Freedom without Fear

FREEDOM

A few months after the North Vietnam Communists (VC) had completely taken over South Viet Nam (SVN), after the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, my Ba (Dad) and oldest brother Hoà got reunited with the rest of our family in Cam Ranh where my parents began building a house in a remote farmland area called "Rẫy" at Kilometer #4 (Cây Số 4), National Road #1 (Quốc Lộ Số 1) at Cam Ranh Bay, so Ba could be disguised as a native so he could not be arrested, executed or sent to the jungle or mountain for re-education camp, where he could have been forced to destroy forests and mountains to sickness or death as hundred thousands of the Servicemen of the South Viet Nam (SVN) got sick or died during years of Re-education Camp, Harsh Labor Concentration Camp.

At Rẫy Cây Số 4, we lived far away from our neighbors so no body care to bother us. My Mother started running a small store selling gas, diesel, coffee, smoothies and cigarretes to the people driving by on National Road #1 in front of our new house while Ba began a new career raising chickens, pigs and growing corns, yams and onions for living. My parents started making a very good business for living until 1979 when they had to flee the local Communist Authorities in Cam Ranh so they could not be forced to move to a so-called "New Economic Zone", a Harsh Labor Concentration Camp (Vùng Kinh Tế Mới) in the jungle or mountain because of on 4/29/1979, my brothers Hoà,17; Hoàng, 13 and I, 15 years old escaped Communist VN on a boat to come to the U.S. for political and religious freedoms.

Again, my parents had to loose every thing to run away from the VC Leaders' harsh punishment due to having children seeking freedom in America. The Vietnamese Communists (VC) then called us as betrayors to our country for leaving VN to seek freedom in the U.S. during this VC persecution time of 1979.

Finally, in 1980, my parents, oldest sister Kimdzung and youngest brother moved to Xóc Soài, Rạch Giá, Kiêng Giang in West of VN to find a new way to escape the VC dictatorship.

Mẹ helped saved many people from Vietnamese Communist destruction but not her life.

Forty-five years ago, with some of our relatives, Mẹ rescued me and my 2 younger brothers from Vietnamese Communist destruction of our lives by taking us in our family fishing boat called "Giả" in Vietnamese that looked exactly like the boat in the pictures I am sharing here, to leave Bình Thạnh Village (Bình Sa before 1975), Bình Sơn County, Quảng Ngãi District, Central Vietnam (South China Beach); where I, my brothers, sister and parents were born, grew up and lived during Vietnam War (VNW) and from many generations before the war, to flee from the North Vietnam Communists (NVC) as they were invading the South Vietnam with armed forces and aggression supported by Russia, Soviet Union and Communist China to take over the South VN in violation of the 1973 Paris Peace Treaty.

A few days before Mẹ escaped from the local Binh Sa Village's VC with her children, Ba had fled away from our birth Village's Việt Cộngs with our oldest brother Hòa to run away to Phú Quốc Island and got onboard a U. S. Navy Ship to go to America with thousands of other Vietnamese people during the evacuation of Vietnamese and American personnel and their families escaping out of VN to take refuge in America as the North VC took over SVN during the Fall of Saigon in April 1975.

Sadly, Mẹ left my oldest sister Kimdzung behind at home in Bình Sa Village to watch over our family house when she took me and my 2 younger brothers by boat to take refuge in our Uncle 8th's family house in Cam Ranh during the Fall of the Republic of SVN. It took days for our fishing boat to arrive to Nha Trang Beach then we took a bus to go to Uncle 8th's family in Cam Ranh. On the way sailing our boat from South China Beach area to Nha Trang Beach in South China Sea, there were typhoons, so we had to stop at Lý Sơn Island nearby Paracel Islands (Hoàng Sa) to take refuge for a couple of days until the sea became calm then we continued our boat journey to Nha Trang.

Since April 30, 1975, none of my family members wanted to move back to our birth place of Binh Sa Village because of the new government of VC had confiscated my family's property, business and lands due to my Father' service as a Chief of Phoenix Police Force of the Republic of SVN during Vietnam War when he went to the jungles almost daily to search for the VC, Việt Cộng with his troops and sometimes with the U.S. Servicemen too.

During VNW, Ba hardly slept at home but in a secret place in Hòn Ông (Grandpa Island) located at Bình Sa (Trà Bồng) Port exiting into South China Sea, away from home with his Police troops where I or my siblings was not allowed to know of his sleeping place. Yet Ba just told me of his secretive sleeping (ngủ lang) place during VNW before his death in California in 2012 because of during VNW he actively searched for VC in the jungles almost daily and his enemies, the VC also hunted for him every night. Worst of all, most of his friends who had served the Republic of SVN who got stuck behind in Quảng Ngãi District got arrested and executed or sent to harsh labor concentration camp so-called "Re-education Camp" (Trại Học Tập Cải Tạo) to sickness and or death during VC harsh labor and imprisonment in those camps in the deep jungles.

Mẹ had reperatedly rescued and saved me and my siblings from VC destruction terrorizing and burning our family house and Binh Sa Village several times as she often woke us up at night to go hiding in our family bomb shelter or run away toward the beach so we couldn't get burnt by the VC. One of the most unforgettable experiences that I always instantly became so strong right after Mẹ had awakened me up to help her lift up our family personal belongings to move them out of our house so they wouldn't get burnt by the VC because I couldn't have never had lifted up these items during the day or at any time not by Mẹ waking me up in the time of danger.

In 1972, Mẹ also took me and my siblings in our family fishing boat sailing to Kỳ Hòa County by Chu Lai Bay to take refuge in our Uncle Tấn's family during the high peak of VNW breaking out during Tết Offensive and Summer with Fires (Tết Mậu Thân & Mùa Hè Đỏ Lửa) that took place in Huế which also directly impacted our Bình Sa Village while Ba had to support the U.S. and SVN Military Troops based in Chu Lai Bay. He sometimes came home for a short visit with a military truck and quickly returned to Chu Lai Military Base during this dangerous time of Tết Offensive and Summer with Fires events in 1972.

After Ba had gotten onboard a U.S. Navy Ship with his oldest son Hòa to go to the U.S. during the Fall of Saigon, he changed his mind and got off the Navy ship because he didn't want to leave his wife or children behind in VN. He and Hòa secretly hid in Phú Quốc Island for a few months so he couldn't be arrested or executed by the new government of VC during or after the the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. A few months after the North VC had completely taken over the South, he got reunited with the rest of our family in Cam Ranh.

I am also so grateful to our cousin Chính whom Mẹ had secretly helped him got onboard the same boat I and my 2 brothers also got on as stowaways without paying for our fee to the boat Captain or her permission to leave home. Chinh helped the Boat Captain in English/Vietnamese translation speaking with an Indonesian Navy Ship Captain when our boat arrived to Indonesia by mistake on the way in South China Sea searching for freedom in America.; otherwise, I and my 2 brothers could have been starved to death during our boat escape because of the boat Captain didn't give us food or drink for many days due to our failure for fee payment until our cousin helped translated for him, the Boat Captain whom our Mom had sold diesel to before his boat filled up with 75 people from Nha Trang whose boat departed from Cam Ranh Bay in front of our house in Cây Số Tư at the shooting bullets by the local Cam Ranh Policemen and VC Military Camp based behind our house as we risked our life getting onboard this boat escaping from Communist VN for freedom in the dark at night of April, 29, 1979.

Consequently, my parents were forced by the local Cam Ranh VC authority to move to a New Economic Zone so-called "Vùng Kinh Tế Mới" in the jungle due to having children who had escaped from VN during that time, 1979. Therefore, my parents had to run away from the VC's persecution again to move to Sóc Xoài, Rạch Giá, Kiên Giang, West VN in 1980 so Ba could flee from VC with my youngest brother in 1982 leaving Mẹ and oldest sister Kimdzung behind because he didn't want them to get hurt by Thai Pirates during his escape to Thailand in order to come to the U.S. to be reunited with his children as political refugee in California in 1983.

Throughout the years of Vietnamese Boat Peoples' escapes traveling through Thai's waters or sea to take refuge in Thailand before going to their newly-found sponsorship homelands; the Thai's pirates brutally hurt and killed most of the Vietnamese boat people who traveled through Thai's waters. The Thai's pirates robbed the boat people of their golds and personal belongings, killed boat men, r***d women, kidnapped young girls and sunk their boats as they traveled through Thai's waters on their way escaping from Communist Vietnam to take refuge in Thailand, where are the most Buddhist Temples in the world while searching for freedom and taking refuge in the free countries or America.

Fortunately, our boat went to Philippines instead of Thailand when I fled with my 2 brothers from Cam Ranh Bay in 1979 where the Filipino were unlike the Thai's pirates but so kind and hospitable toward the Vietnamese boat people. They volunteered for building refugee camp for us to live, taught us English and American culture and helped found sponsorship in the U.S. and other free countries for the boat people to permanently settle and live in freedom without Communist persecution.

Instead of waiting for Ba' sponsorship from the U.S. to be reunited with her family in California as Ba had promised her before he left; Mẹ began listening to the Mayor of Sóc Xoài Village to help her escape from VN so she could be reunited with her family in the U.S. in 1985, 3 years after Ba had run away from Communist Vietnam and left her and sister Kimdzung behind due to Thailand's pirates. Instead of helping Mẹ, Sóc Xoài Village's VC Mayor had taken all her money paid for him to supposedly buy a boat for her escape before he robbed her and murdered her in the night after picking her up from her house to supposedly help her get onboard a boat to go to Thailand. She was in such a hurry making efforts to come the U.S. to help me take care of my first new born baby son because I mistakenly kept sending her pictures of my newborn baby son and she had always thought that I didn't know how to take care of myself or my newborn son since I left her when I was 15 years old in 1979 from Cam Ranh Bay.

No body knew about Mẹ's death since Sóc Xoài Village's Mayor had picked her up for her escape to Thailand until 3 months after her death when one of our relatives had a dream that she told him that she had been murdered and buried under Cầu Khĩ Bridge. According his dream, my sister Kimdzung and some of our relatives went to Cầu Khĩ Bridge to search for her body. Instantly they found her dead body buried under a place with withered grass. Her body was found with her chest stabbed but the body was still fresh due to the salted water in Sóc Xoài Village. Our cousin Thuần who was a VC Policeman in Cam Ranh helped caught the murder of Mẹ with many other VC Police Officers came from Ho Chi Minh City. The Police found out that the murder had killed so many other people and buried them in his garden around his house since 1978 and my Mother was the last victim he murdered in 1985. He was a VC who used to live in the jungles to fight against the U.S. and S.VN troops as a serial killer during VNW called "Nhẫy Núi". Likewise, he brutally had robbed and killed countless of people before and as the same way he murdered Mẹ and stored all the jewelries and money in his house that he had robbed of his victims. Finally, the murder was recognized as the Mayor of Sóc Xoài Village of Rạch Giá, Kiên Giang, West VN got arrested and imprisoned; but not too long, he bribed the prison guards for him to be released with the money that he had robbed from his victims who had trusted him to help them escape from Communist Vietnam throughout the years of 1978 to 1985 when my Mom was his last victim he murdered.

According to the villagers of Sóc Xoài, today, they still see Mẹ as a ghost walking around Cầu Khĩ Bridge during full moon nights of the month since she was also murdered in a full moon night. About 10 years after her death, I was shocked at listening to a body who used to live by Mẹ in Sóc Xoài who called in the Sống Trên Đất Mỹ Radio (Living in America Radio) and told about her murdered story in a Ghost Telling Story Program at night on air.

During her life, Mẹ also helped many of her relatives and friends who used to live in her birth Village of Binh Sa and Cam Ranh to successfully escape out of VN to go to America for freedom. For instance in 1979 she was so scared to hear me asking her to let me go to America with my 2 brothers Hòa and Hoàng when Hòa found out a boat with a group of 75 people coming from Nha Trang whose boat captain had bought diesel from her for his boat to depart from Cam Ranh Bay to seek freedom in America. However at the same time Mẹ gradually and secretly helped some of her nephews and relatives to get onboard the boats with Captains whom she had sold diesel to for escaping out of VN to go to the U.S. at many different trips.

After Mẹ had moved to Sóc Xoài, Rạch Giá, Kiên Giang in West VN from Cam Ranh, she also helped a lot of her relatives and friends who used to live in Bình Sa Village of S. China Beach area, her birth Village and Cam Ranh in moving to Sóc Xoài with her so they could find way to successfully flee out of VN throughout 1980s until her death.

Sadly, she could not save herself from her Sóc Xoài Village VC Mayor who deceived, robbed and murdered her in 1985 after she had paid him a lot of money to supposedly buy a boat to help her escape from the VC so she could be reunited with her family in the U.S. in 1985. Sadly she could not make it.

During VNW, Mẹ and a few of her sisters and relatives also helped washed the Military uniforms of the U.S. soldiers by hands in Trà Bồng River at Mũ Rú Jungle when I also helped them to empty the pockets of the uniforms as I found a lot of chewing gums, Chocolates, money and watches left in their pockets. Mũ Rú Jungles was where the Việt Cộng acted as snipers always shot at the passengers taking boat rides from village-to-village along Trà Bồng River, where Ba also searched for local VC with his Policemen almost daily and sometimes with the U. S. Troops too.

During VNW, as often Ba used our family house as his Police station and military shelter where the Soldiers of SVN stopped by to sleep for couples of hours before they went into the jungle to search for VC with him. Every time he came home, he always brought home some guns, rifles and grenades that he had confiscated from the VC or received them from the U.S. Troops for his children to help him clean up the guns before he distributed them to other Policemen or local troops called "Nghĩa Quân".

Some of the U.S. Soldiers based at Mũ Rú Jungle also liked coming over our family house so they could see and play with Mẹ's puppies and little pigs that she bred to give the puppies away to friends and relatives but sold the pigs for money during VNW in Bình Sa Village.

Yet since Ba had come to the U.S. in 1983 as a political refugee from Communist VN, he became silent about his VNW experiences even though he used to proudly talk with his friends and Mẹ about how he confronted, captured his VC enemies, confiscated their weapons, interrogated and convinced them to return to the Republic of SVN instead of following North Vietnamese Communists during VNW.

As a great comfort from God's promise of resurrection for the dead so we will certainly have a chance to see my Mẹ/Ba again soon in the future during God's resurrection of the dead as written in the Scriptures.

My Freedom Journey in Loving Memory of Mẹ and the Fall of the Republic of South Vietnam.....4/30/2020............... Kihei, Maui, Hawaii of U. S. A