(About the author: Cuong Nguyen is a retired Professional Engineer living in Southern California, who was one of the first Vietnamese American employed by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 1978. He has contributed many research articles and commentaries to various Vietnamese Magazines and Websites.)
 
Over the years, relatives and close friends have asked me how I left Vietnam.  I have only recounted a brief story, with no beginning or end, to pass the topic on by because the time was short on the occasions that we met.  But now, the journal of memorable events in my mind is fading with time; if I don’t write it down now, it may be lost forever! Therefore, I will attempt to record everything that I can remember in my journal with honesty, and without exaggeration, but I will exclude several unnecessary details for delicate reasons and personal privacy.  I hope you read it and forgive my errors, if any.  Thank you so much.
 
Saturday, April 26, 1975,
 
11:30AM
I sprung out of the main gate of the Polytechnics College of Thu Duc - Saigon with a new degree in hand and mixed feelings. I was happy that the ‘thousands of pounds’ burden of studying for exams was lifted off of me, yet sad when faced with the reality of seeing the future is dark as the “Mid-Night of the 30^th” without moonlight!
 
As I rode along Nguyễn Văn Thoại Street (now Lý Thường Kiệt) on my Honda motorbike in the direction of my home near Tân Sơn Nhất airport (where my
family was temporarily staying when evacuated from Nha Trang), I suddenly saw an American airplane branded with two letters “AA” flying high into the sky with a shrill roar.  That image reminded me of a reckless idea in the back of my head that had only been a dream before: Let’s go study abroad! Yes, somehow in the depths of my subconscious, fragments of memory appeared, wrapping the information I had absorbed in the past few weeks with a bit of intuition; it all came together as I concluded: this is a rare, golden opportunity to study abroad for free, with the least cost.  Evaluating the two available means of transportation, airplane or ship, it was evident that ship was the best choice.  Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t realize when I arrived home.  At this time, my family had three more younger cousins who evacuated together to Saigon.
 
Needless to say, my parents were overjoyed when I presented the diploma that I had just received that morning.  That afternoon, my mother arranged a small party to celebrate my graduation.  The whole afternoon, I kept thinking about my plan of “going abroad”, following the flow of people evacuating.  I knew that was the case for sure because three days prior, my aunt and uncle’s nine-person household arranged to go to Tan-Son-Nhat airport and they didn’t return; that had to have meant they went smoothly.  This was the main reason that motivated me! That night, as usual, I went back to my rental room at Lu Gia-Phu Tho housing complex, opposite of the Trade School. My room was on the third floor of a building formerly rented to US civilians. When most of the Americans went home after the Paris Accord was signed in 1973, the landlord rented the rooms for cheap since nobody wanted to walk up and down three flights of stairs.
 
Sunday, April 27.
 
10:00AM
My main priority today was to find a very familiar Café friend who used to live with me at the University of Saigon (USG) dormitory at Minh Mạng street. Ngô C is a Law School student who has broad connections and generally knows a lot.   I didn’t see him at the dormitory in the morning, so I had to wait until evening before I spotted him to invite him to have a drink to talk. C was not planning to evacuate, but based on information from a friend who was staying at the Cuu-Long Naval Base next to Thi Nghe Area, the Republic of South Vietnam (RSVN) Navy’s fleet was getting ready and waiting for the command order to set anchor! I was so happy for that unique opportunity, I pleaded with him to meet me tomorrow morning to introduce me to his Navy friend.  He agreed.
 
In the midst of our conversation, I remembered about two years ago that he also introduced me to a special figure, famous at the dorm for interpretation of the divination six-line (Hexagram)  translation of I-Ching (or Book of Changes), Ho X Ph, who is currently a fifth year medical student.  It was Ph that introduced me to the book “Mai Hoa Dịch So” which clearly shows an interesting method to form the divination six-line translation according to the date and time.  Turns out, Ph was also “asked to leave” from the USG dormitory due to overstaying.  He was currently living at the same place as me, supposedly only a few hundred meters away, but I was unsure. I also recalled last year when we were having coffee at the “Tu Rau” shop next to the alleyway of the dormitory, he had cast a divination six-line about the future of Vietnam and said, “Very soon, someone will come down from the highlands to bring peace to Vietnam!!”; And I wondered if the divination translation alluded to the very first North Vietnamese divisions attacking Ban-Me-Thuoc city in the highland area(!?)..So, I believed there was merit based on my experience, and if I have some confidence in his divination translation.  At the next opportunity, I also wanted to ask for his ability to see whether my plan of going abroad will be successful or not. I made a late appointment with C tomorrow, approximately at 10AM in the morning after I visited Ph. That afternoon, I did not return home to eat and I also wouldn’t be coming home later that night because I have to sleep at my rental room to visit Ph. in the morning. This worried my mother, and my father was likely not pleased.
 
Monday, April 28, 
 
08:00AM
As I walked along the alley looking for the address, I met Ph.  Luckily he was there because the universities were temporarily closed.   I invited him to go eat breakfast, but he declined because he was meditating and fasting to pray for peace for Vietnam.  After exchanging a few pleasantries, I got straight to the point and told him about my plan to go abroad following the Navy fleet and asked (Hexagram) if it was okay. With a smile of genuine meditator, he invited me to take a Hexagram (because he knew I also knew a little about divination), and said in one breath: “Let’s see… seven … twenty four… Earth, plus five is 29, Wind,… acting on the fifth line, so there are three Hexagrams (the number shown below after an Hexagram name is conventionally assigned for each Hexagram):  Thăng (Ascending, 46), Qui Muội (Married Maiden, 54), Tĩnh (The Well, 48), meaning you are about to go (46), and come back home (54), and then stay safe (48)…ha!...ha!...ha!”  He concluded with his usual laugh when he was interested in something!  I was a bit disappointed because I understood the three aforementioned Hexagrams differently, so I asked him a probing question: Do you think there is a possibility that the three aforementioned Hexagrams can be understood differently such as: Go in confusion and fear, and arrive at a peaceful place? Because the Hexagram Qui Muội (54) in the I-Ching has another meaning: “New bride returns to husband’s house”, not to mean return to her own house, but go to husband’s house with so many fears; however, in the end it will still be for the better(!?) After listening, he nodded his head thoughtfully, and didn’t say anything more. In the end, he concluded by saying: “I only say what the Hexagram reveals!”  We exchanged a few more news stories, and then I said good bye due to meeting up with C. to go over to the naval residential complex.  The day I discussed the Hexagrams with Ph. was short, but it left a valuable lesson with me in speculating about the divination Hexagram which I will explain later. 
 
03:00PM
C. and I went to the Cuu-Long Naval Base to find X, a Mechanical lieutenant. After we engaged in a roundabout conversation for awhile, X offered on a price of 4 ounces of gold per person to board.  If we accepted, then we had to give a deposit of 2 ounces in advance, stay and eat there, and wait for the commander order before we go onboard.  I couldn’t even think about how to ask my parents for 4 ounces of gold, let alone it was a separate matter of what could X do with the rank of lieutenant if his superiors wouldn’t let us onboard, and not to mention how long do we have to wait(!?).  Using common sense, the probability of success looked to be below 30%.  (When I think about it that way, I, like most people, could have never known that the Republic of South Vietnam would end in another 48 hours!)
 
05:00PM
After leaving our Navy friend, C and I were heading home on Le-Loi Street in Saigon when it started to rain heavily.  We stopped at Thanh-The restaurant (near Vinh-Loi cinema) to shelter from the rain.  But an unusual weather phenomenon that I have never seen before appeared that I will remember forever! The weather had been bright and sunny, when the sky suddenly darkened (like a solar eclipse). Dense, dark clouds had appeared and overshadowed Saigon. The roar of thunder and lightning mixed with the sounds of exploding bombs by  A-37 jet fighter of the pilot Nguyễn Thành Trung (who later turned out to be the North Viet Nam’s agent ) from Tân Sơn Nhất airport frightened people!  At the same time, General Minh was taking oath of office as President. After that day, whenever the aforementioned phenomenon is mentioned, it is often regarded as “Heaven’s Sign”, signaling a very bad omen!
 
I came home for a late dinner with my family and was ‘lectured’ by my father for almost an hour.  I endured the lecture, but my mind was still thinking of the plan and the divination from that morning.  Ph was not wrong, my current plan of going with my Navy friend did not pan out, and I returned back to zero from the beginning!  However, when I think back on it, I wasn’t wrong either. Suppose at the time that I had enough gold to deposit and to stay with my Navy friend till the next day April 29, with many worries of not knowing if I was being deceived or if there would be other obstacles, then I could have easily boarded on ship with my Navy friend by that afternoon already.  In that scenario, there would be thousands of people jostling each other to get on the ships due to the people who have no personal connections on the Navy ships, or the people who will have heard of news too late or arrived too late when the battleships began to set sail on the night of April 29 and early dawn of April 30!  
 
That night before returning to my own place, I received a ‘command’ from my father to relinquish my rental room and move back home to help save on costs.  I had no reason to disobey orders.
 
Tuesday, April 29, 1975
 
09:00AM
While working to pack up all of my books and things in several boxes, I heard the Saigon radio repeating the government’s order many times requesting for the Americans to leave Vietnam within 48 hours from midnight of April 29, 1975.  Always listening to the Saigon radio station made me getting bored, so I switched to station FM 96.0 to listen to American music for a livelier mood.  However, it was very strange; only a single tune was playing, “White Christmas”, sung by many singers… I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… Later, I learned that this was the code ordering US Citizens to leave Vietnam! 
 
11:00AM
I rode my Honda and took some boxes to my parent’s rental house in advance, stayed at the house until evening, because otherwise I was afraid I’d have to listen to a continuation of my father’s lecture.  After dinner, I took two cousins back to my place so they could help me pack up my things and clean up since the following day was the end of the month whereby I had to vacate my room.  
 
9:00PM
The whole city sky was sometimes illuminated by beads of fire around the city and Tân Sơn Nhất airport. The sound of cannons and helicopters evacuating Americans was heard everywhere, mixed with the sound of all kinds of guns shooting at times into the sky.  Saigon was under a shelling threat and the curfew was still in effect.  With everything that was happening, it seemed as if Saigon was slowly being strangled to death. 
 
Frustrated with what was happening before my eyes, I took all of my unimportant papers to the rooftop to burn.  Within the pile of papers, a card about the size of a quarter of a paper suddenly emerged, accompanied by a small red cloth bag.  The opening of the bag was tied with five-colored thread. I remembered then that it was a bag of lucky charms that my father had requested from the famous Astrologer Huỳnh-Liên for 5000. VND (for relative pricing in 1969, a popular bowl of Pho was only 20 VND.)  I don’t believe in charms much, nor do I like wearing things around my neck, so I put it in a box of papers to set aside. 
 
That night, I decided to burn it too.  But before I burned it, a little curiosity piqued inside me so I opened the cloth bag to see what Mr. H. Lien had put inside there.  I untied the five-colored thread, opened the cloth bag, and one-penny US coin fell out!  I chuckled when I thought of Mr. H.Lien’s shenanigans of exchanging a US penny with my dad for 5000 VND! I put the penny back in the cloth bag, re-tied the five-colored string as before, and… tossed it in the pile of burning papers! 
 
Wednesday, April 30, 1975
 
08:00AM
As we loaded some of my stuff onto the motorbike with my younger cousin sitting behind, I didn’t forget to tuck the “don’t leave home without it” thing into the front of my pants, between the belt and my belly which reached the midpoint of my chest.  It was a hardcover folder containing my personal files and degrees, about 2cm thick. I always carried it with me in times of turmoil. The main reasons were to avoid theft and  from possibly a house fire, and funnily enough, it was also thought to help reduce bodily damage if I was hit by any hard object or even a bullet(!?).
 
09:00AM
On the way home, we passed by an abandoned American medical facility and I saw some people carrying mattresses, electric fans, and refrigerators across the street, causing traffic congestion.  We were totally stopped in that traffic jam, when I saw a little boy walked out carrying a bag of medicinal injections in both hands.  Well, I thought to myself that my father was a private nurse and may need those kind of medications, so I asked my young cousin to watch the motorbike so that I could go in take a look. In a room with two missing doors, a bunch of medications (American brands) were laying around!  I quickly picked up each bottle and glanced at the label.  Since I was not familiar with the medicinal names, so I chose the shortcut, that if I saw the word “Vitamin” or "-cillin” at the end (e.g., Penicillin, Amoxicillin, etc.), I would put it in the bag that I had found in the room.  When the bag was nearly full, I went outside and just ran all the way home.
 
~10:00AM
After I brought all of my things inside the house, as I sat down to drink water and rest, the music on the Saigon radio station stopped and there was the introduction of the President of the Republic of South Vietnam…, and finally the historical declaration that the 30-year war had ended!  I looked at the clock and saw it was around 10:15!  My father was silent as if nothing had happened, sat still and didn’t say a word.  Personally, I was a bit surprised since I did not expect it to come so quickly.  A few minutes passed by in silence…, when suddenly it surged like a tsunami: there was an urgent, strong feeling in my heart that I had to go, had to go, because this was my last chance..  Thanks to that, I had enough strength and was full of confidence to tell my father the two main reasons I wanted to leave: 1) Either way, I would be far away from family when I start working as I wouldn’t be living at home anymore and 2) This was a golden opportunity to study abroad; otherwise, it will never come around again
 
To my surprise and bewilderment, my parents quickly agreed!  I was very happy, yet afraid that my parents would change their minds, so I quickly threw two sets of clothes and some toiletries into the old leather briefcase my father gave me.  My mother seemed to have a premonition and reminded me to bring a suit because “it’s cold over there”, and also gave me a wad of five hundred Vietnamese piaster bills. I said goodbye and went out the door, but my mother told me to wait a moment…!?  She came out of the room with two more ounces of gold and pushed it into my hand.  One more surprise. I was so happy and emotional, holding back tears to say thank you to my parents, and then stuffed the gold in my shoes under the soles of my feet. When I got to my Honda, I thought it over and immediately handed the key to my younger sister since I didn’t want my parents to lose additional motorbike if I was able to leave Vietnam.  From the moment President Minh announced that he surrendered to when I left home, everything had happened in less than 15 minutes!  
 
I walked silently along a few alleys to the main Street Công Lý (now Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa).  As I passed a villa, there was a gardener riding a motorbike who almost ran into me.  I took the opportunity to ask for a ride down to Bạch Đằng Port of Saigon. When we arrived, I went down to the pier and saw the incomprehensibly desolate scene.  There was still no sign of the North army.  Scattered on the shore were a few people who were trying to break the locks on motorbikes, or pull off car parts left behind by evacuees from last night.  I looked around the Saigon river wharf and did not see any ship or any small boats.  There were only one or two wooden canoes used by local people to row back and forth between the two riverbanks. I headed towards the group of people trying to pry open the lock of an old Volkswagen, and tried asking one of the people in the group if the car owner had left.  Another guy overheard and quickly explained: “Yes, they all left last night, the whole Navy fleet as well!  Two large cargo ships also sailed this morning!”
 
I secretly disappointed that I was late and missed the boat!  I slowly strolled out near the corner of Nguyen-Hue Street, stopped, and stood there thinking on my next steps.  I thought that I might have to quickly go South, find or rent a small vessel, and chase after the leaving ships(!?).  In the midst of thinking, I suddenly saw in the distance on the street, a short, medium-sized person, briefcase in one hand and mini bicycle in the other, heading straight towards where I was standing. His lips curled in a smile, asking: “Where are you going?” Ah!  I immediately recognized him as Phạm S, a second year Pharmacy student and a compatriot from Ninh Hoà, who also lived in USG dormitory at Minh-Mạng Boulevard. I also asked S what he was doing down here.  In the end, we were both “Comrades”.  I briefed the situation to S, then we both looked at each other as if we were asking the other what to do and where to go.  We were wondering what to do, when from the end of Nguyễn Bĩnh Khiêm Street in the Navy shipyard, a ship’s horn sounded as if signaling the ship was about to leave the shore!  (Later on, I learned that it was an HQ 402 mechanic who tried turning on the engine, tested the battery, and touched the horn!)
 
I was so excited, I shouted: “The ship is about to run, the ship is about to run, hurry up!”.  Without waiting for S to agree, I grabbed the bicycle, climbed up, and told S to sit on the back and help hold the leather briefcase as I did my best to cycle to the shipyard gate.  At this time, the gate was widely open and no one was around, so I cycled all the way inside and immediately saw HQ 402 still anchoring in the shipyard.  On the wharf, some people in Navy uniform were laying planks on the side of the ship.  I approached one of the soldiers to ask: “Is this ship running?”  The soldier looked at me sympathetically and said: “This ship is badly damaged. The mechanical officers are trying to fix the engine, but there’s not much hope!”  Disappointment again!  But at least there was still a little hope!  I lingered on the harbor, going around to observe and to assess the situation, trying to see if I should stay and wait for the ship to be repaired or leave.  The fear at the time was that if the North troops with tanks suddenly burst into the gate then… it will be hard to escape!  S was still sitting at a nearby tree to keep out of the sun, guarding the bike and seeing what I was going to do.  A moment later, suddenly more families appeared in front of the gate, hands and armpits were fully carrying and running in, one after another with eyes full of fear or panic!  They rushed towards the planks to board, but soldiers blocked them with the same explanation.  After a few minutes of exchanging information, waiting and convincing, they were finally allowed to board the ship.
 
At first it was only a few people, then dozens, and then hundreds.  People evacuating continued to pull in and board the ship.  I felt a little impatient, the time spent waiting and observing was long enough. I had to accept the risk boarding the ship, otherwise, if too many people boarded, there was a possibility the planks will be withdrawn for many reasons!  With that thought, I told S that I decided to board the ship, leaving him to think and decide for himself.  I boarded the ship and followed the instructions to the basement to find a seat.  HQ 402 is a transport and landing vessel, so the basement is quite large.  It can accommodate several thousands of people.  
 
A few minutes later, S also got on the ship and came to sit with me.  At this time, I looked at my watch and saw that it was almost 1PM.  Time passed by minute by minute, and every once in a while there were a few more people or entire families showing up with dismayed and bewildered eyes, pulling each other down to the basement and making the seating space narrower until we can no longer straighten our legs out.  Some families, frustrated and scared, left the ship and headed home.
 
As time seemed to stretch longer, S looked at me with a worried expression and asked: “Do you think we can go?”, which reminded me of my divination question with Ph and the two meanings. The first meaning from Ph was correct and had already happened, and the second meaning: “Departure in fear like a young bride is about to come to her husband’s house, then the result will be for the better!” A complete fulfillment of what is happening.  But to double check, I immediately tried divination again which resulted the hexagram, “The joyous, lake”(58), acting on 4th line, good, meaning “joyous people in restraint mood”.  And then to continue timely on the next hexagram, “Skinning, Revolution” (49), acting on 5th line, meaning “changing, or revolutionary”, very good, just fulfilled with the revolution taking place in Saigon, but also can allude to the current state of the “asker” being changed for the better!  Feeling uplifted, I definitively declared to S that we will be able to go!
 
It seemed more than a half of an hour had passed by, then the sound of the engine suddenly came on from the engine tunnel, boom…boom... tak, tak, tak, black smoke rose up with very hardly smell, and then went off right away in a few seconds. Even with that, everyone still looked at each other with eyes filled with hope. At this moment, a Navy officer climbed up the stairs from the engine room, followed by an elderly man in civilian clothes. Standing at the upper stairs, the officer introduced himself as Lieutenant H, Mechanical Officer, temporary commander of HQ 402.  Turning to the civilian, he introduced the elderly man as Father X, the principal at Nguyen-Ba-Tong Catholic High School (?) as his representative liaison between the compatriots and the command.  Next, Father X immediately made two requests: 1. The engine room is in need of many strong young men to help with the repairs; And 2. Ask the compatriots to say prayers according to their religion.  As Father X finished speaking, more than a dozen people got up and went to the stairs to go down to the engine room.  Everyone else remaining lowered their heads to pray to their supreme beings.  I was personally wishing that the mechanical officers can soon make the engine start again!
 
Perhaps thanks to the sincere pleas of the compatriots in their time of tribulation, the engine steadily started up again after a while.   At this time, hope was overflowing and smiles appeared on the lips of many. The command tower made a request for anyone who had a white bed sheet to hang as a flag to avoid us being mistakenly shot at. The engine room required more than 20 people to transmit voice commands (i.e., forward 2, back 1, etc.) from the command tower to the engine room since the electric steering was damaged and must be done manually. The final news came that only one of two engines was able to be repaired. A few minutes passed by when Father X announced: The ship is about to push off, request for everyone to sit silently under the deck, don’t stand up to look, and try not to let children cry out loud for fear of being exposed. There was additional information that there were 2 tanks parked in front of the Majestic Hotel, with cannons pointed out to the  riverbank.  The sound of the engine grew louder, the hull began to shake, and the ship was moving slowly out of the harbor.  S and I looked and smiled at each other, exactly like a blind cat would catch a fried fish!  I looked at my watch and saw it was nearly 2:30PM.
 
At first, the rudder operator and captain were not yet familiar with the time delays when transmitting verbal orders, so the ship turned around and ran like a drunk, bulldozing a few small huts on stilts along the riverbank, scaring the hell out of everyone!  Fortunately, the residents had already vacated! The ship sailed to Vũng-Tàu and picked up more people along the way from boats and minor ships.  Most of the civilians and soldiers decided to leave at the 25^th hour!  This was the most dangerous time for fear of ambushes or being shot at by local guerillas using B-40 along the two riverbanks, despite the white flag and all gun placements on the ship covered with canvas. There was news in the morning that the Viet Nam Thương Tín ship was shot at, killing the famous writer Chu Tử. A Rear Admiral and a Colonel chased after our ship from a canoe and boarded, automatically taking command of the ship. 
 
~05:00PM
Exited Vũng Tàu seaport.
 
~06:00PM
The command tower announced that the ship had just arrived in international waters.  I went upstairs, leaned against the side of the ship, and looked towards the mainland. The coast of Vietnam now looked like a horizontally dark, bold line, gradually getting smaller and slowly disappearing at the end of the horizon!  My eyes began to get blurry with tears when suddenly the reality set in that I am no longer a citizen of any country. I have no family and relatives by my side, nor do I have anyone to depend on. I am really a “Free” person!  Oh!  That is the price for Freedom!!
 
Nguyễn Cường 
Sacramento, 5/22
 
PS: Navy Ship Lam Giang – HQ 402 was later considered by many to be the “25^th hour miracle”!  You can read more articles or memoirs written by many authors about HQ 402 by typing the following into the Google search engine: “Hải Vận Hạm Lam Giang-HQ 402”, and articles will appear.