Remembering the Vietnam War: An Interview with Ryan Hoang
The Refugee as Abolition: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon
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The Refugee as Abolition: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon -
Anna Jyi
For many Vietnamese Americans like Ryan and Vivian Hoang, remembering the events of April 30, 1975, otherwise known as The Fall of Saigon, is easy. Ryan and Vivian are the hardworking owners of two small businesses in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Together, they operate Q-Tea Premium Teahouse and The Sense Spa & Wellness Center, and value the sentiment of their culture and heritage as they seek to share it with their children and the greater Green Bay community. Their reputable businesses have established a well-known name in Brown County, and their efforts towards community contributions have earned them many awards such as the 2019 Mayor’s Beautification Award and a recognition of Ryan’s continuous leadership and dedication in the celebration of Brown County’s 200th Anniversary. In an interview that I held with Ryan, I gained a better understanding of his life story and became more informed of the perspectives of the Vietnam War from someone who considers themself both a citizen of Vietnam and the United States of America. April 30, 2025 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and through this interview, it became evident that there are established efforts towards peacemaking. However, it also became evident that there are still many wounds left without healing, and the aftermath of the war still exists in many lives today.
One of the first questions I asked Ryan was about his experience with the war, to which he replied that the majority of his childhood memories came from experiences that his father had had with a career that directly involved international relations and peacemaking.
“My dad actually worked for the Vietnam-USA Society which [aimed] to bring the USA soldiers to Vietnam to meet with [Vietnamese] soldiers in order to improve the mutual relationship between Vietnam and the US after the war.” The Vietnam-USA Society, or VUS, was founded and directed by President Ho Chi Minh as the first bilateral friendship association that aimed to promote a mutual understanding and connection between Vietnam and the United States. This included people-to-people exchange programs to promote mutual benefits in economics, as well as organizing working visits to enterprises, educational, and social organizations in the United States and Vietnam respectively (Hung and Van Bo 1). Ryan shared some of the most notable memories that his father had through his position at VUS. “My dad actually hosted John McCain when he first came to Vietnam. My dad took John McCain to the lake in front of my house, and that’s where he got shot down and he parachuted. There is a statue of him down on his knees with Vietnamese soldiers.” He also discussed his father’s role as a Vietnamese ambassador in hosting President Bill Clinton in November of 2000. Bill Clinton’s visit to Hanoi, Vietnam was made in hopes to further strengthen relations between the two countries. Ryan recalls stories of Clinton being nervous about how the Vietnamese would react to his arrival, and how Clinton’s helicopters were heavily guarded by other US helicopters as they flew into the country. These events not only marked important moments in the history of peacemaking and reparations between Vietnam and the United States, but also existed as a foundational structure for how Ryan’s childhood had been impacted by the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
One particular issue that Ryan recalls from his childhood is the effects of Agent Orange. He comments, “I see a lot of people with the [effects of] Agent Orange or Orange Agent, I see a lot of that. You know, people born with three hands and two heads, stuff like that.” Giang Nguyen-Dien briefly talks about Agent Orange in The Haunt of Home. She describes that from 1961 to 1971, the United States and the Republic of Vietnam forces dropped 20.2 million gallons herbicide mixtures onto the forests and mangroves of Vietnam (Nguyen-Dien 44). This operation was intended to clear any hidden military operations and destroy crops that served as the food supply for enemy forces. These herbicides, known as Agent Orange, were inhaled and absorbed into the bodies and DNA of many Vietnamese soldiers and created genetic birth defects for many future generations of Vietnamese people. Ryan notes, “A lot of people got affected by it, not the soldiers, but the next generations got affected by the toxins that were doused. We have a lot of forests in Vietnam, and they sprayed that Orange Agent to destroy the forests to find the Vietnamese Communists who tried to hide in the battle and war.” The controversy of Agent Orange is described in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s novel, Nothing Ever Dies, where Nguyen writes, “This herbicide debilitated thousands of American soldiers and their progeny, as the U.S. government admitted, and also thousands of Vietnamese and their offspring, as the U.S. government will not admit,” (Nguyen 230). The refusal of the United States to claim responsibility for the distribution of Agent Orange is not a secret to the general public, including those who continue to live with the genetic effects of Agent Orange today. In Mai Der Vang’s book Yellow Rain, she further illustrates the devastation caused by Agent Orange. “The US sprayed toxic chemicals including Agent Orange and toxic gases included CS in Vietnam in violation of the Geneva Protocol… caused ocular lesions, prolonged asthenia, congenital anomalies and chromosomic alterations among the inhabitants as well as killing 3,500 Vietnamese outright,” (Vang 88). Although the Vietnam War ended over 50 years ago, living evidence of the devastation caused by the conflict is still left unaddressed and still continues to exist today.
On the subject of how the Vietnam soldiers and deceased are memorialized in Vietnam, Ryan focused on the practices celebrated on or around April 30th. “April 30th is a big holiday in Vietnam, it’s a really big celebration to make sure people don’t forget about it and memorialize the soldiers, everyone gets the day off.” In Nothing Ever Dies, Viet Thanh Nguyen uses the term “Black April” to describe April 30th. He describes the ways in which Vietnam memorializes their independence by holding ceremonies with hundreds of military officers in attendance, portable memorials that showcase historical photography, wreaths that decorate shrines to honor dead soldiers, and speeches by politicians, former generals, and former admirals dedicated to the memorialization of the war (Nguyen 42). Ryan further affirms these practices, “[It is] very formal, the leader of the Communist Party will visit and make a speech. They make it very formal.” In the United States and Vietnam, memorializing those who have fought in the war can be seen on holidays and in monuments, such as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, or the Truong Son Martyrs Cemetery in Vietnam. Although these are nationally recognized forms of memorialization, the topic of how one should be memorialized has always existed as a topic of debate in both countries alike. These debates are rooted in the different experiences faced by Vietnamese refugees, American veterans, first generation Vietnamese American children, and so on. Giang Nguyen-Dien alluded, as she says in her journal article, The Haunt of Home, “memories of the war may vary depending on where one lived, what their ideological stand was, and the extent to which they were involved in battles, to name a few reasons,” (Nguyen-Dien 44). For example, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, more specifically the designer, Maya Lin, received a remarkably negative amount of backlash from American Vietnam war veterans. The controversy had grown so large that a second Vietnam Veterans Memorial had been built to satisfy the likings of veterans who wanted a more visual representation of the American soldiers who had fought in the Vietnam War. However, the second memorial spurred controversy, and further affirmed the difficulty in memorializing the perspectives of every involved party. The debate about proper memorialization, should certain events even be memorialized in the first place, exists as a wound in today’s modern realm.
Looking to the future of what it means to be Vietnamese living in the United States, Ryan recalled his first visit to the United States as the first experience that cultivated his love for American culture. “I went with a diplomatic program where they hosted me, like a home stay for about two weeks in big cities like [in] LA and New York. That was 22 years ago.” This program solidified his decision to move to the United States. In 2003, he made the move from Hanoi, Vietnam to study English at St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI. “After a few months, I became a regular student and majored in Communications and Business, and I actually did go to [the University of Wisconsin] Madison for my Master’s in Business Administration.” He continues to strive on the importance of teaching his children the Vietnamese culture and language. It is evident through this interview that keeping the memory of his past experiences and the events of Vietnam are values that he holds close. It is clear that memory is indeed a powerful and impactful entity, and must be preserved in ways that promote peace and healing.
Works Cited
Nguyen-Dien, Giang. “Han: The Haunt of Home, Vietnamese Refugee Melancholia, and the Challenges to Asian American Critiques.” John Hopkins Press - Journal of Asian American Studies, vol. 27, no. 1, Feb. 2024, pp. 35–60.
Thanh Nguyễn, Viet. Nothing Ever Dies. First Harvard University Press Paperback Edition, Harvard UP, 2017.
Vang, Mai Der. Yellow Rain. Graywolf Press, 2021.
Vietnam Pictorial. “The Vietnam-US Society.” Vietnam Pictorial, 8 Nov. 2014, vietnam.vnanet.vn/english/tin-tuc/the-vietnam-us-society-57248.html.