"We have enjoyed so much freedom for so long that we are perhaps in danger of forgetting how much blood it cost to establish the Bill of Rights." Felix Frankfurter
This is my story
My family story is like many others. My parents lived through the chaos of the Vietnam War even though they lived in the small neighboring country of Laos. My father and many others took their families to live in refugee camps in other neighboring countries. We ended up in Ubon, Thailand. The travel across the mountains was harsh with 3 young boys. My mom recounts the friends she saw laying dead on the side of the path who were killed or stepped on a mine. They had no time to bury them and could only move on.
My father, like many men, fought in the jungles against the Vietcong and many were happy to have the American Military there in SE Asia. America represented Freedom, something that communist do not believe in. We lived in the refugee camp for several years and my father went back and forth between Laos (where we had family still) and Thailand. He was gone so much he was a stranger to my two youngest brothers.
One day my father decided he wanted to try for 1 more child, he wanted a girl. My mom was skeptical because life was hard since she was raising 3 boys on her own already. However, my mom became pregnant and somehow, my father would get his wish.
My mom was 3 months pregnant when my father was killed in an attack. Luckily, she was able to retrieve his body and give him a proper burial. Now a widow with 3 young boys and a baby on the way, what was she to do? She decided that if she had another boy, she would give the baby up for adoption and found a couple to adopt the baby.
My mom said that while she was at the refugee hospital, my oldest brother Padith, was waiting outside with the couple (who wanted the child) and was harassing them. He did not want mom to give up the baby. Luck would be on Padith's side and my father's wish came true. My mom gave birth to ME and she knew that I was a keeper!
My father's death was a blessing in a disguise. My mom was now a widow with 4 young children and survived with the help of French Priests who were there in the camp with us.
We would make plans to leave Thailand for a permanent home elsewhere. Refugee Camps are temporary & going back to Laos was not an option since we had left a communist country.
We would arrive in Traverse City, MI on May 20, 1980. We were sponsored by the Presbyterian Church in Traverse City. My mom remarried when I was 3 1/2 yrs old and they are still together. My stepdad is dad and grandpa to all the grandkids. He also fought in the jungles of Laos. His greatest story is when he spent 6mths in the jungle, ate what he could & survived 2 gunshot wounds.
Like many others, my mom had to leave her entire family and her mom &1 sister has since passed away. She has never been back to see them, but we hope to in the next 2 years to see the family we have left. I have to say that I can't believe that my mom now has a cell phone number for her sister...isn't that crazy? Laos is coming around.
When I was up in TC after Memorial Weekend, my mom pulled out a scarf. She never showed it to me and I don't know why she never showed it to me before. The scarf is the only thing we have left of my father, she had to sell his belongings before we left for the USA. It was weird to touch it knowing my father once used it. We only have 1 pic of my father taken with his entire family a few months before he died. When I can find a copy, I'll post it.
The moral of the story is be proud of your country. Don't forget what it took and still takes for Americans to have the freedoms and rights we have. Though I wouldn't change my life, I look forward to meeting my father one day and my mother in law (she died of breast cancer when Pete was 8yrs old).
Daddy's Here!!!
