Many are talking about Episode 27 of the 18th Airborne Corps podcast, which tells the incredible, inspiring story of Army Lt Colonel Ken Nguyen. Ken's story is one shared by many Vietnam war refugees, ~ 1.3M of whom now live in the US.
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Ken was born in Saigon in 1975, just before the capital of S. Vietnam fell to the communists. His father [pictured here, 1959 with Ken's Mom], an LTC with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), was captured, tortured, & forced into hard labor & political indoctrination
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This picture of Ken's family (Ken is the baby) in March 1975 is the only photo the family was allowed to keep; all other photographs of Ken's Dad in uniform, along with any remnants of his uniform, were destroyed by the communists.
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[4/7] Ken tried to escape Vietnam at age 12 in 1982 and was captured & put in a Communist Prison. Eventually his family escaped in a boat to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and were granted political asylum to the United States as political refugees. [pic: Ken + sister in Saigon in 1980]
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Ken’s father finally left Vietnam in 1995 and never recovered emotionally from the war or its aftermath; he died in San Francisco just after 9/11, feeling like he’d lost his country and been abandoned by the Americans that encouraged him to fight the north.
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Ken, who joined the Army after watching the 9/11 attacks live on television, has always served in his father’s honor. Here's Ken and his Mom at his Armor OBC graduation in 2005.
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18th Airborne Corps podcast, Ep 27 [available now on Apple podcasts] is the story of hardship and incredible odds, one that was difficult for Ken to tell. It's also a story of who we are as an Army: a diverse force representative of the greatest values across our country.
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