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Refugee port entry and airports in California

During the Fall of Saigon refugee immigration, the primary points of entry were those that Tong and others reference in the play: 

First, refugees were sent to Guam, a United States territory, from where US military personnel assigned refugees to camps on the mainland: Camp Pendleton (Southern CA), Fort Chaffee (Arkansas), Eglin Air Force Base (Florida), and Fort Indiantown (Pennsylvania). From there, the US government attempted to resettle refugees throughout the country.

As they resettled, many new Vietnamese-Americans found their way to California in part because the climate was rumored to be good and closer to home than the cold winters of the East and Midwest. Some of the largest communities of Vietnamese refugees grew up in Orange County and around San Jose/Silicon Valley.

The airport in San Diego was built in 1928, and flying commercial jets by 1960. San Jose's airport was built in 1949, but by 1968 had one million passengers travelling through it annually. 

In the play, it’s hard to say why Quang talks about going up to San Jose to find work and a flight back to Arkansas, except that we know that’s probably what really happened in his life. It’s probably most likely that he was travelling with (in reality the trip from AK to CA included more than just Quang and Nhan, Qui talks about that some in this OSF audience discussion) or met someone who had a line on work and a place to stay up in San Jose, so that’s where he ended up.

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Etymology of a racist slur

In this essay the writer, Soya Jung, looks at “gook” as a racist tool of imperialism.

What struck me...was the breadth and depth of the word’s usage as a way to dehumanize native inhabitants of lands where the United States was the foreign colonizing force. It shows how Asia is less of a fixed, bounded area on a map, and more of a region (or an imagined set of regions) defined by U.S. military aggression. The word “gook” literally stretches from continent to continent to span the globe, long before the current-day, more commonly known reference to Asians in Korea and Vietnam. 

The word “gook” has not only a racial present, but a racial past. It was created as a tool of American war and conquest – a tool used to ensure the dehumanization of subject peoples, so that they could be killed and disappeared and stolen from with impunity. The word is, then, a symbol of racism and imperialism that has touched not only Asia, but also Latin America and the Caribbean, and by way of the slave trade, Africa. It has also extended, by way of war, to Arabs in Europe.

Jung heavily references another scholar’s investigation of the term, who cites its source as far back as the turn of the 19th century, during the Spanish-American War.

Irving Lewis Allen, in The Language of Ethnic Conflict, refers to goo-goo as "originally a Filipino in the Spanish- American War, 1899-1902" and some scholars of American English suggest that gook itself found usage during the same conflict. If so, gook developed among troops who were probably connecting contempt for natives with contempt for "promiscuous" women and for poor people generally. An 1893 citation from Slang and Its Analogues finds gooks to be "tarts" and particularly camp-following prostitutes or "barrack hacks" catering to the army. A 1914 source similarly defines a gook as "a tramp, low."

By the 1920s, gooks were French- and Creole-speaking black Haitians and Spanish-speaking Nicaraguans. Marines, as we have seen, made the Haitians into gooks. They also, after the 1926 invasion of Nicaragua, were responsible for so naming "natives" there. Into the 1930s in Costa Rica, goo-goo described the citizenry, at least to Americans. Such a term, in the Philippines or Latin America, could hardly have failed to conjure up an image of an infantilized subject population.

The authoritarian 1989 Oxford English Dictionary counts the word "orig[inally] and chiefly U.S." and identifies it as "a term of contempt; a foreigner; a coloured inhabitant of (south-)east Asia." It offers a 1935 first usage, applied mainly to Filipinos, and notes use by U.S. troops in Korea and Vietnam, without considering that such usages in fact applied to natives in lands where Americans were foreigners. The OED adds "origins unknown" as its verdict regarding scholarly knowledge on the coining of the term. 

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Here’s an interesting analysis of the cross-pollination between Western and Samurai genres!

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A brief timeline of the war

In this timeline, events from the Vietnamese perspective are in bold, events from the United States perspective are in plain text, and events concerning both perspectives are italicized.

August 19, 1945 Viet Minh reclaim Vietnam from Japanese troops

September 2, 1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam a free and independent country

July 1946 Ho Chi Minh rejects a French treaty which would give Vietnam limited self-government. War begins between the Viet Minh and French forces in Vietnam

February 1950 The Viet Minh recieve financial and military support from the Soviet Union

June 1950 The US identifies the Viet Minh as a communist threat and starts sending money, troops, and supplies/weapons to aid the French war effort in Vietnam

May 7, 1954 The Viet Minh defeat the French forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu ending the French colonial rule of Vietnam

June 1, 1954 The Saigon Military Mission, a covert mission by the USA to engage in psycological warfare with Viet Minh forces in Vietnam, is initiated. This marks the begining of USA involvement in the Vietnam War

July 21, 1954 The Geneva Accords, which split Vietnam at the 17th parallel, are signed. Notably, South Vietnam did not sign the Geneva Accords. These accords split Vietnam into two zones: North Vietnam (which was governed by the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh) and South Vietnam (which is governed by the US-backed Ngo Dinh Diem). Part of the agreement states that in 1956, free elections will be held to reunify Vietnam (elections that were canceled by Ngo Dinh Diem who cited the fact that South Vietnam did not sign the Accords and therefore was not bound to uphold them).  

Throughout 1959 A specialized North Vietnamese Army (NVA) unit, known as Group 559, creates a supply trail from North Vietnam through parts of Cambodia into South Vietnam.This is known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 

September 10, 1960 Le Duan replaces Ho Chi Minh as First Secretary of the Communist Party in Hanoi

November 8, 1960 JFK is elected President of the USA

December 20, 1960 The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (AKA the Viet Cong) is founded in South Vietnam

December 11, 1961 American helicopters and troops arrive in South Vietnam

January 12, 1962 Operation Ranchhand, in which the USA dropped an enormous ammount of Agent Orange (a defoliant known to cause numerous health issues) on the Vietnamese countryside in an attempt to starve and uncover the Viet Cong bases, begins

February 1962 President Diem survives a bombing of the presidential palace in South Vietnam as Diem’s extreme favoritism toward South Vietnam’s Catholic minority alienates him from most of the South Vietnamese population, including Vietnamese Buddhists

May 1963 In a major incident of what becomes known as the “Buddhist Crisis,” the government of Ngo Dinh Diem opens fire on a crowd of Buddhist protestors in the central Vietnam city of Hue. Eight people, including children, are killed.

June 1963 A 73-year-old monk immolates himself while sitting at a major city intersection in protest, leading other Buddhists to follow suit in coming weeks

November 2, 1963 South Vietnam President Diem and his brother are murdered in a coup organized by other South Vietnamese generals and tacitly supported by the US

November 22, 1963 JFK is assasinated and Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as President of the US

August 2, 1964 After an alleged attack by the North Vietnamese on two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, the USA passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allows for a massive increase of US involvement in Vietnam

February 13, 1965 LBJ authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder (a bombing offensive in North Vietnam which sought to discourage North Vietnamese aid to the Viet Cong)

November 14, 1965 The Battle of Ia Drang is fought. The guerilla tactics used by the North Vietnamese in this battle would set the course of the rest of the war

April 15 - Oct. 21, 1967 Protests against US involvement in the Vietnam War begin to ramp up in the USA

January 30, 1968 The North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong launch a surprise attack on the South Vietnamese and US forces during the Vietnamese New Year (known as the Tet Offensive)

February 1968 In the ancient imperial capital of Hue, communist forces execute 2,800 people (mostly South Vietnamese)

March 16, 1968 US forces kill 500 civillians in and around the village of My Lai 

November 8, 1968 Nixon is elected at US President on a platform of ending the Vietnam War

May 4, 1969 Four students are killed at an anti-Vietnam War protest on the Kent State campus

Feb 8 - Mar 25, 1971 The South Vietnamese launch operation Lam Son 719 against North Vietnamese forces in Laos, which ends in their hasty retreat and defeat

March 30 - Oct. 22, 1972 The Easter Offensive invasion by North Vietnamese forces is successfully repelled by South Vietnamese

January 27, 1973 Cease-fire agreement is reached between U.S. and North Vietnam, US POWs begin to return home

March 29, 1973 Last American troops leave South Vietnam

August 9, 1974 Nixon resigns

April 30, 1975 Saigon falls into North Vietnamese control. Only 7,000 US and South Vietnamese people are flown to safety

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This is an older profile of Qui, pre-Vietgone, but includes some great photos and videos of his work with Vampire Cowboys.

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For a taste of Qui Nguyen’s style, check out this video showcasing Vampire Cowboys.

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Photos taken at Fort Chaffee between 1970 and 1980

Click a photo to enlarge and view as a slideshow. All photographs are from the Southeast Asian Archive at UC Irvine.

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The Fall of Saigon

Footage from April 30th, 1975 depicting the fall of Saigon. The footage shows ARVN and American forces trying to defend the Newport Bridge as well as the death, destruction, and chaos taking place in Saigon as the North Vietnamese forces closed in.

Canadian Broadcast Company news report on the fall of Saigon.

News footage of the fall of Saigon and the first 15 days of communist rule in South Vietnam. Content warning: this video contains images of wounded and dead soldiers/civilians.

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More on military life in Vietnam

The following videos are clips of documentary footage of ARVN soldiers in their daily military life.

US Army 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) 1st Special Forces base in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. ARVN Special Forces trainees. An ARVN Special Forces instructor demonstrates hand to hand combat positions and maneuvers in a field. Trainees follow instructions and practice. Trainees observe as two students practice hand to hand combat maneuvers. The instructor and students demonstrate hand to hand combat. Trainees stand in a circle with arms spread out. The instructor guides and supervises. He removes his helmet and demonstrates. Trainees practice maneuvers lying on their backs on the ground. Location: Vietnam. Date: June 23, 1970.

ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) Special Forces Training Center in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. Trainees march along side of the highway. Trainees in fatigues and camouflage hats march with guns. Two wheelers pass by on the road. Trainees march through a field towards the training area. Trees on either side of the path. The trainees rest in the shade of a tree. Location: Vietnam. Date: June 23, 1970.

ARVN Airborne repel a Vietcong Attack, Saigon, South Vietnam (1968). Content warning: this video contains images of wounded and dead soldiers/civilians.

ARVN Ranger Training By American Ranger Advisory Team 77 in 1964

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Click a photo to enlarge and scroll through as a slideshow with captions

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About the Army Republic of Vietnam

In this first-hand account, Army Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) solider, Private 1st Class Bui Manh Cuong describes the many hardships that faced ARVN soliders.

This NY Times opinion piece by Carie Uyen Nguyen, whose father was an ARVN soldier, focuses on redeeming the reputation of ARVN soldiers who have been used as a  scapegoat for the US failures in Vietnam. It also details the camaraderie and tensions between American and ARVN troops during the war.

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A crash course on the history (from an American perspective) of the Vietnam War - animated!

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The Antiwar Movement

Country Joe's Anti Vietnam War Song Woodstock

This NY Times opinion piece, The Four Stages of the Antiwar Movement, gives a clear, first-person perspective of what the movement’s perspectives, goals, and practices were.

The Vietnam antiwar movement, famous for its sound and fury, deserves credit for more. We were the first mass movement against a war in American history and one of its great moral crusades, yet most Americans recall only enormous protests and social chaos.

Across a decade of activism, we were often a tactical mess, but our leadership was strategically coherent and relentlessly determined. On the other hand, the war was always a much bigger mess, and it never benefited from strategic coherence. In the end, it was the war that was lost and the peace that was won.

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An opinion piece, also writen by Thanh Tan (Second Wave podcaster), covering similar ground to the “Good Guys, Bad Guys” episode of the podcast - her dad’s impressions of the Ken Burns Vietnam War documentary.

Sharing the viewing experience with my refugee dad added another layer of complexity. He had been an officer with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, served as a teacher in the civil service for most of the war, was imprisoned in a Communist “re-education” camp after the war ended, and eventually found a way to flee an oppressive regime. The war years had been difficult, but at least he had his dignity. He loathes Communism, and I will never fault him for that. After watching four episodes together, we agreed the filmmakers got a lot of things right about the timeline of events. But in some instances, my dad helped me understand where they missed opportunities to teach viewers fuller lessons about the complexity of the Vietnamese experience. Each time he was jarred by the oversimplification of the Vietnamese side, my dad asked me to pause the video so that he could explain how he understood those events. In Episode 1, he pointed out that there were many players aside from Ho Chi Minh who rose up against the French to fight for Vietnam’s independence. He felt strongly that their stories should not have been left out. In Episode 3, he noted that the South Vietnamese government had to quash a rebellion by one of its own military units in Danang for complex reasons, although the episode looked to Americans as if they were being asked to fight the Vietcong while the South Vietnamese were fighting among themselves. At numerous points, from the 1963 assassination of President Ngo Dinh Diem on, my dad felt the tensions between South Vietnam’s Buddhists and Catholics deserved further exploration. This religious division prevented unity at a time when the country desperately needed to fight the simplicity of Communist ideology. President Nguyen Van Thieu and Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam were imperfect leaders, certainly, but their depictions felt obvious and oversimplified. The film reduced Thieu to a caricature, seeking power for personal gain. I didn’t feel the Vietnamese voices in the film were close enough to Thieu or credible enough to support those simplifications. We also became a little weary of the back-and-forth on the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. These service members were described en masse as corrupt and inept in some episodes, then valiant and strong in other episodes. One would have had to watch the entire series to get a nuanced view of the ARVN, and I just don’t think most people have the patience to watch an 18-hour film these days. The more we watched, the more we realized that we had to tamp down our expectations as minorities, and understand the film’s limitations. Not just the fact that it’s limited to 18 hours, but also that it’s aimed at American public television viewers who are, well, mostly not Vietnamese. They most likely care first and foremost about America’s role in this war.

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Second Wave - An American story that starts in Vietnam

This 7-episode podcast is one woman’s reflection on her life as a second-generation Vietnamese-American. In particular, check out the episode “Good Guys, Bad Guys” in which Thanh Tan talks to Ken Burns and Lynn Novick about their Vietnam War documentary and they discuss the same kind of differing perspectives that Quang talks about in Vietgone’s epilogue scene.

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Opinions with Viet Thanh Nguyen

Read Nguyen’s NY Times pieces here

Viet Thanh is a novelist and a regular contributor to the New York Times Opinions section where his commentary on Vietnamese-American culture is focused primarily on the arts. In particular, check out his recent piece “Why We Struggle to Say ‘I Love You’”. It’s a poignant reflection on something that we see in a great juxtaposition in Vietgone between the imagined and “American-ed” interactions between Quang and Tong, and the more reserved interaction between the playwright and Quang at the end of the show.

When it came to mass media’s representations of us — film and television, morning radio disc jockey jokes, journalistic punditry — we got only the bad. We were collectively the villains, the servants, the enemies, the mistresses, the houseboys, the invaders. As a result, so many of us who watched these distorted images and heard the stupid jokes learned to be ashamed of ourselves. We learned to be ashamed of our parents. And the shame compounded the inability to say “I love you,” a phrase that belonged to the wonderful world of white people we saw in the movies and television. We had to learn better, but the truth is that Asian parents have to learn better, too. You cannot be proud of your artist and storyteller children only when they win Golden Globes. We honor your sacrifice for us, but you have to encourage your children to speak up as well, to claim their voices, to risk mediocrity and failure, to tell their stories and your stories. At the very least, you cannot stand in their way.