The post Lessons From Fleeing Vietnam 50 Years Ago appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

I can’t help but look back and be grateful for the decisions my father and mother made when faced with fear. getty A series of decisions in April 1975 completely changed my life. One of those was the US’s decision not to re-engage with the North Vietnamese Army as they rapidly approached Saigon, our home. I decided to include this part of my life in my upcoming book, Underdog Nation. On the night of April 21, my father woke my mom, me and my three sisters. Under the cover of darkness, our family hurried to the airport with what we could carry, left our dog behind and boarded a US C-130 aircraft, and flew to the Philippines—while my father stayed behind to fight. At the time, I was more confused than afraid. Among the other families aboard were other South Vietnamese soldiers—men like my father. Why was my father choosing to stay? I was convinced this meant we would be returning soon. A week later, in the refugee camp on Guam, the news crackled over the radio. Saigon had fallen. We had lost the war. South Vietnam was gone, Saigon renamed as Ho Chi Minh City. The life I had known for ten years was gone. We had no way to learn if my father was dead, captured, or on the run. A mystery we would have to live with for over a decade. My mother—a middle school teacher—was left alone with four young children. The next decision was hers to make. Despite the fact that we didn’t speak English and despite the fact that we had family in Paris, my mother chose to take us to the US. In the face of fear and uncertainty, she made a brave choice that changed our lives. With the fiftieth anniversary of…

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Filed under: News - @ May 14, 2025 11:20 pm