Picture above: A photo of my father and his family in 1952, a photo of my father in 1962, and a photo of my father during military training at Nha Trang in 1972.
Last year, I interviewed and wrote a blog entry about my mother's life in Vietnam and America right before and after the Fall of Saigon. These were events that lead up to the beginnings of the Pham family... from my mom's side of the story. This blog entry can be found by clicking the button below:
Last year, I interviewed and wrote a blog entry about my mother's life in Vietnam and America right before and after the Fall of Saigon. These were events that lead up to the beginnings of the Pham family... from my mom's side of the story. This blog entry can be found by clicking the button below:
This year, I want to find the other half of the Pham's story by interviewing my father about his life up until the time of having his four daughters, following the same format like my mother's interview. I ended up spending 3-4 hours interviewing my father and I got to hear some stories about his life that he's never told us about before. Parts of the interview is kept off of this blog be for specific reasons.
Note that all the Vietnamese locations mentioned in this blog entry can be found on Google Maps.
Note that all the Vietnamese locations mentioned in this blog entry can be found on Google Maps.
A short biography of my father
Paul Xuan-Khoi Pham.
Born on November 8th, 1948 in Thai Binh, (North) Vietnam.
In 2013, is 65-years-old.
Left Vietnam on April 30th, 1975, immediately after the Communists take-over, when he was 26.
Has one older brother and six older sisters [Now, 5 out of 8 are alive]
Has been married for 33 years and has four daughters.
Had me when he was 45, had his oldest at 33.
Attended Louisiana State University.
Born on November 8th, 1948 in Thai Binh, (North) Vietnam.
In 2013, is 65-years-old.
Left Vietnam on April 30th, 1975, immediately after the Communists take-over, when he was 26.
Has one older brother and six older sisters [Now, 5 out of 8 are alive]
Has been married for 33 years and has four daughters.
Had me when he was 45, had his oldest at 33.
Attended Louisiana State University.
Life before the Fall of Saigon
The French War was a 100-year war between the Vietnamese Nationalists and France. In World War II, in 1945, the Japanese ran over Vietnam and the French withdrew from Vietnam. After Wolrd War II, after Japan surrendered to the Alliance, the Vietnamese Nationalists controlled the country. During that time, Ho Chi Minh came from China with the communists and joined the Vietnamese Nationalist Movement. This new movement became the Vietnamese Nationalist Alliance, also called “Viet-Minh:” Viet for Vietnamese and Minh for Alliance. At this time, there was no "North" or "South" Vietnam.
The Alliance fought against the French when they came back after the World War in 1945, continuing the 100-year war that the French temporary withdrew from. In Central Vietnam, the Kings are under the French's protection and control while the Vietnamese Nationalists Movement was operating independently from the Kings. Therefore, there were two groups; the Government working with the French, and the Nationalist Movement (Viet-Minh) fighting against the French (but not against the Vietnamese Kings).
After the Nationalist Alliance won the Dien Bien Phu battle in 1954 and ended the French War, the communists betrayed the Nationalists Alliance and took over the North part of Vietnam, causing the Alliance to work with the Kings. The French and the Communist North signed the Geneva Conference, dividing Vietnam to the North and the South by using the 17th parallel as the dividing line. In 1955, many of the Northern Vietnamese citizens who could not stand the totalitarian of the Communist regime moved to the South through Hai Phong, a port-city controlled by the French during transition-period.
My father's family also escaped from a countryside town in the North, Thai Binh, to a port-city in the North that was controlled by the French, Hai Phong. From there, they moved from Hai Phong in the North to Saigon in the South by the French ship. From the Saigon area, the family moved to Rach Gia because the South Vietnamese government gave the family land to do farming in Rach Gia since they were a farming family. The family sold the land that was given in order to open a small grocery store (with only one of the sisters running the store since everyone else had their own families or went to school far away).
My father lived in Rach Gia while attending elementary school. After completing elementary school, he went to a boarding school in Chau Doc City in 1961 for middle school (junior high), then he went to Long Xuyen for high school in 1965.
There was an agreement between the North and South Vietnam to cease fire during the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) for two weeks. However, in 1968, the Communists (North) attacked South Vietnam on the day of the Vietnamese New Year. Five months after the Tet Offensive, my father graduated from high school and moved to Saigon to attend the Faculty of Science of Saigon University to major in Biochemistry and Biology.
My father planned to enter Medical School, but due to the war, he missed the exam and his chance to become a doctor.
The Alliance fought against the French when they came back after the World War in 1945, continuing the 100-year war that the French temporary withdrew from. In Central Vietnam, the Kings are under the French's protection and control while the Vietnamese Nationalists Movement was operating independently from the Kings. Therefore, there were two groups; the Government working with the French, and the Nationalist Movement (Viet-Minh) fighting against the French (but not against the Vietnamese Kings).
After the Nationalist Alliance won the Dien Bien Phu battle in 1954 and ended the French War, the communists betrayed the Nationalists Alliance and took over the North part of Vietnam, causing the Alliance to work with the Kings. The French and the Communist North signed the Geneva Conference, dividing Vietnam to the North and the South by using the 17th parallel as the dividing line. In 1955, many of the Northern Vietnamese citizens who could not stand the totalitarian of the Communist regime moved to the South through Hai Phong, a port-city controlled by the French during transition-period.
My father's family also escaped from a countryside town in the North, Thai Binh, to a port-city in the North that was controlled by the French, Hai Phong. From there, they moved from Hai Phong in the North to Saigon in the South by the French ship. From the Saigon area, the family moved to Rach Gia because the South Vietnamese government gave the family land to do farming in Rach Gia since they were a farming family. The family sold the land that was given in order to open a small grocery store (with only one of the sisters running the store since everyone else had their own families or went to school far away).
My father lived in Rach Gia while attending elementary school. After completing elementary school, he went to a boarding school in Chau Doc City in 1961 for middle school (junior high), then he went to Long Xuyen for high school in 1965.
There was an agreement between the North and South Vietnam to cease fire during the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) for two weeks. However, in 1968, the Communists (North) attacked South Vietnam on the day of the Vietnamese New Year. Five months after the Tet Offensive, my father graduated from high school and moved to Saigon to attend the Faculty of Science of Saigon University to major in Biochemistry and Biology.
My father planned to enter Medical School, but due to the war, he missed the exam and his chance to become a doctor.
Life at the Fall of Saigon and Coming to America
In 1972, while he was teaching Biology in a Catholic High School in Saigon, he was drafted into the army and fought in the war until he was wounded in 1975. During the convalescent, while he was resting and helping refugees at Phu Quoc Island, South Vietnam fell in the hands of the Communists' in the morning of April 30th.
He left the island that morning on a South Vietnamese Navy boat (the boat was meant for soldiers and their families/friends) to go to Thailand. While on the water, the boat was surrounded by American soldiers and they were asked to throw their weapons into the sea. The American soldiers then took the people in the Navy boat to the American Challenger ship, then they sank the Navy boat.
When the ship got to Guam, my father stayed at Guam for one night. The next morning, he boarded an American military plane that flew to Honolulu, where he stayed for two weeks in a Marriott hotel (possibly by Waikiki Beach). He then moved to Florida to live in a tent-city at Fort Walton Beach (in the Eglin Air Force base) for three months before moving to New Orleans.
He left the island that morning on a South Vietnamese Navy boat (the boat was meant for soldiers and their families/friends) to go to Thailand. While on the water, the boat was surrounded by American soldiers and they were asked to throw their weapons into the sea. The American soldiers then took the people in the Navy boat to the American Challenger ship, then they sank the Navy boat.
When the ship got to Guam, my father stayed at Guam for one night. The next morning, he boarded an American military plane that flew to Honolulu, where he stayed for two weeks in a Marriott hotel (possibly by Waikiki Beach). He then moved to Florida to live in a tent-city at Fort Walton Beach (in the Eglin Air Force base) for three months before moving to New Orleans.
Living in the United States
My father chose to move Louisiana thinking that people speak French there so that he doesn't have to learn English. In my father's school years, he learned French and Latin for 8 years, and he learned English for one year in high school... Because he was familiar with French and Latin's pronunciation, he hated English pronunciation because the written words can be pronounced completely different (like the word "read" and how it can be pronounced as "red" or "reed") compared to French or Latin.
In August of 1975, he moved to New Orleans and discovered that NONE [my dad actually emphasized that word] of the people speak French (some of the old people speak Cajun French instead of Modern French). At first, in New Orleans, he worked during the day at Howard Johnson Restaurant as a dishwasher for $1/hr for one week while going to school at night to learn English. A week later, they asked him to wash all the pots and pans while cleaning the dishes from the table for $1/hr, so he left to work for a supermarket for a $2.50/hr pumping gas for costumers. After months of working, the winter came and he quit because it was too cold. He then worked as a busboy for the Marriott Hotel where it was warm for $3/hr... and there was good food to eat for free! [He sounded so happy when he said that...].
In the Summer of 1976, he attended the University of New Orleans, planning to major in Business Administration.
In the Spring of 1977, he transferred to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and changed major to Chemical Engineering due to the advice of a math professor in his Business school...
To add in a side story of before the Fall of Saigon: on the 20th of April in 1975 when he left on a boat to Phu Quoc Island after he got wounded in the war, my father met family of two sisters, two brothers, and one of the sisters' baby on the boat. Because they seem tired, he helped them hold the baby all night while on the boat. Right after the Fall of Saigon he met one of the sisters again on the American Challenger while standing in line to get food. She introduced him to a third sister, and she told him that they have another younger sister who was sick in the cabin. After leaving the American Challenger, they never met each other again... until a wedding in New Orleans.
In the summer of 1977, my father was a best man his friend's wedding in New Orleans. At this wedding, he met a bridesmaid who happened to be the youngest sister of the three ladies he met in 2 years ago on the boat to Phu Quoc and the American Challenger ship that left Vietnam. He and this bridesmaid started to date each other after this wedding. In the Fall of 1979, he graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering, then he worked for Exxon in Baton Rouge. In the summer of 1980, he got married to the bridesmaid he met in New Orleans.
In the winter of 1981, they had their first child, then in 1985, he moved to California to work as a Real Estate agent due to a friend who was very successful in real estate. In 1990, he moved to Houston, Texas because of his mother-in-law's arrival from Vietnam. She wanted them to move to Houston in order to have more kids and to avoid the risk of earthquakes in California. When they moved in 1990, he got a job with Stone & Webster in the winter and he continues to work there until today.
In 1993, he and his wife had "a second rascal" [quote from my father]. Less than two years later in 1995, they had two more daughters, a set of twins.
And this concludes the beginning of the Pham family's beginnings... from the Father's side of the story.
In August of 1975, he moved to New Orleans and discovered that NONE [my dad actually emphasized that word] of the people speak French (some of the old people speak Cajun French instead of Modern French). At first, in New Orleans, he worked during the day at Howard Johnson Restaurant as a dishwasher for $1/hr for one week while going to school at night to learn English. A week later, they asked him to wash all the pots and pans while cleaning the dishes from the table for $1/hr, so he left to work for a supermarket for a $2.50/hr pumping gas for costumers. After months of working, the winter came and he quit because it was too cold. He then worked as a busboy for the Marriott Hotel where it was warm for $3/hr... and there was good food to eat for free! [He sounded so happy when he said that...].
In the Summer of 1976, he attended the University of New Orleans, planning to major in Business Administration.
In the Spring of 1977, he transferred to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and changed major to Chemical Engineering due to the advice of a math professor in his Business school...
To add in a side story of before the Fall of Saigon: on the 20th of April in 1975 when he left on a boat to Phu Quoc Island after he got wounded in the war, my father met family of two sisters, two brothers, and one of the sisters' baby on the boat. Because they seem tired, he helped them hold the baby all night while on the boat. Right after the Fall of Saigon he met one of the sisters again on the American Challenger while standing in line to get food. She introduced him to a third sister, and she told him that they have another younger sister who was sick in the cabin. After leaving the American Challenger, they never met each other again... until a wedding in New Orleans.
In the summer of 1977, my father was a best man his friend's wedding in New Orleans. At this wedding, he met a bridesmaid who happened to be the youngest sister of the three ladies he met in 2 years ago on the boat to Phu Quoc and the American Challenger ship that left Vietnam. He and this bridesmaid started to date each other after this wedding. In the Fall of 1979, he graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering, then he worked for Exxon in Baton Rouge. In the summer of 1980, he got married to the bridesmaid he met in New Orleans.
In the winter of 1981, they had their first child, then in 1985, he moved to California to work as a Real Estate agent due to a friend who was very successful in real estate. In 1990, he moved to Houston, Texas because of his mother-in-law's arrival from Vietnam. She wanted them to move to Houston in order to have more kids and to avoid the risk of earthquakes in California. When they moved in 1990, he got a job with Stone & Webster in the winter and he continues to work there until today.
In 1993, he and his wife had "a second rascal" [quote from my father]. Less than two years later in 1995, they had two more daughters, a set of twins.
And this concludes the beginning of the Pham family's beginnings... from the Father's side of the story.
The Other Stories
My father's side of the story overlaps and connects to my mother's side of the story. This connection will be discussed in my "Immigration Roots" blog entry.