Oral History

1. How and when did you start collecting artifacts related to the Vietnam War and its aftermath? Did you always have the idea of opening up a museum in mind or did it develop over time as your collected more and more items?

There are about 2 million Vietnamese who live in America who wanted to come here to start a new life, but no one intended to come to America to set up a museum. It was the same for me, but I had many occasions to study and visit museums in the United States like the War Museum in Virginia, history and science museums in DC, and others in Chicago. I learned a lot and felt that museums about the humanities and history are the soul of America and the soul of the American people. Since 1980, as the director of an immigrant resettlement agency in San Jose, I began to receive gifts from Vietnamese refugees and boat people, and I displayed them in a glass cabinet in my office. More and more items came to me, day by day.

One day, when I was visiting a flea market in San Jose, I saw a Filipino woman selling items in a cardboard box for $0.50 each. I found a Republic of Vietnam National Order medal—the highest, most noble military medal. The woman said she had married a Vietnamese man. Her father-in-law passed away, and she was selling his old things. I think that the father-in-law was a successful and accomplished officer in the South Vietnamese army, so he received a medal. It was because of this story that I decided to start the museum.

The Museum of Boat People and the Republic of Vietnam will be limited to the period from 1950 to the present day, and will include cultural heritage, collectibles, and works of art from within this time.

 2. How have your own experiences as an officer in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and as a refugee after the war affected your approach to the museum?

I was a colonel in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. I graduated in 1954 from Da Lat military academy and commanded infantry units for 10 years. From 1964, I worked in the Joint Logistics Command general staff. There were many opportunities to learn about history and travel to many places. Western countries have many museums and students often visit them on field trips. I believe that Vietnam should have museums for the following areas: the founding of the nation, starting with the migration of people living south of the Yangtze River in China into the Red River Delta; the thousand years of Chinese control; the hundred years of resistance against French domination; the period of division and civil war; the 1974 Geneva division of the country; and a museum for the Vietnamese who left the country since 1975. That's why I needed to establish the Viet Museum, The Museum of the Boat People and the Republic of Vietnam. It was with a great deal of luck and good fortune that we were able to create something with this museum that we are very proud of.

 3. The museum has been very closely connected with the diasporic Vietnamese community in and beyond San Jose. How has this community-oriented approach shaped the museum and, vice versa, how has the museum impacted the community?

The relationship between the Vietnamese community and the museum is not as significant or as tight as we hoped. At this early stage, the community thinks of the museum as an abstract thing. The life of resettlement is hard: they are busy with jobs, raising their families or supporting family members in Vietnam—various social issues. Most of our compatriots in Vietnam have never visited museums when they were in school. That is why we are concerned about the relationship between the museum and the community. However, we rely on the media so that people can learn about us from a distance. Also, the Vietnamese in San Jose often take friends and family who are visiting the area to visit the museum.

 4. What was the first artifact you received from the community? How did that experience shape the museum going forward?

One of the first artifacts that the museum received from the community was this nautical compass. At the beginning of 1980, there were many people who tried to escape Vietnam by boat. At sea, they went through many tragic experiences, from death to piracy. In San Jose, there were some Vietnamese doctors who closed their practices and volunteered to work aboard rescue ships to save the refugees. One of them was Dr. Nguyễn Thượng Vũ. He used the Republic of Vietnamese flag as a sign on the ship for the refugee boats to approach. On one of the boats, he saw this nautical compass and took it with him as a souvenir. When he returned, he gifted it to the Museum. This is a very valuable item, and I would like to share with you my gratitude for the doctors with big hearts who went on these journeys to rescue the refugees. All those who died and all those who survived would look toward this nautical compass as the guide leading them on their journey to the land of freedom.

 5. How do you envision the museum sourcing artifacts going forward, specifically maintaining the community focus?

Concerning the sourcing of artifacts, for the past ten years, we’ve been collecting quite a few artifacts, and this was enough for us to establish the museum, but as time passes and circumstances change, the availability of artifacts has declined, so we are trying to develop in several different areas. We hope to collect more items with special stories that we can share, both in the US and in Viet Nam. Viet Nam still has a lot of artifacts from the war. eBay is also a good source to get some valuable items. For example, most of the medals we collected were from eBay.

 Now, I would like to talk about the two members of the museum that have the cultural ability, knowledge, and enthusiasm to continue the work of preserving and collecting new items for the museum: Mr. Nguyễn Đức Cường, Chairman of the Board of Directors, who was a former Minister of the Republic of Vietnam, and Mr. Cao Hong, the Chief Executive Officer, who recently retired from the city of Santa Clara. Their time, effort and sacrifice are deeply appreciated. We hope that the museum can be sustained in the future and expand physically and digitally, contributing to the preservation of the Vietnamese community.

 6. How can the museum remain involved in the community going forward?

One of our concerns is how to improve the relationship between the museum and the Vietnamese community locally and abroad. In the past, we organized many events and activities in order to involve more public figures from the Vietnamese community and local elected officials with our museum. With their connection and encouragement, we will be able to use their influence to expand our presence in the world.

 7. What can you say about some of the artifacts that we have been using? 

Regarding all the artifacts made by inmates in re-education camps, these items carry a very special meaning for people who want to learn about the lives of those inmates. As you know, they were given metal scraps to work with, such as tin from fallen airplanes. They were skilled craftsmen and by hand, they made all these metal combs, spoons, knives, and containers; they used sandbags to make shirts or bags. All the items made by political prisoners during confinement by the communists were for decorative purposes only. In fact, no one really used them. For example, after a husband had spent many months during imprisonment making a comb for his wife or children, the wife or children did not use it, but instead kept it as a priceless souvenir. Furthermore, the process of making these items functioned as a mental remedy for thousands of political prisoners to keep their hands active with useful skills and preserve in memory the affection of their loved ones, to give them hope of a better life in the future.

 8. Is there an artifact in the museum that resonates with you on a personal level? If so, why? 

The first story: I had the opportunity to talk with General Cao Van Vien, the ARVN chief of staff in Virginia before his death. I asked him what he brought with him when he left Vietnam in 1975. He brought a book about Buddhism. When he died, his daughter Lan Cao, lawyer and author, gifted this book to the Museum. In military museums, you will often see portraits and biographies of generals with swords, guns, or uniforms, but instead, at our museum, next to an image of General Cao, we have his book about Zen Buddhism. That is what I want everyone to reflect on.

The second story: is that in the Museum there are four guns manufactured by four different countries: America, China, Russia, and France. Four types of infantry rifles were placed by two opposing factions into the hands of South and North Vietnamese youths in a brutal war that left more than 2 million people dead. Among those four guns was the Mas 36, a French gun that I used for the first time when I entered Da Lat Academy in 1954. I found and bought a rare Mas 36 at a gun fair in San Jose.

 9. What is your concept of the future plans for the museum when the Vietnamese community continues to change over time? What advice do you have for future generations seeking to come to terms with the legacy of the conflict and the refugee crisis that ensued?

America will change, and the Vietnamese community will also gradually change. Hopefully, the Viet Museum will expand, becoming better organized and more well preserved. But the basic concept of the Museum remains unchanged. The motto of Viet Museum is the following:

From the ashes of history, we preserve memories.

Embracing our glorious past, we dedicate it into eternity.

I would like to tell future generations to appreciate the past. You can't live in the past forever, but you can't forget the past. The museum is the past and soul of a nation, the soul of the community, a place to store all the facts and events of history. The museum is the sacred soul of the Vietnamese refugees who have died and the martyrs of the Republic of Vietnam. Everyone is responsible for protecting their own soul.