Two South Vietnamese Naval Officers Reunite in Nebraska After 40 Years

Forty years ago this week, as war was ending and Saigon was falling to communist forces, two South Vietnamese naval officers talked briefly about evacuation plans, then parted ways. Here’s the story of their unlikely reunion in Lincoln.

In April 1975, Capt. Kiem Do was deputy chief of staff of the South Vietnamese Navy. From its headquarters in Saigon, as North Vietnamese forces were closing in, Kiem was creating a secret plan to get the Navy’s ships, sailors and families safely out of the country.

“For the enemy, the communists, if they know that we are trying to get the ships out, they (would) want to kill me,” Kiem said. “So that is why we kept the plan secret. I couldn’t (even) let my wife know about that plan because people at that time were watching the moves of our family.”

As one of Kiem’s junior officers, Lt. Dau Nguyen went to Kiem’s office to get instructions. “But he didn’t say very much,” Dau recalled. “Then he say, ‘I think you understand.’”

Dau understood. It was time to go. Both men, and their families, escaped Saigon as part of Kiem’s plan. After the short meeting in Kiem’s office, they didn’t see each other again until last month, when Dau walked into Lincoln’s Pho Factory restaurant and saluted his former boss. Dau now lives in Lincoln. Kiem, from New Orleans, was in town for events surrounding a screening of the documentary “Last Days in Vietnam.” By chance Dau was recruited to participate on a panel discussion with Kiem, who is interviewed for the film. They shook hands, embraced and reflected on life since fleeing Saigon.

“(We talked about) most everything,” said Dau, a leader in Lincoln’s Vietnamese community. “What’s going on. Since 40 years ago, where you live. What do you do?”

Later, Kiem and then Dau talked about what they hope people will think about on this 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

“We need to remind people of what happened to our history, and how we get here in the United States, not as an economic refugee, but as a political refugee,” Kiem said. “It could be because we couldn’t live under the communist regime. We want to show the world and also the American people who welcomed us that we are not and we would never be a burden to this country. We try to get our families onto their feet and then move up the ladder to show people that we are not a kind of people who come here because we are poor, but because we lost our country (to) the communists.”

“And another message,” Dau added, “not only to Vietnamese young people but American young people as well, that freedom is not easy to have, not granted. So we should cherish the freedom. We have to value it and, like (Kiem) said, try to work very hard to add value and be a good citizen in the United States. We also honor and (are) grateful to Vietnam veterans, U.S. Vietnam veterans, and Vietnamese veterans who fought in the Vietnam war.”

A 40th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon: An Evening of Remembrance event will be held Thursday, April 30, at 6 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Garden at Antelope Park in Lincoln, 1650 Memorial Dr. The event, which is free and open to the public, will include remarks from representatives of U.S. Vietnam veteran and Vietnamese-American communities, and memorialize the more than 58,000 American soldiers who died in the Vietnam War. For more information go to: www.40thfos.org.

WATCH A VIDEO STORY of Kiem Do and Dau Nguyen's reunion, produced for the May episode of NET Television's "Nebraska Stories"