An oral history with Dr. Phạm Gia Cổn. Born in 1943 in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, he immigrated to The Republic of Vietnam with his family in 1954 during the partition in light of the Geneva Accords. He graduated from high school in 1961, and proceeded to study at the University of Sciences in Saigon, before heading to medical school at the University of Saigon, where he earned his M.D.
He was a medical officer of the South Vietnamese Airborne Medical Corps and was attached to the 1st Airborne Battalion. He served from 1971 – 1975. As a medical officer of the 1st Airborne Battalion, he was involved in the defense of Firebase Delta in the Battle of Kontum, the attempted reinforcement of the 5th ARVN Infantry Division in the Battle of An Lộc, and the initial attempts to retake Quảng Trị before the Vietnamese Marine Corps took over in subsequent counterattacks.
Shortly before the collapse of South Vietnam, he was evacuated by barge and a week later was picked up by the United States Navy, who then relocated him to Guam. He was then sent to be reunited with his family in Fort Mead in Arkansas, before he was relocated again to Florida where he was sponsored by a physician.
He then moved to Georgia, then Miami, before he moved to California to work as a professor at UCLA and then retired. He lives with his family and works as a martial arts instructor at Aikido Aishinkai Dojo in Garden Grove, California.
An oral history with Mrs. Diệư Trang Vo (or Lise Vo) born in Saigon in 1957. Mrs. Diệu Trang Vo lived in the Republic of Vietnam until 1977 before leaving as a boat person, first landing in Malaysia and then receiving sponsorship to the US. The interview covers many aspects of her civilian life during the war and early communist occupation. She discussed her and her family’s experience of the buddhist crisis of 1963, including the viewing of a self-immolation in August 1963. She discussed her view of American soldiers, her experience sheltering in the battle of Đà Lạt and the fall of Saigon. She also discussed the occupation, living with communist soldiers and her escape from Vietnam. Mrs.Diệư now lives in Orange County, CA.
