Latest news with #BlackApril
CBS News
08-05-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Vietnam 50 Years Later: Vietnamese veterans reflect on "Black April" 50 years on
For the Vietnamese community, April 30 is known as Black April, or Tháng Tư Đen. It's a day to lament and reflect on the fall of Saigon and of South Vietnam. In the two decades of conflict, experts estimate as many as 2 million civilians on both sides were killed, along with some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters. The U.S. Military estimates upwards of 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers also lost their lives in the war. For those who survived, many had to escape as it was no longer safe to stay under communist rule. Pauleen Le sat down with four Vietnamese veterans who now call Minnesota home: Dr. Tuong Ho Ha, Tam Nguyen, Dieu Tran and Trang Thanh Son. All four men say the pain they feel today is just as real as it was 50 years ago. "All of the memories still live in our hearts," said Trang Thanh Son, who served as an infantryman with the Vietnamese Ranger Corp. "They are never forgotten. I still remember the day I joined the war, holding my weapon until the day we had to put our weapons down and surrender. The pain has just gotten stronger and stronger. That pain will live with us forever until the day we die." "I'm not angry, but I'm really sad," said Dieu Tran, who served in the Vietnamese Armored Cavalry Corp. "I'm sad for (Vietnam), for the destiny of the country. All of the heroic and great leaders of the country were gone. That's why we lost the country. So frankly, that's the truth, and I'm just telling you the truth as an honest soldier." The 2020 census estimates Minnesota's Vietnamese population is more than 30,000 strong. Watch Pauleen Le's full interview with Dr. Tuong Ho Ha, Tam Nguyen, Dieu Tran and Trang Thanh Son, presented in Vietnamese with English subtitles. This story is part of the WCCO documentary "Vietnam 50 Years Later: Reflection on a War that Changed Minnesota," by reporter Pauleen Le and photojournalist Art Phillips. Watch the full documentary below, or on our YouTube channel.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Vietnamese Americans in Orange County commemorate 50 years since fall of Saigon
[Source] Hundreds of Vietnamese Americans gathered Wednesday morning at Sid Goldstein Freedom Park in Westminster for the city's annual Black April ceremony, marking 50 years since North Vietnamese forces captured Saigon and ended the Vietnam War. The remembrance included a wreath-laying, prayers and a flag-lowering of the former South Vietnamese banner, flown at half-staff for the occasion. Tributes across Little Saigon The park ceremony capped a slate of commemorations that began two weeks ago, when officials unveiled signs renaming a two-mile segment of Interstate 405 the Little Saigon Freeway and rededicated the Bolsa Avenue post office as the Little Saigon Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Post Office. 'Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,' said State Assemblymember Tri Ta during its unveiling of the Little Saigon Freeway sign on April 18. 'Today, we honor the courage and sacrifice of over 58,000 American service members and more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers who fought side by side in the pursuit of freedom.' Trending on NextShark: Home away from home The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, triggered one of the 20th century's largest refugee crises. Tens of thousands fled by air and sea; many resettled at Camp Pendleton before building what is now Little Saigon in Westminster, Garden Grove and surrounding cities. A similar migration pattern produced thriving enclaves in San Jose and Houston, among others. For 71-year-old veteran Kiệt Huynh, who attended the freeway dedication, the milestone is bittersweet: 'It reminds me how many people in Vietnam died that day, and how many children,' he said. Trending on NextShark: Community leaders say preserving those memories now falls to the U.S.-born generation. Local nonprofits are launching oral-history workshops, while a state law (AB 1039) requires California to complete a model curriculum on the Vietnamese American refugee experience by the end of 2026. Westminster officials confirmed that the city's Black April observance will return on April 30 next year, part of what organizers call 'an unbroken promise to remember.' This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter — a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices. Trending on NextShark: Subscribe free to join the movement. If you love what we're building, consider becoming a paid member — your support helps us grow our team, investigate impactful stories, and uplift our community. Subscribe here now! Trending on NextShark: Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today!
Los Angeles Times
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Vietnamese Americans mark a somber ‘Black April' milestone in Little Saigon
Good morning. It's Wednesday, April 30. I'm Gabriel San Román bringing you this week's TimesOC newsletter with a look at some of the latest local news and events from around the county from my elevated perch as the tallest Mexican in these lands. Today marks a somber milestone for many Vietnamese Americans in Orange County. Fifty years ago, a helicopter evacuation in Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War — a conflict that lasted two decades, drafted my dad out of a Sears in Boyle Heights, and exacted a staggering death toll on soldiers and civilians. In the war's final days, the U.S. Embassy in Saigon swelled with people desperate to flee before the communist North Vietnamese Army captured South Vietnam's capital city. Operation Frequent Wind ferried more than 7,000 people out for two days ending on April 30, a date remembered by refugees as 'Black April.' An exodus of about 2 million 'boat people' tried to flee Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Many of them resettled in O.C., making it the largest community of Vietnamese people outside of Vietnam. In the years that followed, Vietnamese Americans reshaped county life — politically, commercially, and culturally — from cities they call home like Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana. Little Saigon emerged as an officially designated enclave in Westminster in 1988 with Bolsa Avenue becoming a hub of restaurants, grocery stores and other small businesses. The district has since expanded to encompass areas of Garden Grove. Ahead of the 50th anniversary of 'Black April,' local politicians and dignitaries gathered on April 18 to mark the occasion with a dedication of a Little Saigon Freeway sign along a stretch of the 405 Freeway in Westminster. According to a dispatch from TimesOC's Sarah Mosqueda, Assemblyman Tri Ta advocated for the freeway sign, which was funded entirely through private donations, through AB 2698, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law last year. Assemblyman Ta, Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen, Westminster Councilwoman Amy Phan West and O.C. Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen were among those at the dedication. 'Fifty years ago, we lost Saigon, but we did not lose our hope,' Ta said. 'Today, we honor the courage and sacrifice of over 58,000 American service members and more than 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers who fought side by side in the pursuit of freedom.' As the milestone prompts commemorations and reflections, Anh Do of the Los Angeles Times revisited the life of Tony Lam, who became the first Vietnamese American elected to a political office in the U.S. when he won a seat on the Westminster City Council in 1992. Do called him Little Saigon's 'original influencer.' Lam fled Vietnam, where he owned three companies, before the fall of Saigon. He found a job pumping gas in O.C. but recovered his entrepreneurial spirit with Vien Dong, a Vietnamese restaurant in Garden Grove that opened in 1984 and attracted a loyal clientele. A Republican, Lam tried his hand at politics with a successful bid for Westminster City Council in 1992 that appealed to white, Latino and Asian voters. 'He's part of a wave of people that transformed California,' said Jeffrey Brody, a retired professor of communications at Cal State Fullerton. 'The reason the public pays attention to this group, especially locally, is because the community has invested in the building blocks of democracy.' A mark of his trailblazing impact, at least 24 Vietnamese Americans in O.C. currently hold city and county seats. Rep. Derek Tran, the first Vietnamese American elected to Congress when he won election last year in the 45th District, cited Lam as a key figure who paved the way for a new generation of politicians. Though Lam, 88, retired from political office 10 years after his historic election to council, many of those political newbies still seek him out as a Little Saigon sage for advice, endorsements and donations. 'My intention is to help everyone,' said Lam. 'That's how I operate.' • On Monday, passenger rail service through San Clemente came to an abrupt halt — again. No, Metrolink and Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner haven't been sidelined for six weeks on account of a new landslide over the weekend. According to The Times' Grace Toohey, crews are hard at work armoring the rail line where previous landslides and erosion have shut the crucial link between Orange and San Diego counties down many times before. The Orange County Transportation Authority gained an emergency permit to carry out the work. In the meantime, Metrolink riders won't have a bus bridge to ferry them from Irvine to Oceanside, but Amtrak passengers will. • When the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee opened a new office in Anaheim's Little Arabia last Wednesday, it also turned the page on a tragic chapter of its history. Nearly 40 years ago, a pipe bomb tore through the civil rights group's Santa Ana office and killed Alex Odeh, its West Coast regional director. 'The objective of the bombing was to keep us out of existence in Orange County and everywhere else,' Abed Ayoub, ADC's national executive director, told TimesOC. 'But the opposite is happening. We're continuing to grow.' The ADC's new office pledges to be a legal clinic and community resource as the group continues to pursue justice for Odeh's murder. • Betty Martinez Franco came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, worked as a housekeeper and survived domestic violence. It's not a typical backstory for an O.C. politician, but after a special election in Irvine earlier this month, Martinez Franco is set to become the city's first Latina councilwoman. She will represent District 5, which lacked a sitting councilmember after Larry Agran won election as mayor in November. Martinez Franco bested an avalanche of independent expenditures favoring her opponent in the race and is ready to get to work on issues like affordable housing, the environment and reducing traffic congestion. • A brush fire that broke out Friday at Costa Mesa's Fairview Park is under investigation. A Huntington Beach police helicopter first spotted and reported the blaze around 9:30 p.m. that day. Crews used chainsaws to clear vegetation while 2,000 feet of hose doused the flames with water. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported. The Daily Pilot's Sara Cardine reported on Monday that authorities found 'evidence of human activity' by the blaze. • An Orange County jury found Craig Charron guilty of murder in the first degree in the death of his girlfriend, Laura Sardinha, in 2020. Trapped in an abusive relationship, Sardinha moved to have Charron evicted from their Huntington Beach apartment. Charron claimed that she tried to sneak up on him with a knife to his throat before a struggle ensued on Sept. 2, 2020. But prosecutors argued that Charron ambushed Sardinha in a murderous attack. They further claimed he cut himself and manipulated evidence to throw off investigators. The jury on the case agreed. • Orange County sheriff's deputies arrested Sean Jeffrey Williams, 55, on Friday for the murder of Miguel Joaquin Mata, 39, at a Mission Viejo apartment complex that same day. According to this CBS2 news report, deputies arrived on-scene at the 23000 block of La Glorietta around 7:30 p.m. and found Mata suffering from gunshot wounds. After setting up a perimeter at the complex, deputies tracked down and arrested Williams. No motive for the slaying has been disclosed by authorities. • Newport Harbor High School notched a key series win over Huntington Beach High, its Sunset League rivals and the topped-ranked baseball team in Southern California. The Sailors took two out of three games by besting the Oilers 6-3 on Friday. As this Daily Pilot article recounts, Newport Harbor starting pitcher Lucas Perez hurled a complete game for the second-place Sailors in leading them to victory. • Marina High School's 'tennis tandem' of David Tran and Trevor Nguyen competed in the Ojai Tennis Tournament over the weekend but fell just shy of top honors. The Daily Pilot's Matt Szabo attended the match at Ojai's Libbey Park where Beckman High School in Irvine claimed tournament victory behind senior Caden Lee and freshman Edwin Yuan's performance during a third-set tiebreaker. 'It would have been nice to win it my senior year, but they played well,' Nguyen said. 'In the third set, it was just anyone's game, whoever executed better on the returns. That was probably the biggest factor.' • According the Times' Bill Shaikin, Anaheim Ducks owners Henry and Susan Samueli are investing $1-billion in renovations, including three parking garages, that will deliver easy parking and other amenities for games, concerts and other events at the Honda Center. It compliments the vision of OC Vibe, a $4-billion project that pledges to transform the land around the arena into a premiere destination for entertainment and living. The arena facelift is slated to arrive in time for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles when indoor volleyball competitions are scheduled at the Honda Center. • File this under: Grill! Baby! Grill! Inside the buzzy River Street Marketplace in San Juan Capistrano where Anthony Villegas holds monthly meat master classes at The Market by the Meat Cellar. TimesOC's Sarah Mosqueda penned a fun profile of a recent class Villegas gave on how he 'uses the various proteins and provisions in the store through an eight-course menu.' Learn how to properly steam Wagyu beef cheeks for tacos or prep a veal cutlet for bread-crumbled German schnitzel. For only $250 per class, students can even be aspiring cheesemongers, too. I wish I could put that on my resume! • Newport Beach took a key step towards accessibility with its fully renovated San Miguel Park's playground for children with disabilities — a first for the coastal community. The Daily Pilot's Eric Licas profiled Alexis Portillo's advocacy for ADA accessible playground equipment that would benefit Alanis, her disabled, nonverbal sister, and others like her. San Miguel Park's $900,000 universally accessible playground renovation, which now features a 'wee-saw' with back support, was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting on Wednesday. • Residents celebrated Arbor Day in Laguna Beach on Thursday by planting a California sycamore at Aliso Beach Park. Children with the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach had shovels handy for the eighth annual celebration. If the occasion seemed a bit late — it was. As the Daily Pilot's Andrew Turner explained, Arbor Day was originally scheduled for March 6, before a rainstorm had other plans. It's always a good time to plant some trees, anyway! • Newport Beach's Amanda Walcott, 17, bounced back from a serious injury during cheerleader practice to launch an ambitious beach bikini line. In 2023, Walcott fell hard while doing roundoff handspring tucks at Newport Harbor High School. More severe symptoms followed initial pain from the injury. During her recovery, Walcott developed an idea for an eco-friendly swimwear line. 'Beachside Bikinis' celebrated its launch earlier this month! • Grammy-winning band La Santa Cecilia is bringing its genre-blending hits to the Garden Amp in Garden Grove just in time for Cinco de Mayo weekend. Formed out of Olvera Street in Los Angeles and named for the patron saint of musicians, La Santa Cecilia has amazed audiences with its deft mixture of cumbia, rancheras, boleros and jazz. Through the years, Marisol Hernandez's impassioned vocals have been a tour de force not to be missed! The show starts on Friday at 6 p.m. Tickets are $40. • The Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing Arts explores grief through 'A Monster Calls,' an imaginative play staged this weekend at the Huntington Beach High School's historic auditorium. Based on a Patrick Ness novel, the play centers around Connor, a young boy who wakes from the same recurring nightmare during his mother's illness, only to find a Yew tree monster at his window. The production promises an emotional healing journey for the cast and audience alike. 'A Monster Calls' debuts Thursday at 7 p.m. The play also stages on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $25 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Fran's Place, a local counseling center. • La Habra turned 100 this year and what better way to celebrate than a weekend at the city's 15th annual Citrus Fair. Hosted by the La Habra Area Chamber of Commerce, the fun begins on Friday afternoon and carries through until Sunday night. The fair features music, carnival rides, livestock shows, food and a citrus marketplace. Entertainment includes Vilma Diaz, one of the original singers of the legendary cumbia band La Sonora Dinamita. She hits the stage Friday at 9 p.m. The La Habra Citrus Fair is free and takes place on La Habra Boulevard between Euclid Street and Cypress. We appreciate your help in making this the best newsletter it can be. Please send news tips, your memory of life in O.C. (photos welcome!) or comments to I'll see you all next week as Cormaci, our fearless leader, continues to take some much needed and deserved time off!
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
PHOTO ESSAY: For the Vietnamese diaspora, Saigon's fall 50 years ago evokes mixed emotions
WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) — When the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese forces 50 years ago this week, it prompted a mass exodus of some 2 million people — hundreds of thousands fleeing perilously on small boats across open water to escape the communist regime. Many ultimately settled in Southern California's Orange County in an area now known as 'Little Saigon,' not far from Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, where the first refugees were airlifted upon reaching the U.S. The diaspora now also has significant populations in Virginia, Texas and Washington state, as well as in countries including France and Australia. Still, the community in Southern California comprises the largest and most well-established Vietnamese population anywhere outside Vietnam. Memories of Wednesday's anniversary of the fall of Saigon — the South Vietnamese city renamed Ho Chi Minh City by the communists — has conjured up mixed feelings from grief and resentment to honor and pride in the diaspora here. For those who lived through the war, the 50th anniversary marks a time of mourning as they remember what they lost — their homeland, their past lives, even their identity. Five decades later, the pain is still raw. One man still can't bring himself to say much about the family he had to leave behind. Others were barely toddlers when they arrived in a foreign land. The day Saigon fell — April 30, 1975 — is referred to by the older generation as 'Black April' or 'National Day of Resentment.' But for their children and grandchildren, many with scant knowledge of the war, the anniversary is a time to honor the resiliency of an immigrant community and to celebrate the accomplishments of a population that started as refugees and now has become an influential part of California and U.S. society. 'I don't really think about it in a negative light,' said Linda Nguyen, a local business leader whose parents were refugees. 'For my generation, it's about honoring what happened, but also celebrating our future and our current successes.' Little Saigon in Orange County has evolved from a commercial district contained within a few city blocks in Westminster in the late 1980s to a sprawling region spanning several cities. It's also now considered the cultural capital for the Vietnamese diaspora around the world. 'We were looking for a freedom to prosper,' said Trí Trần, a University of California, Irvine professor who left Vietnam by sea on a boat in 1986. Today, thousands of restaurants, shops and offices bear Vietnamese names. Little Saigon is not only home to Asian Garden Mall, the largest Vietnamese shopping mall in the U.S., but it also hosts the world's largest international Vietnamese film festival. The population has become a powerful voting bloc in Orange County, elevating some of the first Vietnamese-Americans to elected office. For the first time last year, Orange County elected a Vietnamese-American to Congress. Derek Tran, a Democrat whose parents were refugees, triumphed in a district historically favorable to Republicans. 'We're very much a young community in this country,' Tran said. 'We're finding our place, but we're also figuring out how to consolidate our voice and our culture and our history.' 'Black April' Marking the anniversary that ultimately led to the war's end, many Little Saigon businesses and storefronts are adorned with South Vietnam flags. Even the Asian Garden Mall has a prominent 1975 sign, bearing both the U.S. and the South Vietnam flags. Hưng Vũ, a member of the South Vietnamese military who arrived in 1975, plans to reunite with old friends and share stories at a community event Wednesday about how daily life was reshaped by life in the U.S. 'This is no festive occasion,' said Vũ, who owns a uniform store that specializes in recreating the South Vietnamese military's uniforms, ribbons and medals. 'It's a day of mourning.' He recalled feeling overwhelmed in a new country where he couldn't speak the language and didn't understand social norms. He didn't even know how to get around or make a living. 'The knowledge gap was tremendous,' Vũ said in Vietnamese. 'But we were hungry, so we went out and found a way to feed ourselves.' Many, including former members of wealthy South Vietnamese families, were forced to take on low-paid jobs in their new country, such as cleaning houses and working at nail salons, to survive. Some worked multiple jobs while going to school to send money back to relatives in Vietnam. They included teenagers who arrived in the U.S. alone, said Tram Le, who studied the experience of the first generation of Vietnamese Americans after the war. 'They lost their childhood,' she said. 'Their whole lives, they're just sacrificing.' Shifting attitudes today among young Vietnamese Americans Those born and raised in the U.S. often were shielded by their parents from learning about the horrors of the war and the divisions in their homeland that erupted into civil conflict between North and South Vietnam. The younger generations no longer carry the fervor of anti-communist sentiment that was once a big part of life in Little Saigon, where a portrait of the late North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh in 1999 prompted a 53-day protest. 'The political theme that was once significant to our parents did not carry on to us,' Linda Nguyen said. 'To us, Vietnam is Vietnam.' The focus for the younger generations is on today and what lies ahead. Young Vietnamese American entrepreneurs no longer shun Vietnam and are working directly with businesses in Vietnam with much success, said Tim Nguyễn, the head of the Vietnamese American Chamber of Commerce. They are also talking about their mental health needs, a topic once taboo among Vietnamese. Traditional names, food and áo dài dresses — once considered embarrassing — are now points of pride, while artists and filmmakers are exploring ways to expand the Vietnamese-American narrative beyond the war, said Tram Le. Tâm Nguyễn, the former head of the chamber of commerce, is among a growing number of Vietnamese-Americans who are choosing to return to Little Saigon to preserve their families' business legacies. He took over his parents' cosmetology school in Little Saigon, which has trained more than 50,000 students over four decades. 'We're the cultural bridges between generations,' he said. 'We're very proud to be Vietnamese, while we're also proud that we're contributing greatly to the American society.' ___ This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors. For more coverage of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War's end, visit
Wall Street Journal
30-04-2025
- General
- Wall Street Journal
After Saigon Fell, My Family Rose
Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. Black April was more than a historical marker; it's the root of my family's story. My Vietnamese mother fled South Vietnam seven days before the communists took over. My maternal grandmother escaped on one of the last C-130 aircrafts six days later. My father was a member of the Navy Seabees stationed in Da Nang before the Tet Offensive. Half a century later, this anniversary is a reminder of tragedy but also of triumph, a testament to what rises from ashes when freedom takes hold. I grew up hearing their stories: The Viet Cong dominated dinner table conversations. My father talked about jumping into a mortar pit full of scorpions and described sleeping on the roof so he would be the first to spot anything incoming. My mother recounted frantically packing five dresses and pretending to be engaged to an American family friend to secure her last-minute escape to a refugee camp in Guam.
