Thu Dinh Nguyen

Mr. Nguyen was born in 1932 and came from a poor family. He was the fifth son, but none of the forborn siblings survived due to various diseases. Thus, he became the eldest child. Although his father worked hard all his life, as a wretched farmer, who owned no land, he barely made ends meet for the family. He became a local hired hand for a rich, local landowner. Mr. Nguyen’s mother, who was a petty merchant in the open market supplemented his income, but at times, lost all money to buy food for her family due to her negligence. In those days in his childhood, Mr. Nguyen and his siblings had to endure hardship, cold and hunger at times. Although he was poor, his father wanted his eldest son to succeed through school. At the age of nine years old, Mr. Nguyen was enrolled and finished the third grade in a pre-elementary school, the only existing school in the district Mai Linh, Province Ha Dong. It was told that daily he had to walk in the chilly weather of North Vietnam up to 4 miles to school. Finally, he succeeded with a third grade diploma –By this time, it was told that his French was very good for his age. His father, who was very proud of him, hung the certificate in the middle of the house so that he could see it every day and be proud of his son.

One day, during a pre-new-year day, while cooking rice cakes at the open fire pit, his mother fell asleep and suffered a severe burn on her leg. Being uneducated, she sought various home remedies for her wound, but eventually she succumbed to the infection and died at an early age in her mid-thirties. Surviving her were his father, Mr. Nguyen, two other younger brothers, Lan and Hai and his little sister named Than. Without his mother, Mr. Nguyen sacrificed his future by quitting school and working odd jobs in the village, earning meager income to help his poor family. His father continued to share crops with his landlord. He also was a heavy rice-whiskey drinker until he died in 1956.

Realizing that there was no future by being a perpetual farmer like his father, at the age of seventeen in 1949, Mr. Nguyen decided to leave his village and joined the Vietnamese Nationalist Armed Forces lead by the Bao Dai regime. Unfortunately for him, while attending the military academy in the city of Hue, he contracted the yellow fever disease, which affected his studies. A year later, with a poor grade at graduation, unlike his peers, who became officers, he was awarded the rank of a Sergeant, led a platoon fighting the Viet Minh forces.

In 1953, while stationing near the city of Bui Chu, where most of the citizens were Catholics, Mr. Nguyen was attracted to a young, beautiful girl around 16 years old living near the battalion headquarter. Unable to seek her affection, he could only watch her from afar. As the New Year approached, he was lonely, homesick and unable to go anywhere. Everyone except him and a few soldiers had already gone home to prepare for the lunar new-year. He became desperate and took all his courage to barge into her home during the second day of New Year. It was how Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen met each other for the first time.

Unknown to him, a few weeks before, the girl whose name is Bich Thu Pham dreamt that an old woman carried a male infant, handed him to her and disappeared. Interpreting this dream as a sign of a heavenly gift, the young girl and her family expected something would take place soon to change her life forever. As Mr. Nguyen entered her home during the New Year, everyone in her family had already anticipated his visit and concluded God had guided him to her thus far. They welcomed him with open arms.

A few months later, the couple was engaged, wed and soon afterwards, Mrs. Nguyen was pregnant with their first son, Duong.

As a 9-day old infant, Duong, born in September 1954, accompanied his young parents to a long journey immigrating southward to South Vietnam more than 300 miles away. Holding him in her arms, Mrs. Thu was anxious and nervous. Leaving her parents and siblings behind in North Vietnam and accompanying her newly wed husband and her young son to the unknown South Vietnam, was the most difficult adventure of her life. At the port of Hai Phong, waving goodbye to her mother, in her sunken heart, she knew that she would never be able to see her family again.

Initially, the young couple settled in Da Nang, a northern city of South Vietnam where Kim Thoa, their first daughter, and Nam, their second son, were born in 1956 and 1958, respectively. In 1960, his second daughter, Mai Linh was born in Nha Trang. As soon as he graduated from Dong De Academy Mr. Nguyen was promoted and became Second Lieutenant in the Airborne Brigade. As a young officer, his life was changed forever. He was the man in charge of his company and fought corruption relentlessly. Due to his short temper, stubbornness and determination, he did not hesitate to report wrongdoers in the military and created animosity among his peers and higher command. Often, he was transferred from one battalion to another and sent to the battle front “to die” according to him, but he was protected by the spirits of his ancestors (he truly believed it) and survived the hardship and suffering of war. In a fierce battle, he was wounded on his leg and was transferred back to Saigon for rest and relaxation (R & R).

In 1962 and 1964, he and his wife had two additional children, Mai Ly, their youngest daughter and Dinh, their third son, while he continued his battles in remote villages and jungles in South Vietnam as the Vietnam War escalated. His children, by this time, rarely saw him home and were unable to spend any time with him. They basically grew up without their father. Mr. Nguyen was very studious and hardworking. When he had any free time, he would concentrate on his studies. During the periods of R & R, he continued his education. He finally completed the ninth grade. During breaks resting in the middle of nowhere in the jungle, Mr. Nguyen did not forget his study. He would open his course pamphlet and kept recite the lesson materials quietly.

At the end of 1967, his last son was born named Dzinh. By this time, Mr. Nguyen was already transferred to Military Police (MP) in Can Tho District. A few months later, he bid farewell to his wife and children and headed to the United States, where he studied Military Police and its tactics. Mr. Nguyen was a very disciplined officer, who strictly followed the military rules and regulations. He expected everyone else under his command to obey them. At home, he enforced the strict military rules to his family. His children excelled in school and became the talk of neighbors, who admired his family and treated his wife with respect. Following one year on the oversea tour, when he came back to Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen was assigned as the commanding officer of a MP company guarding the prisoners of war on Phu Quoc Island.

In 1971, as a Captain in MP, Mr. Nguyen was reassigned to Vung Tau, a R & R resort, 75 miles south-east of Saigon. He remained in Vung Tau as MP Instructor until his plan for retirement in 1975. Before disappearing into the sunset as a devoted military officer, Mr. Nguyen decided to fight injustice for the last time. He sent a complaint letter to Chief of Staff outlining his grievances against the Army - For almost ten years with the MP, he had not been promoted to a higher rank other than Captain. Upon reviewing his exemplary military records, the Chief of Staff decided to promote him to a Major and awarded his long life military service with a Medal of Honor at Fifth Grade. Continuing to pursue his education, Mr. Nguyen earned a second year certificate in the law school of Saigon.

At the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975, Mr. Nguyen, while stationing in Saigon, led his family and others to escape communism and immigrated to the United States.

As Mr. Nguyen and his family arrived in Cleveland, Ohio empty-handed, in order to support his large size family, Mr. Nguyen realized that he had to rebuild his future from scratch. His perseverance and hard work paid off when he finished 180 hours of Security Guard training at a local college. Soon after, he found a steady job at Lakeland Community College (LLCC) in Mentor, Ohio as a security guard. With the help of their adult children, Mr. Nguyen and his family bought their first house a year after setting foot on the U.S. soil. His family began to live up to the American dream –Mr. Nguyen continued work tirelessly at LLCC for more than 18 years; his children grew up and became successful with their careers. Mr. Nguyen retired in 1994 and settled in Cleveland, Ohio until early 2014, when he and his wife moved permanently to Oklahoma City.