Thuyền Nhân:Boat People, term used to describe the Vietnamese refugees who fled Communist rule after the Vietnam War (1975) in small boats. More than one million people became refugees. Many perished, and others, upon reaching other Southeast Asian countries, discovered they could not remain permanently. The United States, Canada, and other nations accepted most of the refugees in the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was estimated that up to 25% of those who left Vietnam have perished in the stormy seas. Thousands have died when their boats were robbed repeatedly then sank by Thai’s pirates. Many women and young girls were raped then murdered or sold to brothels in Thailand.
[Caption and photos from here and here .]
Coldwarrior added: I wanted to leave an early reply on this thread (wife and I are going out) but it won’t let me, so I’ll put it here at the end, apologies bunk-x.
My dad was MAC-V in 1964-5. I remember him watching these events on the evening news. I have never seen such a look of anger, disgust, and disappointment on his face. I was pretty young when I saw this but I never forgot it.
Bunk added: Although I didn’t understand why we were there until years later, I had my draft card, IH. My father was in Hanoi Harbor in 1952(?) on the USS Estes, thinking they were on routine exercises. He didn’t realize until many years later that talks had broken down at that time and the North were poised to attack. He told me that had he known what was going down, he and his fellow tars would have been scared shitless. Here’s another series of photos that should be familiar to all:
Tags: Communism, History, Remembrance, Saigon, Vietnam War
