Seeking Refuge Amid Chaos

The Life of Châu An

BRANDON CHÂU

The Refugees

The Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon resulted in a decades-long humanitarian crisis, where Vietnamese refugees fled Vietnam to other countries. The most popular method was by largely unseaworthy boats and refugees often drifted for days or weeks before landing in other Asian countries and territories such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Thailand. These refugees were often placed in refugee camps before being processed into different countries via the Orderly Departure Program and national refugee legislation. Due to the magnitude of the crisis and its sudden development, the camps were poorly managed and lacked proper housing and supplies. The immigration process took years as governments struggled to create cohesive plans to place refugees in their countries with sponsors. 

Growing Up With War

Châu An was one of those refugees lucky enough to escape Vietnam and relocate to the United States. He was born in Chợ Lớn, Việt Nam in 1956, an area populated mainly by ethnic Chinese and served as a business area. An lived a modest life in Việt Nam and had a normal routine like other Vietnamese children, going to school and helping his mom, Chung Chánh, and dad, Châu Muối, run their coffee shop whenever he had free time. An considered himself lucky for his family's coffee shop. He often saw that other Vietnamese children around him did not have enough money to go to school, but his family's business provided just enough money to afford his education. Growing up in the city, An did not see much conflict but heard about the war's progress by word of mouth or through newspapers. An's first close-up view of the war was the Tết Offensive, when the North Vietnamese Army launched a surprise attack on the South during Lunar New Year celebrations in 1968. For a few days, An and his family stayed in their home to avoid the gunfire outside. They were forced to hide in fear "under the bed, or lie on the floor to try to avoid... the bullets that get inside the house." A separate account from a Vietnamese general recalls missiles flying overhead before the defensive line was broken. The city was heavily sieged and filled with gunfire in all directions. Luckily, the family had plenty of food to last throughout the conflict because of the new year preparations. After the conflict subsided, An and his family went out to see the aftermath. There were dead bodies, bullets, and makeshift covers on all parts of the street. The city came to a standstill as markets remained closed and the schools remained closed until it was safe for students to come back. Once school had reopened, all the students could talk about was the conflict. An talked to his friends about what it was like for them to hide from the conflict. Despite living with fear, An and his classmates believed that there was nothing that they could do except earn good grades to avoid being drafted by the South Vietnamese Army.  

An (top right) and his family

After North Vietnam won the war, An saw a lot of conflict within his community. Soldiers would harass those that they did not like and confiscate items from markets simply because they could. At this time An was working in the market and had some of his items taken away. Just like the South, the new government initiated a sort of draft to send men to fight in Cambodia and An was draft-eligible. However, he did not want to fight for a government that he did not believe in nor did he want to lose his life. So, An resorted to acting mentally ill to avoid being conscripted. This involved trips to a local clinic and acting mentally ill when he was in public. 

To afford a better future for himself, An and his family also began looking for ways to escape Vietnam. They believed that there was no future or freedom in Vietnam under communist rule, so the only alternative was to live elsewhere. There were murmurs among other people in the market of escaping by boat, which was the most popular but dangerous way of escaping Vietnam. All that was left was for him to wait for the notice to leave. Leaving by boat presented a large possibility of dying on the open seas. Boats were often crowded and piloted by inexperienced drivers. Once they broke down, it was almost certain that the refugees would not survive. Those that were caught were often sent to reeducation camps and forced to do hard labor. It took An months before he found a boat that was willing to take him out of Vietnam. In order to prepare, An's family lined his coat with money and created a pant clip out of gold for him in case he needed money. 

Drifting in the Open Seas

After months of preparations, An received a sudden notice in the early morning one day that they had to leave at that moment. An and his brother quickly got ready to leave Vietnam for good. As he packed a diary and put on his specially prepared clothes, An's father stopped him and gave him a handkerchief to remember him by. The last thing his father told him before he left was that the handkerchief was for wiping his nose if he needed it. After exchanging goodbyes and good wishes, An never saw his father again. 

An with the handkerchief that his father gave him

An holding the pants that he left Vietnam with. The two clasps on the right are made of gold

An posing with another refugee on one of the many refugee boats

An stayed in a village for 10 days before his boat had an opportunity to leave around April 22nd. The ocean was full of peril as pirates, who were sometimes fishermen from neighboring countries, took advantage of the refugees' desperation. An remembers his boat being boarded by pirates 36 times. Each time, they took everyone's belongings, raped female refugees, and cut open water tanks in search of more goods. After the pirates left, refugees on the boat would fight over different belongings that were still around, claiming random items as their own. An remembers that the jackets he and his brother packed were claimed by others and they lost all of the money that was lined in those jackets. As food supply became lower on the journey, pirates started to exchange food with the refugees when they boarded, leading to fighting for the food. At one point, a Thai plane flew overhead and dropped a bag of food into the ocean for the refugees. An and a few others swam to retrieve the food for the boat, but when he was pulled back up all of the food was already taken by everyone else on board.  

In the middle of their journey, the engine to the boat failed and its captain was not experienced in navigation or repairs. The boat was forced to drift aimlessly. They drifted for a few days until a Thai fishing boat decided to help pull them towards an island, allowing the boat to land somewhere near Thailand and Malaysia. Refugees burned the boat after landing to prevent the local government from putting the refugees back at sea, as it was illegal to help refugees at the time. They remained in a nearby village for a few months until entering a refugee camp at Songkhla, Thailand.

Freedom in Two Places

An described the refugee camps as "fun and freedom at the same time" but also incredibly hard. What made it incredibly difficult was the lack of money to purchase food from the markets. While the camps provided food, there was often not enough for all of the refugees. An and his brother got a job translating Chinese and Vietnamese for a local market owner, giving them access to more food and a stable income. An and his brother would live in the Songkhla camp for two more years before spending over another year at two separate processing facilities. Meanwhile, they lived in dilapidated huts made from straw and mats. At this time, there was a large international backlog that prevented refugees from being admitted into countries quickly. A large part of the problem was a reluctance to accept so many refugees. After intense international negotiations, third parties and the international community would create an elaborate system to take in refugees. Like many refugees, An and his brother were sponsored by Catholic Charities and immigrated to the United States, which took in the most refugees. 

An and his brother landed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the winter and saw snow for the first time in their lives. Their sponsors did not show up to take them to their new home, leaving An and his brother to wander in the airport. They approached two officers for help but were limited by their lack of English. By the numbers on the bag, the officers understood that they were refugees and brought them to the police station, where they waited for hours before they were transferred to a motel for the night. A representative from Catholic Charities told them that they did not know that An and his brother were there nor did they have a sponsor sorted yet. The next morning, An got his first taste of the United States when he was given a McDonald's hamburger by a Catholic Charities representative before he and his brother were picked up. They were eventually sorted to live with a local priest in Pittsburgh and were able to start their new lives in the United States. 

A note from An's friend in a refugee camp, Cường Long, that reads:

"22.03.1982 was the day that you guys left prpc to move to US. I’m giving you this picture as a beautiful memory and I hope we will keep in touch despite of distance. Ps Cường Long"

Title: Seeking Refuge Amdist Chaos

Details: 

An oral history of An Châu, born in Chợ Lớn in 1956, and was one of many refugees who fled Việt Nam by boat. The interview will focus on a few key areas, specifically An’s experience in Malaysian and Thai refugee camps and the journey by boat. An was born in Chợ Lớn to Chung Chánh and Châu Muối, who owned a coffee shop that he helped with. An had a normal childhood in Việt Nam, going to school and helping out at his parents’ shop when he had free time. However, he would always hear about the war out in the country but would not experience it until the Tết Offensive. After the North Vietnamese Army took over the South, An faked mental illness to avoid conscription and looked for a way to escape Việt Nam by boat. During his journey, An faced starvation, pirates, and engine failure for 18 days until he landed in refugee camps managed by Malaysia and Thailand. He worked in those camps to afford a living for himself and his brother for years until they were sponsored by Catholic Charities. He arrived at the US in 1982 and eventually moved to California. He now works as a maintenance worker for a hotel in West Covina, California. He has 4 children and lives in West Covina with his wife.

Key Words

Decade of Birth: 10/25/1956

Interviewee: An Chau

Interviewer: Brandon Chau

Date created: 5/23/23

Duration: 1:00:47

Language: English

Type: Oral History

Bibliography

Bach, Dzung (teacher, La Quinta High School). Interview by Jennifer Hong. Westminster, 

California. February 24, 2012. Transcript. Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project, Southeast Asian Archive, University of California, Irvine.


"Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City." The Vietnam Guide. October 12, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425054420/http://thevietnamguide.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cholon%2C_Ho_Chi_Minh_City 


LeDuc, Anthony. Interview by Thuy Vo Dang. Garden Grove, California. May 12, 2012. Transcript. Viet Stories: Vietnamese American Oral History Project, Southeast Asian Archive, University of California, Irvine.


McGreal, Chris. "Vietnamese boat people: living to tell the tale." The Guardian. March 19, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/mar/20/vietnamese-boat-people-survivors-families 


Quang Thi Lâm. The Twenty-five Year Century: A South Vietnamese General Remembers the Indochina War to the Fall of Saigon. Denton, Texas. University of North Texas Press. 2001.

U.S. Congress. Congressional Record.  97th Cong., 2nd sess., 1982. Vol. 128, pt. 24.