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Escaping and finding love

Fall of Saigon
A young Vietnamese couple.

Hung Ngo and his wife

Hung Ngo was born in Saigon, Vietnam and served as an officer in the South Vietnamese navy. After the South Vietnamese government surrendered to Northern Vietnamese forces in 1975, he fled the country to avoid going to a labor camp. He escaped with other officers in a boat and were rescued by the U.S. navy in the South China Sea.

He lived in a refugee camp, where he met his wife, before resettling in Minnesota. 

Hi, my name is Hung Ngo. I’m a refugee from Vietnam War. I was a South Vietnamese officer in the South Vietnamese navy. In 1975, the South Vietnamese government surrendered to the North. When I heard that announcement I had no choice, I didn’t want go to a labor camp.

So I decided to escape with fifty soldiers in a small boat and went out to the sea, the South China Sea… We met with the U.S. 7th fleet and they rescued us…. 

The loss of South Vietnam was really painful for me; it’s a really bad memory. But I feel much better when out of a bad situation you still have good things, the chance to met my wife and to start a new life from the loss our country and we’ve been together until now.

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We waited for sponsor and then we went to the India Town Gap in Mainland U.S.A. At the beginning of the refugee camp life, it was lonely, and everything was strange: the language culture, the food, the people. You had to learn all over, everything.

I met my wife at refugee camp when we went to English class and other refugee activities. I had her at my side, actually she lived in the same refugee camp, so I had somebody to talk, when you need to talk to someone. That makes our friendship better and understand more.

My wife tell me about her escape story, she went out to the ocean with her family, but what happened is that they got lost together. Only her brother was left, she don’t know what happened to the rest of the family – they die in the ocean or went back to Vietnam. When she talked to me, she told me she was lonely and scared, and I understand.

Then we were separated because my wife had a sponsor in Chicago and I had a sponsor in Minnesota, but we still keep in contact and write the letters. I went to Chicago to met her, and I asked to go back to Minnesota to me. I propose to her on April 1976.

The loss of South Vietnam was really painful for me; it’s a really bad memory. But I feel much better when out of a bad situation you still have good things, the chance to met my wife and to start a new life from the loss our country and we’ve been together until now.

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Biographical Details

Primary Location During Vietnam: Saigon, Vietnam Vietnam location marker

Story Subject: Refugee

Ngo was an Officer in the South Vietnamese Navy.

This story is part of the Immigrant Stories collection. Immigrant Stories invites immigrants, refugees, and their families to create digital stories about their experiences. Each story is preserved in the Immigration History Research Center & Archives at the University of Minnesota, where they have collected materials related to immigration in the U.S. since 1965. 

Story Themes: Escape, Immigrant Stories, Love, Officer, Refugee, Refugee Camp, Saigon, South China Sea, South Vietnamese Navy, Video, Vietnamese

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