A truly harrowing escape from South Vietnam as communist forces from the North invaded southward in 1975. The long Vietnam War reached a big turning point that spring with the remaining American forces leaving the country after years of battle while their South Vietnamese counterparts were also looking for ways out from what they believed would be a life of hard labor or their possible deaths.
This begins the story of Phillip Pham and his family’s escape before Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army. Dexter High School (DHS) students had a unique opportunity on May 16 to hear this personal account from a local family, whose story took place at a pivotal moment in history. This story is a view that isn’t often told, so it was a learning experience hearing and thinking about it.
Speaking to different classes at DHS, Pham, who lives in Dexter with his family, was joined by his son, Calvin, a DHS alumnus and current college student in Florida. They gave an overview of where things stood just prior to the Pham family’s spontaneously-planned evacuation and described the daring escape by plane, which they used to fly to Singapore, and from there, with some help, eventually making their way to the U.S.
“How thankful we are to be here today,” Phillip told the students in Mr. Baese’s second hour class.
The Great Escape
The escape was organized and led by Phillip’s father, Pham Quang Khiem, a pilot in the South Vietnamese Air Force, who commandeered a C-130 military cargo plane with a full house of passengers on board, including members of his family. The situation in South Vietnam at that time in March-April of 1975 was dire, especially for the people who served in the South Vietnamese military and their families. North Vietnamese forces had taken parts of South Vietnam and were quickly making their way to its capital, Saigon.
A quote from his father was given during the presentation:
“If Saigon falls if we are not the first people to leave, then we definitely won’t be the second.”
They were leaving behind family, friends, careers, businesses, homes, but as Phillip recounted, they feared for their lives and what was to come with a communist takeover of their country, and time was running out. His father, a trained pilot, had been flying missions around the time of the escape. He decided to seize the moment on April 3 of 1975, and basically took a cargo plane and along with a small crew of men. They flew it under the navigational guidance of a crew member who had a similar plan.
Not wanting to leave his family, he got word to them and this in turn got out to some others who joined and filled the plane. A critical point in the story came during the time when their escape flight came under threat and they had to move quickly to safely take off. The crowd of people wanting to leave rushed through the one door to quickly get on before they could be stopped by the South Vietnamese Army, who had been alerted by a crew member who didn’t want to take part in the escape.
At that point in the story it was thought a baby was left behind at the air strip as the mother attended to another child on board as the plane took off.
Although they were being chased by South Vietnamese Air Force jets, they wouldn’t be caught and did safely make their way to Singapore to what was hoped for as freedom. However, they were all detained under threat of being sent back to South Vietnam. While in detainment, Phillip’s father had one phone call that he made to the U.S., specifically a 3 a.m. call to a man he knew in Pennsylvania who was with a world relief mission.
From that call, he and his family were provided with financial and legal assistance to prevent them from being taken back to Vietnam and which allowed them to go to California as refugees. From there they would make their way to Ohio and settle into life in America. Now, Phillip, his wife and kids call Dexter home.
Looking Back, Questions and Lessons Learned
Throughout the presentation and talk, Phillip and his son stopped at times to ask the students questions, such as: what is communism and why do you think they wanted to escape South Vietnam. The story looked at a part of the larger historical story that isn’t always told, which is the viewpoint of a South Vietnamese military person who served their country and fought against communist takeover, and then as their country fell to the enemy, they feared for their freedom.
Looking back on the story there were some questions and wonder, especially as to what happened to that lone baby presumed left at the air strip. Was the child left behind or did things end up much worse?
Well, the baby wasn’t left behind. The baby in fact was Phillip, who was so very young when his family left South Vietnam. His aunt grabbed him at the last second while his mother attended to his sibling as the plane began to take off.
“I’m very grateful,” Phillip said looking back at everything it took for them to make it and find a new home in America.
From his father’s getting a plane to it being full of fuel to them not getting shot at while taking off to that helpful person in Pennsylvania answering the phone in the middle of the night, Phillip said it all came together to help him, his family and the others find their way to safety and freedom. As a side note, that C-130 plane they fled in is now in a museum in New York.
Phillip said the chances for everything to work out the way it did was truly divine and because of sacrifice of some brave men and women.
Photos of the presentation by Lonnie Huhman
8123 Main St Suite 200 Dexter, MI 48130
