News-Info-Alerts

Re: From Vietnam to Afghanistan

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: January 07, 2003

"Officer in 82nd has traveled long road
By Tanya S. Biank
Staff writer

When Tho Nguyen left Vietnam at 16, he never looked back.

Staff photo by Marc Hall
Capt. Tho Nguyen, who left Vietnam when he was 16, is commander of Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He left Tuesday for duty in Afghanistan.

"I was happy to leave," he said. "If I had stayed two more years, I would have had to serve in the North Vietnamese Army."

Today, Nguyen is a 29-year-old captain in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.

His father fought the North as a company commander in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. After the fall of Saigon, he spent four years as a prisoner of war before escaping to the United States.

On Tuesday, his son, who commands a company of his own, left for a six-month deployment to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

"My biggest concern is bringing everyone from my company back," Nguyen said. "That's my biggest concern."

Nguyen's family's journey to the United States is one of hope, sacrifice, survival and the pursuit of a better life.

A few hours before leaving for Afghanistan, Nguyen talked about his family's plight and why living in the United States means so much to him.

"Coming from a background like I have, I guess I don't take things for granted," said Nguyen, who sports an easy smile and a shaved head. Dressed in desert fatigues, he had some down time before his flight left Pope Air Force Base.

"I have the first picture of what being poor is like and what it takes to be able to survive," he said. "I understand how fortunate we are to live in a country like this."

He doubts many of the 89 young men he commands in Delta Company know of his past.

War brings change



When Saigon fell, Nguyen was just 2. Like most South Vietnamese officer's families, Nguyen's was wealthy. He and his two brothers and sister each had a maid.

Everything changed when Saigon fell.

His parents don't talk much about those dark days. But Nguyen said his father never forgave Nixon for pulling American troops out and abandoning the South Vietnamese army.

Those who fought for the South didn't have much of a future when the communists took over.

Enlisted men languished in jails, and officers spent years in "re-education camps," which were actually hard-labor camps.

Nguyen's father spent four years in a re-education camp. He built roads in the Central Highlands of Vietnam before he escaped in 1979.

During this time, Nguyen's mother sold all of the family's possessions and moved the children from Hue to south of Saigon, where it would be easier for her to make a living in the markets.

One day she received a letter from her husband saying he had escaped from the camp. He asked her to save money so he could escape to Thailand by boat.

Nguyen said his father didn't dare come home because of the police. The communists were skeptical of South Vietnamese military families, and each month Nguyen's mother had to attend a communist meeting.

"Just to keep tight control," he said.

Nguyen's mother took money to her husband. She saved enough for two people - her husband and her 6-year-old son, Nguyen's older brother - to escape.

She and her other children would not see them again for 10 years.

"She is a very courageous woman," Nguyen said.

The boat ride was a nightmare.

"They got robbed by pirates," he said. "They took all the supplies, and they raped women on the boat."

It would take months for the boat to reach Thailand.

"They were pretty lucky that they made it, because a lot of people died who escaped by boat," he said.

Staff photo by Marc Hall
Capt. Tho Nguyen, center, commander of Company D, 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, stands with his troops Tuesday before their six-month deployment to Afghanistan.

At a refugee camp in Thailand, Nguyen's father applied for political asylum in the United States and was able to get U.S. sponsorship through a distant relative in Kalamazoo, Mich.

His father and brother came to the United States after two years at the camp.

Separation, reunion



Over the next eight years, the family corresponded by mail. His father sent and saved money so he could sponsor his own family.

"We wanted our family to be united," Nguyen said. "That was the big dream. To come to the U.S."

His father worked as a mechanic in a factory in Kalamazoo as he waited the five years it takes to become a citizen. He eventually became a quality-control supervisor. By the winter of 1989, his father had saved enough to prove to the U.S. government that he could take care of his family.

"I still remember the day we arrived in San Francisco," Nguyen said. "Wow, that was a picture."

From there the family took a connecting flight to Kalamazoo.

"It was my first time in a plane, first time in a car, first time seeing snow," he said.

Being reunited was amazing, but also difficult for a teenager who knew his father through pictures and letters.

"At first it seemed a little strange," he said. "He was gone for 14 years."

Adjusting to America



Nguyen didn't speak any English, and his older brother seemed more American than Vietnamese.

"And his Vietnamese wasn't that great," said Nguyen.

He took English classes at an adult-education center for a year before entering the 10th grade in public school.

"My first two years were horrible," he said of high school. "I didn't have any friends. Except for one, my English teacher, Mrs. Tammy Metz. She was the nicest lady I've ever met."

But by his senior year, Nguyen met his best friend, a hockey player, who introduced him to other people.

Nguyen attended Western Michigan University.

"That was the best experience I ever had," he said.

Nguyen made friends and enjoyed his freedom away from home. Maybe a little too much. His grades suffered, and his father suggested that he join the ROTC.

"Maybe you need to join the military to get some discipline," he told his son. He joined the ROTC and loved it.

He graduated from college and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army in December 1996.

From there Nguyen would go on to graduate from Ranger School, and then from the airborne and air assault schools.

He took over command of his company six months ago.

Nguyen said he sometimes still struggles with English and doesn't always get cultural references or jokes told by his soldiers.

"He's absolutely hardworking and big-hearted," said Nguyen's boss, Lt. Col. Mike Lerario, who commands the 2nd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. "I couldn't ask for a better guy to have. If I were a coach, he'd be my best player."

Although his parents, who know the worst of war, are worried, Nguyen is looking forward to serving in Afghanistan.

"I'm a Buddhist," he said. "So everything happens for a reason. There is nothing you can control, so I don't worry about it."

He added, "And I have 89 people looking out for me."

Staff writer Tanya Biank can be reached at biankt@fayettevillenc.com or 323-4848, extension 370.
Copyright 2003 The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer"