Pro-USA Rally this Saturday organized by Vietnamese community. Fountain Valley, CA.

[conservogirl]

Please join this rally organized by the Vietnamese community inviting people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds to join together to walk for freedom and support the liberation of Iraq.

The Freedom Rally

In support of the Coalition Troops and President Bush. In our fight for Freedom for the Iraqi People and Human Rights in Iraq.

Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley (Corner of Euclid Street and Edinger Avenue)

Saturdays - April 5 and April 19, 2003 10:00am to Noon

Bring flags, banners, walking shoes and good will. We will have speakers, media (newspapers, radio and TV) and we will rally and walk for freedom.

Sponsored by: Vietnamese Community of Southern California, Free Government of Vietnam & California Congress of Republicans.

[TJC]

Will be there. Wanted to go to 3/15 at soust coast plaza, but rain kept me.

[conservogirl]

Thanks for your support! It will be great to see a big turnout for this event!

[truth_seeker]

These Vietnamese neighbors in Orange County have become real good American citizens.

Their patriotism stems from knowing terror and oppression, the same as our recently gained allies in Eastern Europe.

Contrast these people, with the French, who apparently take for granted the freedom (and retention of the French language) which we shed much blood to give them.

[conservogirl]

Yes, these are some of the most patriotic people I have met and many of their children are fighting in Iraq now. It would be great to see people turnout to join them in this expression of support for all the good things America stands for.

[JoJo Gunn]

If memory serves a Vietnamese immigrant sold her house! back in 2001 just to be able to present a float at the 2002 Rose Parade. THAT'S how much she felt for America. Contrast that with the Berkeley perverts who were beginning to side with the terrorists before the year was out.

[truth_seeker]

"Yes, these are some of the most patriotic people I have met..."

One is my tax man (and a fellow alunmus of CSUF).

[conservogirl]

It seems that people who struggle to come to the US appreciate it so much more than most people who were born here.

FYI - The Korean groups are also helping to promote this event as well as many Latino groups and other grassroots groups. Hope to see you all out there!!

[conservogirl]

That is quite a story. Thank you for posting it.

[JoJo Gunn]

Took a little digging, but found it.


http://www.beloitdailynews.com/1201/than29.htm

December 29, 2001

Woman says `thank you' with float

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) _ In the years since Madalenna Lai boarded a wooden boat and fled communist-led Vietnam, she has wanted to say ``thank you'' to the Americans who helped her build a new life in the United States.

On New Year's Day, she will get her wish in one of the country's most-watched events, the Tournament of Roses Parade.

It has taken eight years, and she had to sell her house to raise the $100,000 to do it, but when the parade's 52 floats start through Pasadena, Lai's will be among them.

Her 35-foot long, 18-feet wide float will carry a simple message: ``Thank you America and the world.''

Aboard the float, ``Lac viet,'' a mystical bird, rises from the bow of a boat much like those that carried thousands of Vietnamese away from their war ravaged country. Other ramshackle boats rest beneath, decorated with yellow straw flower, seeds, rice, walnut shells, mums and roses.

Six survivors of the Vietnam war and the mayor of Pomona will ride on the float, officially sponsored by the Vietnamese Cultural House, a nonprofit help agency Lai founded in 1996.

Lai, 59, said she has wanted to enter a float since she first saw the parade on television in 1977.

She had arrived in the United States two years earlier with her four young children. Her husband, Quang Thanh Nguyen, stayed behind with fellow police officers to fight North Vietnamese troops. It would be 15 years before Lai would learn whether he had survived.

After Lai and her children reached U.S. soil, an American family in Pennsylvania took them in for two years. Lai later moved her family to Pasadena, where they lived on welfare for a year while Lai got her footing in her new country. She eventually started two beauty shops, then opened a cosmetology school in Pomona.

In 1990, she was reunited with her husband, who she learned had been jailed in Vietnam for a decade.

``The United States opened her arms to me and my children. We no longer went hungry and my kids received a good education,'' Lai said Friday. ``I told myself after my children finished school and I reunited with my husband, I would give my life to thank America.''

She started that quest in 1996. She acquired a fishing boat that carried several Vietnamese refugees to the Philippines, then organized a national tour for the boat.

As she worked on her plans for the Rose parade float, though, tougher economic times sent business at her beauty salons down. She had little time to raise money, so she sold her house to raise the $100,000 fee to have the float designed and built.

``We have children, we can always live in their houses,'' Lai's husband said of the decision to sell the home. But they didn't have to _ their youngest daughter, Trang Thu Nguyen, bought them a house in Pomona.

The Rose Bowl football game will be held on Jan. 3 this year, rather than following the parade as usual. The University of Miami and the University of Nebraska are scheduled to play.

[anymouse]

OC ping

[conservogirl]

Thanks for taking the time to find this article. We will use it to help generate support for this rally.

[maxwellp]

Re your post No. 8. Yes, born-in-America Americans tend to take America for granted. I was one until I married a guy who escaped Cuba. My husband opened my eyes to the glory of America. His favorite saying is "Only in America". Like, "only in America can you go to a supermarket and there's a whole, double aisle packed with dog food, cat food, dog toys, cat toys, kitty litter, etc.". We have three cats and I recently ordered, thru a catalog, some seeds to grow grass for our cats. He said "Only in America would someone order grass for cats to eat". And every day, without fail, he hangs the American Flag outside our home. And he will never forgive Clinton & Reno for sending Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba.

[Toidylop]

Check this story out,

Tunis Mills family waits for word about their Marine son in Iraq

American with Vietnamese descents seem to know where to find and fight to defend for freedom.

[conservogirl]

Your husband sounds like quite a man. Thanks for sharing this story.

I too was appalled by what the Clinton regime did to Elian.

[maxwellp]

I read your post to my husband and he said to tell you "Thanks - as long as this guy is around America will survive". So, from both of us - an American "Thank You".