My-Van Tran, South Vietnamese Australian
Vietnam is my native home. It's a part I keep in my heart. I know I was born in Saigon, but I lived through the war in South Vietnam and also in the United States and in Australia.
Most of my suffering derives from the war and the victory of the communists. It's very sad when I learned about the fall of Vietnam from afar because this is the most difficult time for me because you do not know what's really going on. It's very, very traumatic for me.
When I knew that my family became so, so poor and had to struggle for daily food, we lost everything. My two brothers were sent to the re-education camp. My older sister lost her job and had to look after four kids.
Her husband, who was a military doctor, was also sent to the re-education camp. And my young sisters were not allowed to study at all. And so that's the hardest time for me.
I was the only member of my family outside Vietnam at that time. And so I had to work very, very hard to send money home to help my family escape. But my sisters and her children tried to escape many times, but they were caught and were put in jail.
My dad, I would think of him having to burn all my English language books. These were my school prizes, you know. And also he had to lower my graduation photograph taken at Duke University to replace it with Ho Chi Minh photograph.
When I think about it, my dad always, always encouraged me to study well. He said, with good higher education, a woman never has to depend on a man. I know he had to do all of this.
It must have hurt him a lot. So it saddened me. I have to say thanks to Buddhist teachings and philosophy that have helped me through the hard time.
The hard time when I, as I said, I know that my family lost everything, right? I have Buddha teaching to me that you are your own salvation.
We never forget our roots. And we always think of those people who left behind, those who did not have the opportunities like we are at the moment.
Being overseas, enjoy freedom and open space, good atmosphere. Our children have opportunity to grow up well, you know, with food, with plenty of food. And so actually, like in my family, all my, because of the war, a lot of my distant relatives have been picked up.
Some time now settled in Germany and Denmark, some in France and some in Holland. Whenever we get together, we always think, ah, how much money did you send home to help? And like I always send my money home to help my own village where my dad come from.
Most of those people who were left behind that have connection with the old regime, without our support, would not live a comfortable life in Vietnam.
I do not have any desire to go back to Vietnam. We settled here well. But whenever I see the South Vietnamese flag, the symbol, our South Vietnamese flag, you know, the symbol of our country before the communists took over, I feel with emotion when I see it fluttering in the wind.
And we see like on Anzac day, the Vietnamese veterans carry it. It's a nice feeling. And you know, this, I maintain that way.
And of course, I want still very much to teach our kids our good tradition from home.
We are proud Aussies. We are, yes, we are Vietnamese.
We are proud Aussies. And I remember the day I held my citizenship was back in 1976. At that time, Australia gave me a home.
I vowed I would do everything to build this country. Think of Australia for the future generation as well.
My-Van Tran grew up in middle-class Saigon family and then left South Vietnam when she won scholarships to study overseas, first in the United States and then in Australia.
Living in Canberra in 1975, she was separated from all of her family when Saigon finally fell to communist North Vietnamese forces.
Exiled from a country that, in a real sense, no longer exists, My-Van supported many family members to join her in Australia.
She continues to help other members of her extended family still living in Vietnam today.
Accession: AWM2017.580.1.9
Ripples of Wartime
Ripples of Wartime is a series of short interviews with Australians involved in and affected by the Vietnam War.
Filmed by Malcolm McKinnon for Brink Productions, they were made in association with the stage production Long Tan, which premiered in Adelaide in 2017.
Recording servicemen and servicewomen, conscripts and volunteers, families of those who served, anti-war activists and protestors, displaced people and post-war immigrants – the project truly reflects the complex and divisive nature of the Vietnam War.
