In South Vietnam I am not really sure exactly what my parents did. I know some stories about myself how I use to help out by using my tricycle to bring wood to the back and I would spend all day with that. I would start off the morning by going through the market looking for food. I would wait for the vendors to open and get food from them. At this time I was only 2 or 3. They obviously did not make things spicy as I was just a child. I would wait until they made the food spicy and would refuse to eat it until that was done. As a child I did not have money to pay, so at the end of the day my parents would go around and pay people. I was rather spoiled as I just spent the day playing and eating at various vendors. This was the start of my love for spicy foods which probably helped lead to my current situation. The one thing that I know that my father did was deliver things that were difficult to get. I do not know all of the details, but if you wanted something he could get it.
My dad was part of of the Navy and as the war was ending he had the option to leave immediately and escape to the US. As the war was ending and South Vietnam had lost, people were evacuating anyway that they could. A couple of years ago Melanie and I had watched a documentary about the ending of the war and it seemed tough. At this time my parents were not married and my father had the option of leaving on the Navy ships. He decided to stay and go back to my mother. In principle it is so easy to say that you would go back for love. Sitting in the comfort of my home the choice is easy. When you are part of the losing side and in the military you know that when you go back and surrender things will not be easy. He went back and he would have to go to labour camps periodically to do work. I do not know all of the details and I am not sure if I want to know. They eventually got married and wanted to have a better life for us. They saved up and paid everything to smuggle us out of the country. The escape was not easy and a lot of people died trying to escape. I found some news articles online about it. My dad has no interest in CFL football and never has. I asked him about it one day and he does not know why they wrote that.
This next article is what I based my speech on for years in elementary school.
One thing I remember when talking to my parents is I am not sure I would have the strength to make the choices that they did. The resilience and fortitude to get through those times. My parents know people who had family members die trying to escape. I know it says that they did not have a choice in the matter but it is still a rough decision. I am grateful for the church and everything that they did to help us out. I am grateful for my parents to survive and help us out with it.
During the escape we had to pay everything in order to leave on the boats. They separated the men, women and children and at one point they were trying to get my father to pay the fees. They did not believe that he had paid and were getting ready to kill him. My grandmother (mom’s mom) saw this and was trying to hide the site from my mother. Another person vouched for my father and let him live. Stories like this terrify me because I do not know what I would do in these situations or how I would act. I can say how I think I would act, but when it comes down to it I do not know what I would do. If I had to only choose between saving my wife or the kids, whom would I choose. These are decisions that I am lucky I do not have to face. I will share more stories of gratitude for my parents in upcoming blogs. This early lesson in life, where my dad knows that we were lucky and appreciative is one of the reasons why I always try and give back to others. Complete strangers helped out my family and supported us. Now that I am in a situation where I am successful I need to give back to the community as well. Be good to others, you never know when you will be down and need assistance. Any small gesture helps, even if it is not monetary. Most of the memories from when I was a child was about experiences and knowledge I gained from people.
Quoc Hao