Kickin' off 2020 with some war stories from my parents! · 3:36am Jan 2nd, 2020
So, my mom invited some friends over, and at some point while we were having dinner, the conversation turned to comparing the Korean and Vietnam wars, because her friends were Korean, and my parents (even though they aren't fully Vietnamese) came from Vietnam. I already knew quite a bit of my dad's side of the story, but until today I really haven't heard all that much about my mom's experience in Vietnam. So, I listened in, and now I'ma post because this is 2020 and I'm some guy on the internet.
My mom came from a well-off (underground) coffee business in Vietnam. They were disguised as a small coffee roasting/grinding business to avoid the communists, but in reality, took orders from much larger international coffee businesses (of which she never mentioned the names of). They used the money earned from this business to buy their way out of Vietnam and away from the invading North. My mom recalls that whenever a patrol officer from the North passed by in the market, she and the rest of her family would grab their display jars of coffee grinds and make a mad dash for safety, as the communist officers were known at the time for rampant corruption, and even organized crime and theft in plain view. In order to protect their business, this basic coffee storefront was more or less just a guise to distract attention from the bigger sales that they were making. As I mentioned earlier, the money that they earned largely went into buying their escape from the country. According to my mom, who was 10 at the time when they escaped, it cost 10 gold pieces per person in order for her mom (my grandmother) to bring her family onto a disguised fishing boat out of Vietnam. I have no idea how big each piece was or how much they were worth, but given the family of five that my mom was in, 50 gold pieces would be a hefty price no matter what.
My grandmother (on my mom's side) also had a gun put to her head while being forced to sign over the house she had just built for her family. My mom said that she was at school when this happened, but miraculously, my grandmother would manage to run after signing, making her way to the 3rd floor of the then-new house, and from there escaped to a neighbor's house where she called the police. Apparently, my grandmother had some family that personally knew some of the higher-ups in the North Vietnamese government, and this would crucially serve to buy them some time before escape. At the very least, it helped save my grandma's life. This happened before they escaped the country.
My dad, on the other hand, also came from Vietnam as a refugee. His family owned a bicycle/motorcycle shop that also did repairs. He was the 7th child (if I remember correctly) out of 10, and so he hardly had any chance when he was young to go out and do anything. Instead, he just kinda stuck around at home doing whatever.
However, when North Vietnam invaded, the invading forces took control of the shop. My dad's family tried to escape, but they were unfortunate enough to be caught before they could get out, and so they were put into a labor camp. Naturally, I'm here and posting this blog, so they kinda sorta obviously escaped successfully from the camp.
Both my mom and my dad boarded separate ships out of Vietnam. My mom originally was going to board a small fishing boat with my grandparents and her 3-month old sister, but the boat sank before they could board it, so they had to wait for another one. Eventually, they did, but it was stuffed beyond belief, with my mom saying that they were quite literally packed like sardines under the deck. But, since she was only 10, and her sister was only 3 months old, one of the sailors on the ship decided that her family could stay in his cabin instead. And so, they rode the ship to Hong Kong, where they waited at shore for nearly 6 months until they could finally board a second ship taking them to the United States.
My dad, however, would stay a little longer, and would spend some time in the Philippines before arriving in the US. From there, my dad lived in Washington for some time near Seattle, while my mom would spend the rest of her childhood in California. Eventually, they both moved to Utah, and met in a restaurant that my mom was working in. My dad went back to Vietnam once before to see what had changed, but he didn't like it there and came back to the US.
And that's just about all for what I know about my family history. I did get a vague mentioning from my mom saying that my great grandfather on my mom's side was a wealthy Chinese businessman, but she never elaborated.
Anyway, that's all. End of story. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wow. That's a damn cool story.
I agree with Thunderous, that was certainly quite a story