Hung Duc Lai

Hung Duc Lai (February 13, 1947 – February 12, 2023) was a proud Vietnamese-American who dedicated his life to celebrating and honoring his home country of Vietnam. Lai was a prominent leader in the Vietnamese community across the entire state of California. Among his many leadership roles, he was perhaps best known as the Tổng Thư Ký (TTK), or General Secretary, of the Coalition of Nationalist Vietnamese Organizations of Northern California (Liên Hội Người Việt Quốc Gia Bắc Cali), as one of the co-founders of the Tet Festival held annually at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, and as the founder of Viet San Jose TV. Motivated by his love for his country, he sought to preserve cultural traditions among future generations by taking an active role in educating Vietnamese-American youth about different traditions. As a passionate anti-communist, Lai also organized peaceful protests and rallies to oppose communism in Vietnam and in other countries, such as Thailand, Cambodia and China too.

Lai was born in Thái Bình, North Vietnam, Vietnam to Mrs. Nguyen Thi Sam (1925-2012) and Mr. Lai Duc Chuan (1928-2012), a former Colonel of the Republic of Vietnam Army. He attended Chu Van An High School (Class of 1965) and was known for his strength, discipline, and athleticism; he competed on Vietnam’s National Judo Team for over four years (1967-1971). After graduating from the 24th Class (Đỗ Cao Trí) of the Vietnamese Nationalist Military Academy (Trường Võ Bị Quốc Gia Việt Nam) in 1971, he became a junior staff officer in the Department of Communications (J5) for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Republic of Vietnam Army. In his spare time, he taught the youth living in Cư Xá Sĩ Quan Chí Hòa self-defense and led them in physical training.

Over a short time, Lai became a lieutenant in the Republic of Vietnam Army. In 1973, Lai’s superiors selected him for advancement and sent him to the U.S. for graduate training. In 1975 he obtained a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA–the same year Saigon fell, ending the decades-long war. Lai was separated from his wife (Ta Xuan Mai), young son (Dung), and family.

Given his military position, he was never allowed to return to his country again; this is when Lai’s lifelong commitment to public service began. Lai devoted the remainder of his life to community work and organizing to support the tens of thousands of Vietnamese immigrant and refugee families that resettled in California after the war. Beginning in 1977, he co-founded the Coalition of Nationalist Vietnamese Organization of Northern California. He also co-founded the annual Tết (Vietnamese New Year) festival held at Santa Clara Fairground, successfully hosting over 30 festivals. The 1986 festival during the year of the tiger (Hội Tết Bính Dần) drew more than 60,000 attendees to the festival, including the attendance of California Governor George Deukmejian. This particular Tet festival was one of the biggest and most successful Vietnamese festivals outside of Vietnam.

Lai dedicated his time to bettering the lives of Vietnamese now living in the U.S. and those in Vietnam. In 1981, he organized the Black April 30/4 (Tháng Tư Đen 30/4) Committee for Vietnamese Nationalists Overseas to protest communism in Vietnam. To honor the legacy of the leaders of his home country, Lai also co-founded the Temple Dedicated to the Founders of Vietnam (Đền Thờ Quốc Tổ Vọng Từ/Đền Hùng San Jose) in San Jose, CA in 1982. Lai sought to ensure that the Vietnamese living in the U.S. would learn and honor their cultural histories, so he worked with the Vietnamese Culture Park committee to raise the Republic of South Vietnam Flag Monument (formerly on Capitol Expressway in San Jose, CA). The “Grand Flag Raising” ceremony on June 23, 1991 had more than 4,500 attendees.

In July 2022, with the help of his daughters, Lai participated in his last form of community work at the age of 75. At the 22nd Reunion of the Vietnamese Nationalist Military Academy (TVBQGVN) and Da Hieu Youth Organization (Tổng Đoàn Thanh Thiếu Niên Đa Hiệu) in Southern California, he helped to design and build gates and stages adorned with Vietnamese memorabilia to help bring attention to the events, and to help make them grand and impressive to all that were present in the public spaces.

All of Lai’s activism, community work, and public service were motivated purely by his passion and commitment to bettering his community. In addition to organizing his own events, he spent considerable free time volunteering for other Vietnamese-led organizations and events, offering support to any that asked for his help. Lai saw the value in any efforts to honor his country’s history among the new generations. He often spent his free time teaching youth about Vietnamese history and cultural traditions.

Although his life was committed to his country and his community, he did this work without pay and worked at Hewlett Packard as a computer engineer (1982-2000) to support his family. He loved fishing and camping, singing karaoke, and reciting quotes from the famous 3,254-versed poem called “Tale of Kieu.”

Lai is survived by his wife, Mai, children, Xuan Quynh and Xuan Uyen, and sons-in-law, Ben and Phillip. He is preceded in death by his parents and his son, Dung.

He will be remembered by his community work, activism, love for his country and his people. He will be dearly missed by his family, friends, military colleagues, and all of the lives he’s impacted through his organizing across the country. His passing is a big loss to the Vietnamese community, near and far, and all that knew him.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.oakhillfuneral.com for the Lai family.