Download or read book The Legacy of the Vietnamese Boat People written by Lê Quang Vịnh and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After 70 years of Communism in the north Việt Nam (and the 47 years they rules the south), they brainwashed three generations. We, the 'Boat People', could not wait for anyone to claim our freedom for us. We fled, not as cowards, but as loving people who wished only a decent world for our children to grow up in. With all due respect, please read this book, then read it again. Then teach your children, and grandchildren, about what we lost. Lê Quang Vinh (Vinh Lê) is a Vietnamese refugee who arrived in Perth WA in 1978. A young English teacher (Karen) once told the author how her brother (Ross) died fighting as part of the Australian forces during the latter part of the 1954-1975 Việt Nam War. In 1966, when Lê Quang Vinh was just 12 years old, a communist Division (which included two local regiments) ambushed Ross's D company (6 Battalion of the Roayl Australian Regiment) in the rubber plantations of Nui Dat under very heavy rainfall. The battle lasted for three days and resulted in the deaths of 18 Australian soldiers with 24 wounded. On the other side, 1500 Việt Cộng were killed and 350 were wounded. After the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, the War ended. Unfortunately, the winners were the communists and the mission of the South-aligned international forces (to free locals from the tyranny of Communism) as never accomplished. Not only that, but what really happened before, during and after the War was not taught in schools in Việt Nam. Any anti-Communist debate was (and still is) brutally stifled and history is whitewashed for the Party's benefit as a matter of course. These outcomes convinced Lê Quang Vinh that the South Vietnamese people owed their international friends (in particular, Australians) two great debts. The first one can never be fully re-paid: the deaths of the 521 Australian soldiers who died in the battlefields of Việt Nam. The second, however, is the acceptance of the thousands of refugees who settled down in Australia during and after the war. This book was written to pay tribute to the over 58,000 Americans and 521 Australians who sacrificed their lives in the great, if ultimately Quixotic, battle for Freedom and Democracy in Việt Nam. It was also written to set the record straight. It may not always be written in perfect English (which is, after all, the author's most recently acquired tongue) but it is very much from the heart." -- back and dust covers.
Download or read book I Did Not Miss the Boat written by Lea Tran and published by Lea Tran. This book was released on 2020-09 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lea Tran begins her memoir with vivid details of the historically-significant Vietnam War era as she and her family experienced the upheaval when the communists brought down Saigon and their world was forever changed. With extraordinary courage and determination, Tran's resourceful father managed to get his family out of the country, albeit as "boat people." "Lea Tran tells her family's refugee story, giving a poignant and moving voice to the many refugees who risked their lives fleeing Vietnam," said Pastor Tim Rauk, one of the many Americans who sponsored refugees during that crisis. In this compelling story, the plot thickens for the refugees as they endure the dangers of the open seas, attacks by pirates, and abrupt rejection, just when they finally reach a port they thought would be their salvation. In I Did Not Miss the Boat, Tran writes, "There is a misconception that once refugees settle in a new country, problems are solved, but this is false?I learned that fitting into the American mainstream does not guarantee happiness, unless I deal with my past, make peace with my identity, and accept who I really am." The intent of the book is not only to recount a perilous yet amazing adventure, but to inspire people to look deeper into their roots, understand their early influences, and discover connections between past adversity and profound opportunity. "No matter how difficult your challenges, or how dire your situation seems, you have the power to navigate your own way through. You can build your own boat so you never have to miss one," writes Tran, who also delivers her motivational message to audiences as a TEDx guest and keynote speaker. More information is available on the author's web site https://www.leatran.com/
Download or read book The Legacy of The Vietnamese Boat People Hardcover written by Lê Quang Vinh and published by . This book was released on 2023-03-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FOREWORD I have visited Việt Nam (Vietnam) on more than a dozen occasions, mainly for business but I have also travelled through the country as a tourist. However, my knowledge and understanding of Vietnamese history, society and culture is limited so in no way am I in a position to speak authoritatively on the historical contents or any interpretation of events described in this book, The Legacy of the Vietnamese Boat People. It is written by my colleague and friend Lê Quang Vinh, who with his family are boat people. Much of what I know about Việt Nam has been gleaned from my visits to the country and informed by the author of this book, particularly when I was travelling with him on many of my visits to the country. Clearly, I am not in a position to provide an informed critique of the contents of this publication so instead I shall focus my comments on certain characteristics, beliefs and behaviours of the author that have driven him to undertake the massive task of producing this book which covers over 4,000 years of Vietnamese history and culture. In this book he gives his own interpretation of the importance of many of the significant events that occurred in the history of Việt Nam, with particular emphasis on the period since 1900. The book provides an even deeper focus on more recent events around the civil war in the country and the political, social, and cultural changes that occurred after the conclusion of hostilities in 1975. My initial contact with the author was early in the first decade of this century when he approached me as the then Principal of Tuart College about promoting the College's educational programs to the local Vietnamese community. He had identified that the adult ethos of the institution and its educational programs which were supported by a strong English as a Second Language program would be invaluable to assist local Vietnamese aiming to undertake tertiary education. Due to the author's knowledge of the local Vietnamese community, his enthusiasm and commitment to encouraging local Vietnamese to take up the educational opportunities offered by the College, and the promotional efforts he made, this project was successful both for local Vietnamese and the College. Buoyed by this success, he then turned his attention to promoting the College to students in Việt Nam who were aspiring to undertake their tertiary education studies in Australia, particularly in Western Australia. It was on this educationally and commercially successful project that I worked most closely with him over about seven years before I retired in 2010. During this time that I went through a massive learning curve about the Vietnamese educational system, individual schools with whom I developed particular relationships, Vietnamese teachers and their students, the aspirations Vietnamese parents had for their children and the Vietnamese society and its culture. The author's contribution to developing my knowledge base about and the success of the venture in Việt Nam was vital and invaluable. The author is a man whose life experiences and interests are many and varied, and during the time I have known him I have come to recognise his many admiral character traits. He has demonstrated that he is a keen and conscientious worker with a lovely sense of humour and with a thoughtful and compassionate nature that expresses itself in his willingness to help people improve their lives and develop their potential as fully as possible.
Download or read book Voices of Vietnamese Boat People written by Mary Terrell Cargill and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-11-04 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On April 30, 1975, the Hanoi government of North Vietnam took control over the South. South Vietnamese, particularly "intellectuals" and those thought to have been associated with the previous regime, underwent terrible punishment, persecution and "re-education." Seeking their freedom, thousands of South Vietnamese took to the sea in rickety boats, often with few supplies, and faced the dangers of nature, pirates, and starvation. While the sea and its danger claimed many lives, those who made it to the refugee camps still faced struggle and hardships in their quest for freedom. Here are collected the narratives of nineteen men and women who survived the ordeal of escape by sea. Today, they live in the United States as students, professors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and craftspeople who have chosen to tell the stories of their struggles and their triumph. Each narrative is accompanied by biographical information. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book The Legacy of the Vietnamese Boat People written by Lê Quang Vinh and published by . This book was released on 2023-03-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Boat People written by Carina Hoang and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic exploration of the plight of Vietnamese refugees who left their country on boats from 1975 through 1996 in search of safety and freedom.
Download or read book Terms of Refuge written by Court Robinson and published by Zed Books. This book was released on 1998 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For half a century (ever since the Japanese invasion of 1942), much of Southeast Asia has been racked by war. In the last 20 years alone, some three million people fled their homes in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. This book is their story. It is also the story of the international community's response. Spearheading this was the United Nations agency responsible, UNHCR. It pioneered innovations like the Orderly Departure Programme, anti-piracy and rescue-at-sea efforts, and later on, ambitious reintegration projects for returnees. Today the camps in Southeast Asia are closed. Half a million people have returned home. Over two million have started new lives in the United States, Canada, Australia and France. This compelling book is the history of this modern exodus. It also takes stock and poses important questions. How did the flight of refugees and international response evolve? How do we measure the achievements and the failures of that international effort? What has been the legacy in Asia itself? And what lessons can be drawn for use in other refugee situations around the world?
Download or read book Late Thoughts on an Old War written by Philip D. Beidler and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Vietnam veteran and scholar draws on personal memories of his time in Vietnam, bringing the war back in chapters on vocabulary, music, literature, and film, and examining how the immediacy of Vietnam's costs is dealt with in an evasive way by America.
Download or read book Fourth Uncle in the Mountain written by Quang Van Nguyen and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-10-03 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set during the French and American wars in South Vietnam, Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is the true story of an orphan, Quang Van Nguyen, adopted by a sixty-four-year-old monk, Thau, who carries great responsibility for his people as a barefoot doctor. Thau manages against all odds to raise his son to follow in his footsteps and in doing so saves him, as well as a part of Vietnam's esoteric knowledge from the Vietnam holocaust. Thau is wanted by the French regime and occasionally must flee in to the jungle, where he is perfectly at home living among the animals. As wise and resourceful as Thau is, he meets his match in his mischievous son. Quang is more interested in learning Cambodian sorcery and martial arts than in developing his skills and wisdom according to his father's plan. Fourth Uncle in the Mountain is an odyssey of a single-father folk hero and his foundling son in a land ravaged by the atrocities of war. It is a classic story complete with humor, tragedy, and insight, from a country where ghosts and magic are real.
Download or read book Where the Wind Leads written by Dr. Vinh Chung and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The remarkable first-hand account of Vinh Chung, a Vietnamese refugee, and his family’s daring escape from communist oppression for the chance of a better life in America. Discover a story of personal sacrifice, redemption, endurance against almost insurmountable odds, and what it truly means to be American. Vinh Chung was born in South Vietnam, just eight months after it fell to the communists in 1975. His family was wealthy, controlling a rice-milling empire worth millions; but within months of the communist takeover, the Chungs lost everything and were reduced to abject poverty. Knowing that their children would have no future under the new government, the Chungs decided to flee the country. In 1979, they joined the legendary “boat people” and sailed into the South China Sea, despite knowing that an estimated two hundred thousand of their countrymen had already perished at the hands of brutal pirates and violent seas. Where the Wind Leads follows Vinh Chung and his family on their desperate journey from pre-war Vietnam. Vinh shares: The family’s perilous journey through pirate attacks on a lawless sea Their miraculous rescue and a new home in the unlikely town of Fort Smith, Arkansas Vinh’s struggled against poverty, discrimination, and a bewildering language barrier His graduation from Harvard Medical School Where the Wind Leads is Vinh’s tribute to the courage and sacrifice of his parents, a testimony to his family’s faith, and a reminder to people everywhere that the American dream, while still possible, carries with it a greater responsibility.
Download or read book Soldier On written by Tran B. Quan and published by . This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A family story, a war story, and a road trip story that together give voice to the far-flung experience of the Vietnamese diaspora in America.
Download or read book Chickenhawk written by Robert Mason and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-03-29 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true, bestselling story from the battlefield that faithfully portrays the horror, the madness, and the trauma of the Vietnam War More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger. "Very simply the best book so far about Vietnam." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Download or read book The Committed written by Viet Thanh Nguyen and published by Grove Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The long-awaited follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Sympathizer, which has sold more than one million copies worldwide, The Committed follows the man of two minds as he arrives in Paris in the early 1980s with his blood brother Bon. The pair try to overcome their pasts and ensure their futures by engaging in capitalism in one of its purest forms: drug dealing. Traumatized by his reeducation at the hands of his former best friend, Man, and struggling to assimilate into French culture, the Sympathizer finds Paris both seductive and disturbing. As he falls in with a group of left-wing intellectuals whom he meets at dinner parties given by his French Vietnamese “aunt,” he finds stimulation for his mind but also customers for his narcotic merchandise. But the new life he is making has perils he has not foreseen, whether the self-torture of addiction, the authoritarianism of a state locked in a colonial mindset, or the seeming paradox of how to reunite his two closest friends whose worldviews put them in absolute opposition. The Sympathizer will need all his wits, resourcefulness, and moral flexibility if he is to prevail. Both highly suspenseful and existential, The Committed is a blistering portrayal of commitment and betrayal that will cement Viet Thanh Nguyen’s position in the firmament of American letters.
Download or read book Children of the Boat People written by Nathan Caplan and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the reasons for the extraordinary educational success in America of the children of the Boat People
Download or read book Body Counts written by Yen Le Espiritu and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2014-08-23 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Body Counts: The Vietnam War and Militarized Refuge(es) examines how the Vietnam War has continued to serve as a stage for the shoring up of American imperialist adventure and for the (re)production of American and Vietnamese American identities. Focusing on the politics of war memory and commemoration, this book retheorizes the connections among history, memory, and power and refashions the fields of American studies, Asian American studies, and refugee studies not around the narratives of American exceptionalism, immigration, and transnationalism but around the crucial issues of war, race, and violence—and the history and memories that are forged in the aftermath of war. At the same time, the book moves decisively away from the “damage-centered” approach that pathologizes loss and trauma by detailing how first- and second-generation Vietnamese have created alternative memories and epistemologies that challenge the established public narratives of the Vietnam War and Vietnamese people. Explicitly interdisciplinary, Body Counts moves between the humanities and social sciences, drawing on historical, ethnographic, cultural, and virtual evidence in order to illuminate the places where Vietnamese refugees have managed to conjure up social, public, and collective remembering.
Download or read book The Tragedy of the Vietnam War written by Van Nguyen Duong and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What Americans call the Vietnam War actually began in December 1946 with a struggle between the communists and the French for possession of the country--but Vietnam's strategic position in southeast Asia inevitably led to the involvement of other countries. Written by an officer in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, this poignant memoir seeks to clarify the nuances of South Vietnam's defeat. From the age of 12, Van Nguyen Duong watched as the conflict affected his home, family, village and friends. He discusses not only the day-to-day hardships of wartime but his postwar forced relocation and eventual imprisonment. A special focus is on the anguish caused by the illusive reality of Vietnamese independence. The political forces at work north and south, the hardships suffered by RVNAF soldiers after the 1975 U.S. withdrawal, and the effects of reunification on the Vietnamese people are discussed.
Download or read book Vietnam and Other American Fantasies written by Howard Bruce Franklin and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a cultural historian, this text offers a wide-ranging exploration of the causes, meaning and continuing significance of the American war in Vietnam, arguing that the war was not a mistake, or a quagmire but a defining event in global history.
