01-06-2025
Refugees celebrate 50th anniversary of arrival in America
(WHTM) — It's been 50 years since thousands of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees left their home country and came to America.
Some of them ended up right here in the Midstate at the Fort Indiantown Gap in Lebanon County.
Many of those refugees reunited Saturday as they celebrated the 50th anniversary of their arrival in America with a Cambodian picnic held at Memorial Lake State Park!
'Blessed that we can, you know, get together and stuff like that and see one of us, that when we were young back then and now 50 years later, we see each other and we are getting old and stuff like that,' said Chhay Eang Orn. 'Fifty years ago, I was one of the navy guys during the war and I come here. I was here in Pennsylvania at the Indiantown Gap.'
Orn was just one of thousands of refugees who escaped war and came to the United States back in 1975.
'It was like something you don't expect, you know,' he recalled. 'We were happy, and it was sad at the same time because I lost all my family. Just I came to the United States back then.'
While enjoying a variety of Cambodian food the refugees reflected on their journey to America with family and friends.
'This isn't just Cambodian history, though. It's American history,' said Kelleney Oum Berchuck. 'It's not a story of easy success, but one of relentless hope, resilience and renewal. So today, we honor those who crossed oceans with only scars and dreams, and also those Americans who welcome them and help them rebuild.'
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Some Americans who assisted the refugees when they first arrived in the states were also in attendance.
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