T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Hiep Khac Nguyen #
4700.0970
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnamese refugee
INTERVIEWER: Dudley Meier, Jr.
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 11/28/75
FOCUS DATES:
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1419
Hiep was an electrical engineer, now a draftsman at Western
Electric; born in North Vietnam, left in 1954 when country split
up; early education in government school, college; worked for
American firms in Vietnam; left Vietnam April 29, day before fall
of Saigon, in a fishing boat; many people in uncovered boat;
floated on sea for almost three days; floating pier set up, too
many people; lost their belongings en route; journey to Guam;
heat in Guam; lived in military tent in Guam; American soldiers
in Guam; came to Camp Pendleton, CA; temperature in California;
cold area in Central Highlands of Vietnam; American friend he
contacted who agreed to sponsor him; Nguyen's car purchases;
problems for Vietnamese learning English language; good job at
Western Electric; doesn't remember his move to South Vietnam as a
child; 1954 evacuation plan; growing seriousness of situation in
1954, Communists taking over; family background; father died,
mother tried to take care of all the children; Nguyen's brother;
in US, he's never been stopped by police or asked for any papers;
needed permission for gatherings in Vietnam; enjoys freedom of
US; comparison of US and Vietnam governments; power of US
government, Congress; good and bad aspects of freedom; Nguyen
feels very old at the age of 28; have to protect your country if
you want it to be free; military service unpopular with young
people in Vietnam; correlations between strength and money;
Nguyen loves his country, hopes to return someday to visit;
governmental protection that US citizens enjoy; relatives in
North Vietnam; worries he might have killed his own relatives
when he was a soldier; Vietnam's dealings with stronger countries
of US, Russia and China; Communists signed agreement, failed to
keep promises; limited access to information; terms Viet Minh and
Viet Cong; he was so happy when he was a soldier; wounds he
received when he was a soldier; military buddies; hunger,
shortage of food supplies in military; was very young, retired
from military at age 21; how Saigon fell quickly at the end; US
Army was stronger than ARVN, better air support; Viet Cong had
very strong ideals; diet of Viet Cong.
Tape 1419, Side B
Finding Viet Cong bodies; Communist idea only benefits poor
people; new ideas about Communism in South Vietnam different from
old ideas; how young people are; Communist regime denies people
right to do things; Vietnamese soldiers who stay in jungles; age
of Vietnam compared to relative youth of US; US citizens
protected by constitution; US stance on corporal punishment;
degree of liberation of American women; favorable opinions of
American people; Vietnamese mainly farmers, agricultural country;
hopes to eventually visit Vietnam, see his family; people in US
can work hard, get things that weren't available in Vietnam; in
Vietnam, all cash, no credit; rich people in Vietnam; wages of
workers in Vietnam; cheap goods in Vietnam; his wife's work;
opinions on women's liberation; gender roles, old custom of man
having multiple wives; religion in Vietnam; Communism and
religion; most Vietnamese refugees who came to US are Christian;
church attendance in Nguyen's family; treating sickness with
prayer and medicine; belief in God; strength of communists;
Communists lack right to gather freely in groups; Communists
indoctrinating children; changes in government in Vietnam,
stability; President Thieu's accomplishments and failures;
opinions on Diem, good for North Vietnamese; people traveling
from North to South Vietnam in 1954; French in Vietnam;
minorities in the US, prejudice; Vietnamese hatred of Chinese,
comparison to Jews as businesspeople.
TAPES: 1
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 1 ½ hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 3 page index
RESTRICTIONS: copyright retained by interviewer
and/or his heirs