Yesterday, April 30, 2005, was the anniversary of the fall of Viet Nam. Thirty years ago yesterday, my mother and her family were being airlifted to a US military base in Japan because my (maternal) grandfather was a military attaché to US Army Intelligence. My father was captain of a RVN navy river boat, and would slowly start avoiding VC patrols and heading for safety in Burma. It was the last time they would ever see home.
They hate the new régime so strongly that they have refused to set foot back on Vietnamese soil until democracy is restored. Even when my father received word that my paternal grandfather was on his deathbed, we didn’t go back. When my grandfather passed away, my father, as the oldest son, should have been in charge of the funeral rites. Instead, he had to dictate to my uncle over the phone.
Oh yeah, that’s right. I’ve never had the chance to meet my grandfather before he died, or anyone on my dad’s side of the family, because they weren’t lucky enough to come over.
So yesterday, I told myself I would come home after CLW and listen to TNT radio, which was covering the rally in Washington, D.C., and call my parents to see how things were going. Oh, and I think it was the International Channel that was going to show a marathon of four documentaries about the war and its after-effects.
Instead, I played cards and then partied. 
I deserve a lot worse than a two-finger slap on the forearm.
I’m sorry to hear about that, Dinh. I have been to Vietnam and it definitely has a lot of tension, especially in Sai Gon
I guess everyone has a story. I’ve never met my uncle either– he was in the army during the war so the rest of my dad’s family came to America and never saw him again. We never knew what had happened to him until last year when a family friend informed us that he had been taken to an internment camp and died there after a couple of years. My grandfather passed away when I was in 8th grade so he had to go without ever knowing about it.
I hope you don’t feel so guilty. You care very much about it and your heart is in the right place.