CHAPTER17

RefugeesinCampPendleton,California

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 479

Allthat’sleft:anend…andnewbeginnings!

KhươngHữuĐiểu,ex‐banker,showshiswealth‐‐‐clothesforfamily

TheGatesatCampPendletonWelcometheVietnameseRefugees

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GeneralGraham,headoftheentirerefugeeoperation

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 481

CampPendletonBird’seyeView

The temporary housing facility for Vietnamese refugees was erected atCampPendleton,CA,May1975.Beginningthe firstweekofMay,militaryC‐141Starlifter planes transported thousands of refugees to Marine Airfield El Toro,California.Fromthere,busestransferredthemtoCampPendleton.ItwasthefirsttimeinthehistoryoftheUnitedStatesandVietnamthatamassiveevacuationofrefugeesacross thePacificOceanhappened insuchshortorderandundersuchpanickyconditions.CampPendletonwastheveryfirstcampinAmericatohavereceived the refugees. Later on, other camps were opened in Florida andPennsylvania.

482 EAST meets WEST

NixonHouse‐SanClemente,CaNixonandChuEn‐LaiinBeijingin1972

Byfateordestiny,theVietnameserefugeeslandedinCampPendletonnext

door to former President Richard Nixon’s house in San Clemente, Ca. Fromdeclassifiedhistoricaldocuments,afterhisdinnerwithChuEn‐Lai intheHallofhe People in Beijing in 1972, he and Kissinger virtually pushed the “remoteontrol”buttonforthislongterm,secretdebacleofSouthVietnaminMay1975.tc

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 483

By pure coincidence also, Mr. Richard Nixon, former Vice President to

President Dwight Eisenhower, personally handed me in June 1956 myEngineeringDiplomaontheCampusofLafayetteCollegeinEaston,Pennsylvania!Hewas the commencement speaker. Now inMay 1975, I survived happily andalsob tterlyasthefirstelected“MayorofCampPendleton”inabareQuonsethutexttohisluxurioushome.Itwasareallyironicandsmallworld!

i

n

NotablefeaturesatNixon's“WesternWhiteHouse”SanClemente,Ca

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Quonsethuts:“Tentcity”inMarineCampPendletonnearMr.Nixon’shome

MarineandRefugeeBoyinCamp

AQuonsetHutisasheltermadeofcorrugatedsteelsheet,havingasemicircularcrosssection,firstbuiltinthe40’s.

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 485

Photoof“TheFirstboy”refugeetakenbySgtManthey29Apr75

ewsweek Magazine of May 19, 1975 reported the unprecedented

historicaleventatCampPendletonasfollows:N

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AtCampPendleton,NguyễnCaoKỳsaid:“…we are exiled because ofNguyễn vănThiệu.Remember that name.He is themostdespicablemanintheworld.”AsfortheUnitedStates,Kỳseemedeagertobsolvehisnewhomelandofanyguilt.“Inthepasttenyearsyoudidalotforus‐oomuat chinmyopinion,”hedeclared.

Kỳ has always made good copy for American reporters, but his ownountrymen seemed less impressed.While some gather around him to beg forssistaca nce,mostjustgawked.

“Idon’twanttoseehim.Iwillnotshakehishand”saidKhươngHữuĐiểu,43, ex‐president of the Industrial Development Bank of Vietnam and now anorganizer of the “infrastructure” at Pendleton. “If he is such a good fighter, heshouldhavestayedandfought.”

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 487

Inthemeantime,IreceivedfromoneofmyfriendsaGlendaleNews‐Pressclipping dated June 13, 1975 above. The former Vietnamese Vice PresidentNguyễncaoKỳsaidinSaigonafewdaysbeforethefallofSouthVietnam:“Letthecowardswho are leavingwith the Americans go and let thosewho love SouthVietnam stay and fight.Why run? To dowhat? To eat leftover American food?Even if thecountry falls to theCommunists,at least theyhaveyellowskins likeours.” It was a shame that five days after that loud, arrogant and insultingeclaration,hefledbyhelicoptertothePhilippinesenroutetotheUnitedStates,arineCampPendleton,California.

dM

NguyễncaoKỳathistentinCampPendleton,Newsweekphoto

Asmayor of the camp, I assigned him to a newly built tent on the grass

because therewas no Quonset hut available. I used the “first come first serve”rincipleandKỳdidnotlikethat.Lateron,someofhisAirForcememberstriedotakept revengeonmebecauseofthatdecision.

“WithU.S.Marineunitsprovidinglogisticalsupports,theVietnameseintentcitiesatCampPendletonformedtheirownquasi‐governmental‘infrastructure’tocoordinate the processing and solve day to day problems. And whileAdministration officials squelched the leadership aspiration of former PremierNguyễncaoKỳ(box),theywerepleasedbytheemergenceofgrass‐rootsleaderssuch asU.S. educatedKhươngHữuĐiểu, 43, former president of the IndustrialDevelopmentBankofVietnam.”

“WewanttoshowAmericaweareresponsible,saidĐiểu,andthatwedon’t

anttojusteatandsleephere”w

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OtherdocumentsfromNBCaboutthecamp

“NBCEveningNewsforWednesday,May07,1975

SummaryThousands of South Vietnam refugees already at Pendleton and are taking(practicalstepstopreparefortransitiontoAmericanlife.)REPORTER: John Chancellor (Camp Pendleton, California) “Govt. structureorganizedbyVietnamheadedby20‐mbr.Exec.Committee.Overall,villagechiefcoordinatesactivitieswithmilitarycampcommander.Refugeegovernmentsetupby former Saigon banker and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate,

‐ says action taken for cooperation inmanagement of;teachersrecruitedfromamongevacuees;English

Dieu KhuongHuu. [Dieuamp.]Schoolsorganizedcclassesbeganthisweek.

RayCullen)”llorwasanchoroftheNBCNightlyNews.

REPORTER:JohnChance

Bird’seyeviewofCampPendleton1975

Itwasamassiveundertaking:Nearly900Marinesandciviliansworkedforixdaystoerect958tentsand140QuonsetHuts.CampPendletonwastheonlyentcityintheWest.st

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 489

FormerFirstLadyBettyFordvisitedonMay21,1975.

CampPendleton'sTentCityHoused50,000VietnameseRefugees

TheNEWYORKDailyNews,May3,1975hadthisphotowithcaption:”KhươngHữuĐiểu,ex‐banker,showshiswealth‐‐‐clothesforfamily.”

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TheExpress‐Times,TuesdayMay6,1975

MyAlmaMaterLafayetteCollegehometownnewspaper,TheExpress‐Times,onTuesdayMay6,1975hadthisheadline:

“RefugeesTrytoEstablishOrder”

Quote:“ALLTHAT’SLEFT‐‐‐KhuongHuuDieu,1956graduateofLafayetteCollegeandaietnamese banker, holds up all that’s left of his possessions after he and hisamilyVf fledtheVietCongandNorthVietnamese”

The refugees realized that thanks to the massive airlift by the USgovernment,theysurvivedandjustlandedintheLandoftheFree.Inpanic,theyescapedthecommunistcaptureandtorture.TheywouldliketoshowUncleSamthattheydidnotwanttojusteatandsleephere.Immediatelyaftertheirlanding,theygottogetherandbegantosetuptheirowncampadministrationtocooperatewiththeMarinestaff.Ifeltmuchhonoredtobeelectedthefirst“MayorofCampPendleton,”thefirstAmerican“tentcity”builtforVietnameserefugees.WhydidIgetelected?Probablybecause inSaigon, Iwas the founderandPresidentof the

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 491

Management Association of Vietnam and President of the popular VAAVietnamese American Association) with about 25,000 students in Englishlasse(c s.

nashorttime,wehadourorganizationchartpreparedandfilledwithallIvolunteerteams.

rgeof:

Wehadcommitteesincha

1.Messhallmanagementdards2.Campsanitarystan

3.Informationandmailofficenterramcenter

4.Healthcarece5.Recreationprog

6.Barbershops.Childcareunits.Lost78 andfound

I was very surprised by the great number of reporters from AP, UPI,ReutersandAFPsurroundingmeandaskingmesomanyquestionsaboutwhatthecampMayorwasplanningtodonext?IwasshockedalsobytheirwastefuluseofKodakfilmsonme.Therewasnodigitalcameraatthetime.ThenumberofTVamerasfromNBC,ABC,CBSandlocalstationsmademefeelunrealasacelebrityayor

cm :Asurvivorofadisaster.

The side benefit of the media exposure was to enable many of myclassmates,colleagues,friendsandrelativesaroundtheworldtoknowthatIwasliveatCampPendleton.Asaresult,Ireceivedmanytelegramsandlettersfromhemwat ishingmewell.Manyofferedtosponsormeoutofthecamp.

One telegram arrived frommy Lafayette College 1956 classmate living inashingtonDC.. It stated: “I amDickWilson. Điểuwasmy dishwashermate; Iantt

Ww osponsorhimoutofthecamp.”

also received letters from my colleagues at the Tokyo APO, AsianProdu

IctivityOrganizationof14countriesofAsia.Funniest of allwere themany letters from “serious”well to doAmerican

rofessionals, retirees asking the Mayor to let them “try the refugees so theyouldmarrythem!”

pw

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Formyself,Iwasexposedtosomeshockexperiences.IntheQuonsetHuts,withdozensofpeoplesleepingonmilitarystyleArmybunkbedsthesnoringwasunbea able. The funny thing was that the richest person snored the loudest!Fortun

ratelyforeveryoneinthehut,sheleftthecampreallyearly!Anotheraftershock.TheMarinetoilet facilitywasdesignedwitharowof

twenty seats in awell‐lightedandaerated roomwithoutheatorwallsbetweenseatsforprivacy.IhavetoadmitthatIwasnotusedtothatstyleofpublictoiletbutIcouldnottellthattoanybody.However,Icameupwithapractical,workableolution.InMay,itwasfairlycoldatnightinthecamp.Igotupearlyat1AMinhemost rningchilland,alone,Ihadmyprivacyinthebigtoiletroom.

Thereweresomeproblemswiththewayricewascookedinhugequantitiesy the Marines for the refugees. But here again, for survival, everything wasppre nba ciated.Igotitsolvedquickly bytheVietnamesevolu teerchefs.

TheExpress‐Times,May6, 1975, summarized thehistorical event ofMaysfollows:1975atCampPendletona

“FromOurWireServicesUnderthedirectionofaLafayetteCollegegraduate,VietnameserefugeesatCampPendleton, Ca are setting up their own ‘mini government.’ KhuongHuuDieu, a1956 graduate of Lafayette and former president of the Vietnamese IndustrialDevelopmentBank, saidhe and twootherswould setup anucleusof about20persons to coordinate the care of the evacuees.At the timeDieuheldhis newsconference at the Marine base, Ky was arriving at another Marine station inCaliforniaandsaidhewouldhelptakechargeatPendleton.“Iwilltryandbealeaderforthem”KysaidwhenhearrivedfromHawaii.EarlierhehadbrandedformerPresidentNguyenvanThieu“abigcriminal.All thathashappenedtousisThieu’sfaultandonlyThieu’sfault,”Kydeclared.Dieuandhis“mini government” intend to establishmedical services, language school, apostofficeandaVietnamesenewspaperfortheroughly10,000refugeesatthecamp.TheLafayettegraduateheadedtheassociationthatoperatedthe largestEnglishlanguage school in Saigon. He is being assisted in setting up a Vietnameseadministration at the camp by Cornell University graduate Tran quy Than, aSaigon banker, and Mrs. Nguyen van Bong, head of a planned parenthoodassociation.WhenDieuescapedfromSouthVietnamlastweek,hesaidheandhisfamilyowedtheirlivestoanasterisk.TheirnameshesaidwerelistedatthebottomofasheetofpaperauthorizingcertainVietnamesetodepartSaigon.Theasteriskindicated

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 493

that the Dieu family was being sponsored as refugees by a niecemarried to aformerU.S.Embassyemployee.WhenDieuescaped,hecalledMr.andMrs.Millerof1710Richmondroad,ForksTownship to tell themhewas safe.TheMillersandDieu struckupa friendshipduringhisLafayetteyears.

eCampPendleton is servingwithFt Chaff e,ArkandEglinAirForceBase,FlaasoneofthethreerefugeereceptioncentersintheUnitedStates…On Guam, all elementary schools were ordered closed for three days to free

orschoolbusesf thetransportationofthousandsofSouthVietnameserefugeesenroutetothatPacificway‐stop.ome 15,000 refugeeswere due to arrive at Guam today aboard the AmericanhalleSC nger,thePioneerCommander,andthePioneerContender.”

Wetriedtotakecareofboysfirstatthedaycarecenters.Parentswerefreetojoinotherprograms.(Seephotosofcampactivities.) Cleanlinessof the campgota lotofhelp fromboyspickingup trash.Thishadadualpurpose.Notonlydidtheycleaneverybody’strash,buttheywerebusy

couldnotcreateadditionalburdenstotheirparents.Theparentsinworkingandturnwerefreetovolunteerforotherprograms.

WesentboystoEnglishclasses,andorganizedwalkingtourswithguidestoexplainnature’ssecrets. “Apicture isworth a thousandwords.” I hope that thesephotosdescribeully the daily activities of a crowded, noisy tent city. Many photos are self‐xplanatory.fe

BusunloadingrefugeesfromnearbyElToroMarinesairport

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BoysatnewlyinstalledtentcityTheweatherwascoldandkidsgottheiroversizedcoats

AttheHealthCenter,soldierandchildGame&playforkids

Game&playforkids

Even in themidst of limbo,we had to keep life goingwith baptisms and

eddings,learningEnglish,playinggames.w

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 495

GI’shelpingkidinEnglishDistributionofblanketsGI’spreparingnewlesson shelterforrefugees

GI’stakingcareofrefugees

RedCrossfacilitiesforchildren

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WashOnly!&SunDryRedCrossvolunteers

The Los Angeles Chapter of the Red Cross volunteers provided 24‐hour

services at the Camp Pendleton processing center. Nurses and physician’sassistants toured the camp daily to find health problems that were untreated.Caseworkersinterviewedtherefugeesinanattempttosendthemontheirwaytoewh mes.Othervolunteersprovidedsnacksanddrinks.n

o

EntertainmentprogramwithPatBooneKidsandTVentertainment

EvenRosemaryClooneycameouttoentertainCozyHousing

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 497

WeddingCeremonyinCampPendletonBuddhistService inCampPendleton

CelebrationofBuddhistyear2519BoyScoutsincamp

RefugeePharmacyBarbershop

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Thisiswherethefamiliesleftnoteswiththeirnamesandsponsors'addressesincaseotherfamilymembersmadeitoutatalatertime,sotheycouldfindeachother.

In summary, we got lightening fast support from the Marines. Theycompleted the camp construction on 4 May 1975. The Herculean task ofcompletingacampof18,000peoplewasaccomplishedinlessthansixdays.Theaccommodations, though Spartan at first, were continually expanded andimproved,providingnotonly thenecessitiesof lifebutalsomanycomfortsandamenitiesfortherefugeepopulationasshownintheabovephotos.OnMay9,thecamp population peaked at 18,608. It gradually turned into a daily routine ofinsuring that the refugees had everything they needed including a locallyproducedVietnamesenewspaper.Therefugeecentercontinuedinoperationwellbeyondthearrivalofthelastrefugeeinmid‐July1975.Betweenmid‐Mayandthend of July, the Marines and the civilian organization found new homes andponsorsfor29,135evacuees.e

s

Lessonlearned:

Dangerously but luckily, the war put me in a refugee camp. My mindswitched from thinking about the economic development ofmy country to thepainful lossof thewar. I remembera famousquote fromGeorgeClemenceau inWorldWarI:"WaristooseriousamattertoentrusttotheGenerals."Truly,thereisgreatcivilianstatesmanshipshownbycommanders inchiefsuchasAbrahamLincol intheCivilWar,WinstonChurchillinWorldWarII,andDavidBenGurioninIsrael'swarforindependence.

n

Refugees in Camp Pendleton, California 499

Itwassadthatmanyofourgeneralswerenotevennormallytrainedtobegenerals through any military academy. Many were just junior officers in theFrenchcolonialarmy.Peopledidnotgivethemanypower.Theygrabbedpowerforthemselves.Theywerenotwellregardedbythepeople…worse,theyusurpedpoliticalpowerafter theymurderedPresidentNgôĐìnhDiệm in the1963coupd’étatstagedbyGeneralDươngVănMinhandsupportedbytheCIA.

PresidentNgôĐìnhDiệm

Ingeneral,oneofthereasonsthatledSouthVietnamtofallsorapidlyintocommunist hands could be attributed to the fight for power andmaterial gainamongstthegenerals.Thisdeplorablesituationpreventedthemfrompresentinga united front against the common enemy. In spite of their irresponsibility andlack ofmilitary competence, they alsowanted to secure full control of the civiladministration. They proved so inept in their conduct in both themilitary andadministrativearenasthattheAmericanswantedtoreplacethemwithaciviliancabinet. Mister Nguyễn Văn Bông, Head of the National Institute ofAdministration, was the person the Americans had in mind to become primeminister.

Regrettably,Mr.BôngwaskilledinanassassinationattemptmastermindedythecommunistsonNovember10,1971.b

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ProfessorBôngandhiscarwhichwasblownintopieces

BesidestheshortcomingsofthepoliticalsceneinSouthVietnam,thebetrayaloftheAmericanally,withKissingerasthemaininstigator,alsocontributedtothefall of the Republic of Vietnam. A full chapter (Chapter 18) in this book williscussthedetrimentaldeedsKissingercommittedagainstthenationandpeoplefVdo ietnam.

Inthehistoryofwarfare,theVietnamWarisuniqueinthesenseitgeneratedthe largest, most wide‐ranging and complex trove of documents. In the UnitedStatesalone,besidesthewell‐recognizedTheCenter&ArchiveatTexasTechUniversity,wecancountatleast10wellknownuniversitiesthatkeepimportantcollections of books andmaterials related to the field of Vietnamology and thewar itself. A common question that is often on the lips of Vietnamese andAmericans alike is: “Who is the winner and the loser in the Vietnam War?”Probably,ashortvideoonYouTube,lastingonly5minutes,datedJune23,2014by Bruce Herschenson, member of the Institute of Politics at John F KennedySchoolofGovernmentatHarvard,canprovideapartialanswertothatquestion.Itisentitled:TheTruthabouttheVietnamWar‐YouTube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hqYGHZCJwk