THESE ARE HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN THE DOCUMENTARY FILM:
South China Sea, July 1979:
Vietnamese boat people being rescued by the USS White Plains, AFS-4 combat store ship.
Source: Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Department of Defense, Naval Photographic.
Vietnamese boat people being rescued by the USS White Plains, AFS-4 combat store ship.
Source: Creative Commons, Wikimedia Commons, Department of Defense, Naval Photographic.
The Fall Of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Source: Creative Commons.
"Akuna In Singapore Harbor, March, 1979" by Bernard Macdougall.
In March, 2010, 31 years later, Mr. Macdougall, a former volunteer helping Vietnamese boat people, from Brisbane, Australia, shared this photograph with Dad after reading about his Boat Journey 1979 story on Facebook. READ MORE ABOUT THIS PHOTOGRAPH ON FACEBOOK
DAD'S VIETAM FAMILY PORTRAITS USED IN THE DOCUMENTARY FILM.
These are photocopies that Dad's family in Vietnam sent to him several years after he immigrated to America.
Dad's family last portrait in Saigon, Vietnam, early April, 1979, before his boat escape.
Dad, right and in dark T-shirt, with his brothers in Saigon, early April, 1979.
Dad, in downtown Saigon, early April, 1979.
Photographs of Dad and his family in Saigon, Vietnam, in early April, 1979. Dad's family in Vietnam sent to him several years after he immigrated to America. These are copies of the same set of photos that Dad packed with him for his boat journey. The original photos were lost from the pirate attacks in the Gulf of Thailand.
Pulau Buton Refugee Camp, Indonesia, summer 1979:
Dad and his cousins lived in this hut with the family of the boat owner, Mr. and Mrs. Đồng Tôn,
for more than six months, while waiting for their sponsorships to America.
This photo was taken by Dad's cousin.
Dad's immigration documents, from the refugee camp in Indonesia, 1979.
Dad's immigration photo, from the Pulau Buton refugee camp, Indonesia, 1979.
November 27, 1979, Kearney (Nebraska) Regional Airport Terminal:
Members of the Holy Cross Lutheran Church (Dad's American sponsors)
waited for the arrival of Dad and his cousins from refugee camp in Indonesia.
Dad learned later on that he came to America on a Thanksgiving weekend.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS PHOTOGRAPH AND DAD'S 2010 CONNECTIONS
WITH THE HOLY CROSS LUTHERAN CHURCH MEMBERS 31 YEARS LATER, ON FACEBOOK.
READ ABOUT HOW DAD AND HIS COUSINS TRAVELED TO THE U.S. FROM
THE REFUGEE CAMP IN INDONESIA, "COMING TO AMERICA"
March 15, 1980, Kearney, Nebraska:
Dad posed with his first ever bike and his first American friend and neighbor, Rob, and his dog.
The yellow home, center in the background, was Dad's first American home where he lived
with his cousins for about five months.
April 11, 1980:
Exactly one year after the boat escape from Vietnam, Dad and his cousins and a nephew
gathered in front of their first American home in Kearney, Nebraska. After almost five months
living together in the U.S., Dad's cousins moved away to bigger towns and cities.
Dad remained at Kearney and living in foster homes.
Circa spring, 1980, Kearney, Nebraska:
LEFT: Dad sat in the backyard of his first American home, with the airplane
he made for his toy out of soda cans.
RIGHT: Dad was invited to a friend's barn where he got his first and only horseback ride.
Dec. 11, 1980:
Local newspaper, The Kearney (Nebraska) Daily Hub, published a story about Dad's artistic talents.
He was an eighth grader at Kearney Junior High School.
Circa 1980-81:
Dad is shown with his first American best friend and Kearney (Nebraska) Junior High School classmate, Bob Fisher.
LEARN MORE ABOUT DAD'S EARLY LIFE IN THE U.S. FROM HIS FACEBOOK
CONNECTIONS WITH MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASSMATES, THIRTY YEARS LATER
March 10, 1981, New York:
Dad standing in the base of the Statue Of Liberty, with the New York City skyline in the background.
After 15 months living in the U.S., Dad was able to achieve his childhood dream: to travel to New York City.
He joined the Kearney State College's Annual Political Science Tour of the East Coast as a young guest.
Dad paid for the two-week bus tour with the money he earned from selling paintings and drawings to
his 8th-grade classmates and their parents.
READ RELATED ARTICLE ABOUT DAD'S MEMORY OF THE TWIN TOWERS
ON FACEBOOK AND ON HIS PERSONAL BLOG
After 15 months living in the U.S., Dad was able to achieve his childhood dream: to travel to New York City.
He joined the Kearney State College's Annual Political Science Tour of the East Coast as a young guest.
Dad paid for the two-week bus tour with the money he earned from selling paintings and drawings to
his 8th-grade classmates and their parents.
READ RELATED ARTICLE ABOUT DAD'S MEMORY OF THE TWIN TOWERS
ON FACEBOOK AND ON HIS PERSONAL BLOG
Summer 1982: Dad, as a teenager and a ninth grader, in the backyard of a foster home in Grand Island, Nebraska.
May 20, 1989: Dad's Graduation at Kearney State College (University Of Nebraska, Kearney)
and became the first member of his family to graduate with a four-year college degree.
and became the first member of his family to graduate with a four-year college degree.
January 7, 2011: My family portrait at Long Beach Harbor, Long Beach, California.
Dad met Mom in January, 1989, in Nebraska. They married 18 months later, in July, 1990.
Dad met Mom in January, 1989, in Nebraska. They married 18 months later, in July, 1990.
THE FOLLOWING PHOTOGRAPHS WERE USED IN THE FILM'S CREDIT SECTION:
Grandpa, Nguuyễn Hương, whom passed away in 1996, four years before I was born. Dad took this photo in 1992 when he first returned to Vietnam the first time, 13 years after the boat escape. The Orange County Register newspaper sent reporter Melissa Balmain Weiner and photographer Ana Venegas to Vietnam along with Dad to help him document the trip home.
VISIT "RETURN TO VIETNAM 1992" SPECIAL COVERAGE BY THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Dad lived with the boat owner family twice as a foster kid during 1981-1982, while he was a ninth grader in Grand Island, Nebraska. Dad call the couple – Mr. Đồng Tôn and his wife, Mrs. Mừng Nguyễn – uncle and aunt, because Dad has a cousin married to the Ton's daughter. Grandpa told Mr. Đồng Tôn before the boat journey regarding Dad, "In Vietnam, he's my son. When he's overseas, he's your son." Mr. Đồng Tôn passed away in 1990 and Mrs. Mừng Nguyễn passed away in 2007. This photo was taken by Dad in 1989 in Diamond Bar, California. Read a newspaper article from 1981 by the Grand Island Independent about the Ton family on Dad's FACEBOOK.
Mr. Fay (Famous) Obester was a Spanish teacher at Dad's Senior High School in Grand Island, Nebraska. He asked Dad to call him "Faymous," gave Dad a key to the house and even let Dad have a bedroom in the basement. Dad stayed at Faymous' home during the weekends, summer and holiday breaks in his college years. Mr. Obester passed away in 2001. This photo was taken in 1985.
More information about Faymous in Dad's FACEBOOK.
Grandma, Dad's mother, is currently living in Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon) in Vietnam. This photo was taken by Dad in 2008.
Dad's Uncle and Aunt in Vietnam, Mr. Nguyễn Bá Thừa and Mrs. Đặng Thị Lục, who let Dad go on a boat escape from Vietnam for free, along with their three children and a daughter-in-law. This photo was taken by Dad in 2001 in San Diego, when the couple traveled to the U.S. for the first time to visit their children.
Dad in 1980 as a seventh grader. Link to this photo in the "Kearney (Nebraska Junior High School" album in Dad's FACEBOOK
