN: Usually we meet for a few hours and then have our meal, catching up and sharing news with
each other, and then it’s over.
JN: Are there any prizes, or do you honor anyone important?
TN: There’s nothing to award because they’re just ordinary occasions with nobody important to
honor. That’s because I don’t participate in any organizations or clubs where I would need to pay
honor to someone like a president or vice-president; it’s just the members of our family casually
getting together to talk and wish each other well.
JN: What are some of the stories you tell at these get-togethers?
TN: We really don’t have any stories to tell. We simply inquire about each other’s health and
about our close relatives.
JN: So your family doesn’t like to talk about the past, right? Why is that?
TN: That’s right, we don’t like to talk about the past because there’s no use in repeating it now.
Repeating what happened just makes us sad. That’s because our family’s past in coming here
from Vietnam is filled with sadness, and then after coming here we experienced sadness, so
recalling all that would just make us even sadder. All I know is that we should strive to earn a
living by living in the present, and meet life’s challenges head-on, so that’s why I seldom bring
up those stories.
JN: Does your family have any traditional holidays, and which is the most important? Are there
any special family traditions (songs, food)?
TN: Our only traditional holiday is Tet, when we get together but there are no (traditional
family) clothes, songs, or food. There is some special kind of food to eat, but everything else is
normal.
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JN: Does your family have it’s own particular way of celebrating the holiday? If so, then how is
it?
TN: No we don’t. We just stick with common social activities, nothing special whatsoever.
JN: Does your family have an ancestral shrine? How is the altar arranged? Do you have any
traditions related to death anniversaries that has maintaining this tradition changed since coming
to the United States?
TN: In our house we do not have an altar for worshiping our ancestors because our house is too
cramped, there’s no room to put one. We only rent, this isn’t our house; therefore there is not a
wide enough space for the altars. It’s not necessary anyhow, when we need to we can make an
altar to worship our ancestors and then condense it down later. That’s how we did it back in
Vietnam, so we’ll do it the same way over here in the United States, that won’t change.
JN: Do you or your family follow any religion? Do you participate in any organized religious
activities?
TN: Our family doesn’t follow any religion; we just worship our ancestors.
JN: What is ancestor worship?
TN: We pray to our grandparents. For example on the death anniversaries of my grandfathers I
will make offerings to them. It’s just like when there is a Catholic holiday such as Christmas I
will go to church if I feel like it, or go to the temple on the Buddhist holidays. But in general I
don’t follow any particular religion.
JN: Does your family have any special food dishes or recipes that were handed down to you
which you take with you when moving from place to place?
TN: No, (we just eat) regular (food).
JN: Does your family have any relics or mementos?
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TN: No, we don’t have any, because of the war we had to leave and we lost everything when
coming over here. There’s nothing left, which is why I don’t have anything which I can call a
keepsake which was brought over. During the war we had to evacuate and lost everything, there
was nothing left for us to keep as memories.
JN: You didn’t even have any photographs or jewelry?
TN: As far as jewelry goes, only rice people could afford to bring along jewelry, while I didn’t
have any money left, hence no jewelry. And regarding photos we did take some when I was
little, but while we were evacuating to escape the war we lost all of them.
JN: Why are these items valuable to you, what is their history, and how have they been passed
down… also, are there any interesting stories behind these items?
TN: No I don’t, because all those things were lost.
JN: Do you have any photo albums or movies of the family?
TN: We have some family pictures of when you were a child (taken) in Vietnam, which I
brought back as souvenirs.
JN: Who made them, when, and could you explain their content?
TN: The albums are from when you were little, I myself took the photos to keep as souvenirs.
JN: What languages do you speak? Are there any other languages that you have spoken when
you‘ve been in other places?
TN: I speak Vietnamese, and when I go to work I speak some English at my job.
JN: Are their any special kinds of speech you use when you need to describe a particular subject,
tell funny stories, or celebrate holidays? Could you give a few examples?
TN: No, I don’t have the educational background or even need to use those types of speech.
JN: How did the Vietnam War affect you and your community?
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TN: I had an affect on me because I didn’t know how my future would turn out- my life was so
unstable, and it was such a violent war. Within my community I saw many friends around me
who were not fortunate enough to pass their school exams, so they had to go and fight as soldiers
and many of them died.
JN: Where did you live during the war? What other places did you move to?
TN: During the war while I was going to high school in lived in Pleiku, after that I went to Hue
to study at the university.
JN: What was your occupation during the war?
TN: During the war I was still a college student up until the day we lost our country.
JN: Did you participate directly in the war?
TN: During the Vietnam War I remained in school until the day we lost our country so I didn’t
take any part in the war because I still had to go to school.
JN: What most causes you to remember the war?
TN: What I remember the most are my classmates who weren’t lucky enough to pass their exams
and get promoted so they had to join the army and many of them died in combat.
JN: So you went to school to stay alive rather than strictly to advance academically, right?
TN: I went to school in order to get a job later on, but the government required us to stay in
school every year in order to advance to the next level, otherwise we would have to go join the
army.
JN: Did you ever have any opportunity to interact with the American soldiers? What did you
think of them?
TN: My grandfather was a federal police officer working for the branch of intelligence so he
used to work with the American army and had close relationships with the members of the U.S.
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military who he worked with to share information. Therefore my family had frequent contact
with American soldiers. My opinion of them is normal, they were just people following orders
and their country helped and supported Vietnam (in its fight) against the (opposition) party.
JN: Were you ever arrested and held in prison by the enemy?
TN: Never, because I was still a student when the war was going on so I didn’t do anything that
would cause me to get arrested.
JN: Do you know anyone who was held in a prison camp?
TN: Yes, my grandfather was imprisoned in a re-education camp for 10 years after the war.
JN: What were the camps like?
TN: In the camps he was forced to do hard labor, which they call penal servitude. He was
banished there and had to live in miserable conditions.
JN: Were either you or any family members injured or a wounded soldier during the war?
TN: Nobody at all.
JN: How did you rebuild your life after the war? What caused you to leave your country and how
did it make you feel?
TN: Life after the war was quite hard since the new regime didn’t want me there. Therefore I
couldn’t survive and had to leave my country behind. It was extremely heartbreaking for me.
JN: What did you think about the policy of the United States during and after the war, and do
you currently participate in any political activities, and why?
TN: Back when the United States was engaged in the war in Vietnam it was doing so to protect
freedom and to prevent the communist influence from spreading to Southeast Asia, especially
from China. But after the United States established relations with China in 1972 and signed the
Paris agreement in 1973 to end the Vietnam War, the United States pulled it’s troops out of the
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country and left Vietnam which enabled the communists to flood in and take over. That change
in American policy led to the fall of South Vietnam. If American policy hadn’t changed and it
kept supporting the South (Vietnam), then the South never would have been lost. After that I
came here as a refugee. These days I don’t take part in any political organization or veteran
association whatsoever.
JN: Why did you leave your country to come to America?
TN: Because my homeland had been taken away. I couldn’t live there any longer because I had
no place in that society. I couldn’t survive there so I had to search for an opportunity to come to
the United States in order to make a living.
JN: How did you leave? What was the journey like? Which members of your family came with
you, and who stayed behind? Did any of your family members die during the trip to the U.S.?
TN: Our family came to the U.S. through a program known as H.O. (humanitarian operation),
therefore nobody died, nor did anyone get left behind during the process of coming to the US.
JN: What items did you take with you and why?
TN: We didn’t have any items left to bring along, we lost everything in the war.
JN: Did you and your family have to live in a refugee camp? Could you talk about your
memories living in the camp?
TN: We never lived in a refugee camp because we traveled by plane directly to the United States
from Vietnam through the H.O. program.
JN: Did you have to go through El Toro Marine Corps Air Station or Camp Pendleton when you
first arrived in the United States?
TN: No we didn’t, because when we arrived here via the H.O. program there was an association,
which helped sponsor us that had already rented a house for us to live in.
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JN: What were your initial impressions and experiences during your first few days of coming to
the United States?
TN: My initial impression when I came here to the United States was how big, modern and
civilized it was.
JN: What happened after you came to the U.S. and passed through the immigration control and
inspection?
TN: Before we came to the United States we had been issued a permit from the American
consulate in Vietnam; so all of our paperwork was complete when we arrived and the department
of immigration officials looked them over. The whole procedure was quite easy.
JN: Where was the first place you lived? What did you do to earn a living? Has your family lived
in one place or did you move around?
TN: The first place we lived was in the city of San Jose. I lived there working as an electrician
before moving down to Orange County in Southern California.
JN: How did you end up getting work and settling down in Southern California?
TN: I traveled from Vietnam to the United States, down to San Jose, and then from San Jose I
moved down to Southern California to earn a living. There were several acquaintances of mine
who came before me, and they showed me how to find a job so I could get by.
JN: How do you feel now about your decision to come to the U.S. to live?
TN: If I hadn’t come to the United States then my life now would be difficult having to live in
Vietnam because the regime over there would have no use for me.
JN: Why wouldn’t they have any use for you?
TN: Because my grandfather worked for the old regime and was an enemy of the current regime
therefore they would have no use for me. Anyone they consider an enemy is driven out from the
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new economy by every means, causing people to escape by sea, leave via the H.O. program, or
any other way possible thereby gradually getting rid of people like me. Therefore I wouldn’t be
able to get a job or earn a living over there.
JN: In your opinion, what’s the hardest part of starting a new life?
TN: The hardest part was the language, because I didn’t know how to speak English. So that was
my biggest challenge.
JN: Did anyone help you buy a home in the U.S.?
TN: Nobody helped me at all, and furthermore I don’t even have money to buy one.
JN: How did you find work? What are the different jobs that you have had?
TN: When I came here I studied to become a barber. After I passed my exams and got my
diploma I looked for hair salons where I could apply to work.
JN: Why did you choose to become a barber?
TN: I felt that I was getting older and that job is easier and less demanding.
JN: If you had to compare your native country with the community where you now live, what
would you say are the similarities and differences between them?
TN: The main difference between my former homeland and my new community here is the
difference in cultural and economic levels. Over there it is poor and backward while over here
everything is completely modern and civilized.
JN: Can you remember any funny story or experience of when you encountered cultural
differences or committed a cultural blunder?
TN: I had no blunders really, because I grow accustomed to wherever I happen to be, so those
things are just normal to me.
JN: Have you become an American citizen yet and why?
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TN: I’ve become an American citizen already. I passed my citizenship test.
JN: Can you tell me a little bit about your experience of becoming an American citizen? Do you
go to vote? Why or why not?
TN: In regards to my experience of taking the citizenship test, I had to study hard and try to
listen (carefully) to the test questions and remember what I had studied. I had to be able to listen
and understand the questions they asked so that I could answer them.
JN: Are you still in contact with your family or relatives in Vietnam? If so, could you tell me
who?
TN: All of my relatives have come to the United States so there’s no one left to contact.
JN: Could you tell me which songs or images cause you to miss Vietnam?
TN: I miss Vietnam whenever I hear military songs or songs from the Vietnam Republic, and
images from the wartime are deeply imprinted in my heart and mind. Wherever I go I still see the
soldiers and hear people singing in praise of those soldiers.
JN: What traditions or practices do you try to maintain? Why?
TN: The traditions and practices that I try to maintain are having an orderly routine in our family
life, helping parents and grandparents, and having respect for each other.
JN: Which traditions or practices have you been unable to hold on to or have had to change?
TN: We adapt to wherever we live, so those things don’t matter much.
JN: Do you often go to Little Saigon? What for? What do you think about Little Saigon?
TN: I am living in Little Saigon. When I go out into the streets there are Vietnamese people all
around me, which makes me feel like I’m living in a small city in Vietnam.
JN: In your opinion what will become of the Vietnamese culture in the United States? Is it
important to preserve Vietnamese cultural traditions? Why or why not?
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TN: There are some aspects of Vietnamese culture that we should keep such as maintaining
Vietnamese morals and manners. For example, children should respect their grandparents and
parents, and siblings should help one another. If we can’t retain those things then it’s not a big
deal because American society and Vietnamese society are quite different. In Vietnam everyone
lives according to different circumstances; for some people life is hard, while others are able to
receive assistance. Yet here in the U.S. most people are treated equal, and most people don’t
need charitable help. So that’s one distinction.
JN: Do you have any other specific memories or experiences that you want to share?
TN: I don’t have anything more to share. I lead a simple and ordinary life. No matter where we
go we still need to work in order to survive.