Looking Back: A Vietnam War Refugee’s Tale

“Living here was really the only time in my life I felt like a kid.” – Trang Heather Ho

A day before the South Vietnamese surrendered to North Vietnamese Communist forces in 1975, marking the end of the Vietnam War, Trang Heather Ho boarded a helicopter atop the American Embassy building. That day, eight-year-old Ho left her country and hometown of Saigon on a journey that would bring her to America and a new life in Pacific Palisades. ‘If I had not been at the embassy, my life would be in a different direction,’ said Ho, who now works at CalNational Bank on Sunset (corner of Swarthmore). Because South Vietnam was predicted to collapse, Ho’s parents packed their car with clothing and valuables a month beforehand. Her father, Cam, began carrying 10 ounces of gold hidden in a money belt underneath his clothing. On April 29, 1975, Cam heard the government’s fall was imminent. He ushered his wife, Lan, his four children and brother, Mit, to the car and drove a few blocks to the American Embassy, where he once worked as an administrator. As the family approached the embassy, Ho saw hundreds of panicked Vietnamese outside the gates. A U.S. government official recognized her father and let them inside. Forced to abandon the car, they were unable to bring their belongings. As they waited in line to climb the helicopter’s rope ladder, Ho had to use the bathroom. ‘I was afraid to lose my parents,’ Ho recalled. ‘My dad was stressed out and even if my mom went with me, we might have been separated, so I didn’t say anything, and I had an accident.’ Ho boarded the helicopter wearing a white blazer and no pants. Once inside the helicopter, Ho worried the pilot would fall out, since there were no doors. The family flew to a commercial ship anchored off South Vietnam, where they joined other refugees. Three nights and three days of travel brought them to the Philippines. Ho recalls sitting for hours on the deck with her siblings: Thuy, then 11; Huy, 9; and Hung, 3. Her mother, a midwife, helped a U.S. Marine doctor deliver five to six babies. From the Philippines, the family flew to Guam and then to Florida where they stayed in a refugee camp. Ho’s father had worked as an interpreter for American doctors in Vietnam, so he contacted them to ask for assistance and Dr. John McGonigle responded. Cam had interpreted for McGonigle, an orthopedic surgeon who lived in Pacific Palisades, at the Cho Ray Hospital in Saigon in 1963. John and his wife Virginia decided to buy the Ho family a house at 544 Via de la Paz. ‘I knew they needed it,’ said Virginia, who now lives in Santa Monica. ‘They didn’t have anyone else, really. They just lost everything. They couldn’t go back. It was bad over there and still is.’ The McGonigles invited the family to live with them and their 12 children, ages 11 and older, until the house could be purchased. Ho and her family stayed for about two weeks in the McGonigles’ eight-bedroom home at 200 Toyopa Dr. When they arrived, Ho and her siblings didn’t speak English. The McGonigle children played pool and pinball with them because that didn’t require much communication. ‘All the kids were friends,’ Virginia said. John gave Cam a job as a clerk at his practice in Santa Monica. ‘He was a really nice man ‘ I really thought of him as Santa Claus,’ Ho said. John, who died in 2004, was indeed a generous person, Virginia added. ‘He was always agreeable to help everyone.’ Cam offered John the gold he brought from Vietnam, but John refused. Trang Ho’s family also received local fame when the Palisadian-Post featured them in the July 24, 1975 issue in an article titled ‘Another World ‘Vietnamese Escape Their Homeland in Hope of Finding New Life.’ The McGonigles enrolled the children in nearby Corpus Christi School. ‘All the kids were very fast learners,’ Virginia said. ‘[Trang] would come home with straight A’s.’ She learned to speak the language from her father and by watching television. Cam bought a chalkboard and books, so he could teach his children English after school. Ho also befriended the only other foreigner in her third-grade class, Japanese student Chika Imai Kakinuma. ‘Trang and I could not speak English well ‘ so to me, she was a comrade and a rival at the same time,’ Kakinuma wrote to the Post from Saitama, Japan, where she now lives. ‘I think we improved (our English) together through friendly rivalry. She was a very sweet girl. When I was sick and could not go to school, she came to my house after school with candy. I was very moved by this.’ After school, Ho and Kakinuma would dig a hole and build a small fire to bake potatoes in aluminum foil at the Via bluffs. ‘We brought a bottle of water in case we needed to put the fire out,’ Ho said, laughing. Ho and Kakinuma are still friends and have visited each other in their respective countries. At 10 years old, Ho decided she wanted to help her struggling parents. ‘I kind of felt like a financial burden,’ Ho said, so she asked the neighbors for a job. ‘She came to my door with her little brother and said she wanted work,’ said Anne Skelton, who lived with her former husband Dr. Joseph Gambone on Via de la Paz. ‘I was completely taken aback. She was a tiny little thing. I remember asking what she could possibly do ‘ thinking she barely reached the doorknob ‘ and she said anything I wanted her to do. I was unbelievably impressed by her presence and can-do attitude that was way beyond her age and size.’ Skelton, who now lives in New Zealand, hired Ho to take care of her two children every night for two hours while she cooked dinner. That work led to other babysitting jobs. ‘We never got any toys,’ Ho said. ‘I was excited to come to work so that I could play with the toys. I discovered my favorite were Legos.’ Ho’s mother also babysat and worked at All-Pro Health Foods and Nutrition on Via de la Paz. She learned English while on the job. After working for McGonigle’s practice for two months, Cam became a social worker for Los Angeles County and helped build naval ships at Todd Shipyards. By 1978, he and Lan had earned enough money to purchase their own home in West Los Angeles. In 1982, they gained citizenship and adopted American names. Ho kept her first name, Trang, and changed her middle name to Heather after a girl she babysat. Cam changed his name to Bill, and Lan to Sophia. ‘They are very industrious and hardworking people,’ Virginia McGonigle said. Cam later owned his own pool construction and cleaning business, while Lan worked for McGonigle’s practice as a clerk. They now live in Fountain Valley, and Cam works part-time in real estate investment. ‘This is truly the land of opportunity. My father came over here and made something of himself,’ Ho said, adding he often worked overtime. ‘I have great appreciation for my father.’ Ho attended University High School and earned her bachelor’s degree in social psychology at UCLA. After working in various sales jobs around Los Angeles, Ho, 41 and in a relationship, took a position with CalNational three months ago. She consults prospective clients on loans and banking services. Her siblings Huy (Dan) and Hung (Ben) are college graduates and work for Isuzu Motors and Sprint Nextel, respectively. Thuy (Twee) is disabled but was a manicurist for many years. Ho, a Santa Monica resident, chose the CalNational job because she liked the company’s business philosophy and felt nostalgia for the Palisades. ‘Living here was really the only time in my life I felt like a kid,’ she said, noting she often drives by her old house, which is now totally remodeled. Since coming to the United States, Ho has returned to Vietnam only once, and she describes the experience as emotional. She traveled to the country alone for 10 days in 2001 and visited relatives she hadn’t seen since she left. She saw a lot of poverty ‘ including women selling wares on the street with their babies on their hips ‘ and thought that could be her. ‘It gave me a stronger appreciation for what I have here,’ she said.