30/04/2025
April 30, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon—and the day after my mother and I arrived in Grand Island, Nebraska as refugees from Vietnam. I was only four years old, clutching my mother’s hand as we boarded a crowded cargo plane under “Operation New Life.” She left behind her homeland, her family, a son and a daughter who had gone missing just weeks before. I didn’t understand then the gravity of her choice—but now, as a mother myself, I do.
This photo and story are part of a special photobook project—a powerful collection honoring the lived experiences of those impacted by the Vietnam War. It offers a 360-degree perspective from both sides: U.S. and Vietnamese veterans, civilians, survivors, and thrivers. Our stories are woven together to acknowledge pain, preserve memory, and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.
Fifty years later, I share this not only to honor my mother’s memory, but to give voice to the quiet courage that lived in so many like her. The project is a chorus of truth from those who served, those who fled, and those who lived in the shadows of war.
