50 Years After the Fall of Saigon: Refugee Stories From Vietnam

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50 Years After the Fall of Saigon: Refugee Stories From Vietnam

April 15, 2025

On April 30, 1975, Saigon fell. In the years that followed, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese fled the country. Families were separated in the chaos. At least 800,000 took to the seas in search of safety. Many would spend weeks at sea, denied rescue by passing ships. This mounting humanitarian crisis turned the South China Sea into a necropolis, an unknown number of refugees the victims of drowning or even piracy. Some found refuge on land, only to spend years stuck in a refugee camp.

The story of the Vietnam War is not just the story of military battles, domestic protests, and Agent Orange. It is also this story, the story of people who had the courage to leave their homeland, to board rickety boats with meager rations in search of safety. Refugees’ memories are often written out of the record. But the story of war is incomplete without them: displacement is part of the violence of armed conflict. As we reckon with the legacy of the Vietnam War on the 50th anniversary of the fall of the Republic of South Vietnam, it is important to listen to refugee voices. For a first-hand account of the Fall of Saigon, USCRI’s Policy and Advocacy team spoke with Loc Nguyen, a refugee and advocate for the Vietnamese community.

THE WARS

The boat of Loc's brothers and 5 other refugees rescued by Kuwait Ship 1977.jpg

Nguyen was born in 1944, on the cusp of the French-Indochina War.

The French colonized Vietnam at the end of the 19th century, exploiting the country for rubber, rice, and coal,

while most of the local population lived in poverty. During the Second World War, they allowed Japanese forces to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, a leader of the Vietnamese independence movement, launched an insurgency against the French and the Japanese, aligning himself with the Allied forces. At the end of the Second World War, the French reimposed colonial rule in Vietnam, backed by the British and, eventually, the Americans. Betrayed by his former allies, Ho Chi Minh aligned himself with China and the USSR to lead the Viet Minh independence

movement. After nearly ten years of war, Vietnam was partitioned along the 17th parallel, with the goal of reunifying the country in two years. The Minh government took the North; the South was ruled by Emperor Bao Dai, who was quickly succeeded by Ngo Din Diem, his prime minister.

Diem was unpopular, especially after nullifying the promised 1956 elections. A communist insurgency grew in

South Vietnam. The United States, embroiled in the Cold War, subscribed to the domino theory and backed Diem in launching a counterattack. By 1965, American involvement in the war became all-encompassing, with President Lyndon B. Johnson deploying ground troops to the region. The war would go on to become a

testament to our arrogance—and to the human cost of hubris. Amid the partition of Vietnam, Nguyen became a refugee for the first time at ten years old, his family fleeing the North of Vietnam for the South. As an adult, he trained as a war correspondent. He reported from the frontlines, following troops beyond the outposts. In a skirmish, he was nearly captured by the enemy. This experience would inspire him to write a song, the Saddened Refugee, which remains popular today.

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USCRI, founded in 1911, is a non-governmental, not-for-profit international organization committed to working on behalf of refugees and immigrants and their transition to a dignified life.

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