My Evacuation

Quang Nguyen

Professor Thomas

English 9/111

02/9/2009

My evacuation

Everybody has moments of happiness, sadness, glory or bitter disappointment. When I was young, I was told that my grandfather was killed by the communist people in North Vietnam because he was a landholder. My parents could not stand the cruel and dictatorial domination of the communist in North Vietnam, so they escaped from the communist in North Vietnam to go to South Vietnam to find freedom. That was the story that my parents had never forgotten in their life. I also have had some events in my life that I have never forgotten. The most unforgettable moment in my life was the evacuation of my family to escape again from the communist on April 29, 1975 in the South of Vietnam. That was an evacuation with a lot of panic, bitter disappointment and regret.

In April, 1975, every day we heard the bad news come to the capital that the north Vietnamese communist troop attacked and occupied some provinces in the south of Vietnam where we were living. At the end of April, the situation worsened. The communists took all provinces around the capital and they were on the way into the capital. The crowds of evacuees from the provinces flocked into the city. Sometimes in the sky, we could see the burning planes; helicopters were flying over the buildings and the sound of shootings seemed closer to the city.

“They are encircling our city,” my father said,” We must to go overseas. Otherwise, they will kill us.”

“How can we go?” my oldest sister asked, “We cannot abandon our factory or house over here.”

“A few days ago my company evacuated all of the employees and their families to The United States,” my dad answered,” I did not want to leave because I hoped The United States Army would come back to thrust back the communist troops out of the South Vietnam but now I don’t expect they will come back.”

In hurry, my family collected money, precious things, gold and tried to get to the airport, where my...