This morning I heard a report on NPR about the role of the men on the U.S. Kirk in the evacuation of South Vietnam in 1975. It was a moving story about how these men aided Vietnamese refugees as they fled Vietnam during the final offensive in Saigon. I encourage you to go to the link and hear or read the story.
The story relates a recent reunion of the sailors on the U.S. Kirk where they honored a Vietnamese man named Ba Nguyen. Mr. Nguyen piloted a helicopter with his wife and children in it and chased the U.S. Kirk out of Saigon. He was unable to land on the Navy ship because it was too small. As the sailors tried to wave him off, Mr. Nguyen's wife literally dropped their 10-month-old daughter onto the ship. Mr. Nguyen's wife and three children then jumped onto the vessel. The crew on the ship caught the baby and the other four and then headed back to South Vietnam to pick up more refugees.
It's an amazing story that is just now being told. Why hasn't it been told until now? Because 35 years ago, most Americans were sick of Vietnam and didn't want to hear about it.
OK. Time for some full disclosure. I have a personal interest in this story. My father was the Consul General in MR2, the second military region of South Vietnam, from 1973 to 1975. My dad worked with Ambassador Graham Martin during the evacuation and in the office in the U.S. Department of State that handled the settlement of Vietnamese refugees. There have been a few critics of the handling of refugees from Vietnam, but really - they did the best they can. They got as many out as they could, not worrying about the paperwork - just getting as many folks out as they could.
What struck me about the NPR story was that it had not been told because no one wanted to hear about Vietnam. That was exactly my parents' experience. When they finally left Vietnam they traveled around Asia for a while - not having the stomach to go back to the States yet. Clearly they knew intuitively that this would be a contentious story. Sure enough, that summer my mom would come home from a social gathering with stories about being shut out of conversations as soon as people heard where she had been.
My closing thought: Let's get the Iraqis who worked with Americans out of Iraq as best we can AND let's not ignore and silence our vets coming home from Iraq.
About Me
- Karen Spear, PhD
- I am the director of the Center for Organizational Ethics and an assistant professor of philosophy at Marian University. I received my PhD in ethics from Vanderbilt University. I have an MA in religion and culture from Catholic University of America and a BA in political philosophy from Kenyon College. In addition to directing the Center for Organizational Ethics, I teach Human Nature and Person and Personal and Professional Ethics in the Theology/Philosophy Department and Business Ethics in the School of Business. Prior to coming to Marian University, I taught in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Indianapolis and worked as a research administrator at Methodist Research Institute, the biomedical research center for Clarian Health. Before settling in Indianapolis, I taught in the Theology Department at Valparaiso University in northwest Indiana and at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
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