Posted on 11/08/2009 7:37:08 PM PST by Former Military Chick
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — As South Vietnam crumbled under advancing North Vietnamese forces 34 years ago, 5-year-old Hung Ba Le and his family escaped and eventually found refuge on a U.S. Navy ship.
This week, he returns to the land of his birth for the first time. And it is a U.S. Navy ship — the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen that he commands — that will take him there.
On April 30, 1975, Saigon’s fall was imminent. Le’s father, a South Vietnamese navy officer, had just assumed command of the Nha Be Naval Support Activity Base after learning the previous commander left the country without warning.
He led his sailors until the last possible moment. But finding himself unable to communicate with his headquarters and fearing the impending collapse of the government, he ordered his men to go home and be with their families.
In his online memoir, “The Journey of Destiny,” Le’s father wrote: “It was over. There was no one willing to fight because there was nothing for which to fight. The country was about to collapse under the Vietnamese Communist. I was so desperate, angry, and upset in my heart.”
Now the younger Le transits the same waters where he and his family sought refuge more than three decades ago.
“I feel blessed to be where I’m at today,” Le, the first Vietnamese-American to command a U.S. Navy ship, said during a phone interview from sea Tuesday. “It feels very neat to think that we left on a U.S. Navy ship, and to come back on one is pretty awesome.”
After the fall of Saigon, Le’s family escaped on a fishing trawler. Le’s father led the vessel and its 400 refugees out to sea on April 30, 1975. Numerous times, the younger Le said, the refugees were refused assistance from passing ships.
As Le’s father navigated the boat out to sea, he was leaving behind more than his native country: His four oldest children, living in the family’s hometown of Hue, were unable meet the rest of the family before the trawler departed.
After days at sea, sleep-deprived and hungry, Le, three other siblings, his parents and the other refugees were taken aboard the USS Barbour County, a ship participating in Operation Frequent Wind — the evacuation of foreigners and South Vietnamese from Saigon.
The Barbour County took the refugees to the Philippines.
“The cool ocean breeze could not comfort the wave of sorrow in the heart of this Vietnamese refugee,” the elder Le wrote in his memoir.
The Le family eventually made their way to Camp Pendleton, Calif., where they were kept in a refugee camp for several weeks.
They soon found sponsorship from an American family and made the trek to northern Virginia, where they would eventually settle.
With no money, Le’s father worked various jobs to support the family before settling into a job at Giant Food, a supermarket chain.
“We had some great help along the way from our sponsors,” the younger Le recalled.
Although the family’s journey to gain U.S. citizenship lasted eight years, Le describes his experience in America as one of little struggle.
“I always felt lucky to come to America when I did,” he said.
In 1983, the naturalization process concluded and the family’s four oldest children were permitted to join the family.
With a family deeply rooted in naval heritage, Le said that as a teenager getting accepted to the U.S. Naval Academy was his goal.
“I was never pressured over the years from my father to do so,” he said Tuesday as his ship steamed toward its scheduled Saturday port call to Da Nang with USS Blue Ridge. “But [I] enjoyed being able to follow in his footsteps.”
Le’s father recently told him that following his son’s career, and seeing him command a Navy warship, has added years to his life.
Graduating from the Naval Academy with merit in 1992, Le was designated as a surface warfare officer. Four ships and 17 years later, he finds himself leading one of the Navy’s premier warships back to a land of which he has few memories.
“It’s amazing to get an opportunity to get to go back, and one that I don’t know if I would have had otherwise,” said Le, who hopes to reconnect with relatives still in the country. “America gave my family a lot of opportunity, so I enjoy giving back by serving.”
Would Love to Shake His Hand.
What a Testament to the True Nature of America!
Amen, I read this in the Stars and Stripes and found it quite powerful, glad you enjoyed it, thank you for your post. ~FMC
The USS Lassen is named after CDR Clyde Lassen who was awarded the Medal of Honor for a rescue flying an H-2 in Viet Nam. He was the Skipper of HT-8 when I went through flight school. We must remember these men.
Thank you for adding your insight to the thread, this is how we will remember him, and what a wonderful personal tribute! ~FMC
This is what is great with America!
With that said, I wonder whether Lt. J. Kerry will join him in a Christmas dinner in Cambodia??
During the Vietnam War, an ARVN officer who was seriously wounded in an ambush killed himself when his men exposed themselves to enemy fire while attempting to save him. I tell that story to everyone I hear utter the word ‘gook’.
Thanks for posting this inspiring story. It’s so refreshing to hear heart warming stories of gratitude.
What a great story, there being so few these days...
One story I read about the battle of Khe Sanh was that the commander of an ARVN unit was wounded while guarding the outer perimeters, and shot himself in order to prevent the communists from taking him prisoner. Also to save the lives of those who would try to rescue him.
He deserves the So. Vietname Medal of Honor.
Story might be in an old issue of “Vietnam Magazine”.
PS: There were ARVN units at Khe Sanh, a little known fact about this battle.
A salute to our brave allies!
Just being picky (hey, it’s late and I can’t sleep), but Commander Le won’t be at the helm; he’ll be in command, and addressed as Captain.
Deck Seamen (E-3s) are typically assigned helm and lee helm watches (at least they were when I served, going on half-a-hundred years ago) for peacetime cruising. Usually a petty officer third or second class takes over for battle stations.
Of course, all of this may have changed...
Thank God for immigrants who came here with nothing and built this great land.
Thank you for posting these photo’s it brings the story to life.
Dang... he’s got a whole lot of fruit salad on that uniform, even for a full Commander. I wonder where else in the Navy he’s been up till now.
What a great story! Thank you for posting it.
BTW, CMDR Le is not at the helm, but in command; two very different things. If I recall correctly, a boson’s mate (non com) typically mans the helm.
What an awesome story, and a tribute to the opportunities that America provides for those who are willing to WORK HARD to better themselves, be they immigrants or native born citizens.
PING
Only in America!! Great story
God Bless all those who have serve and continue to serve.
~FMC
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