Võ, Văn Bằng

Vo Van Bang was born in the city of Hue, Thua Thien, Vietnam, where he later served as council member. He was present during the early stages of the Tet Offensive of 1968. He recalls hearing gun shots from the North Vietnamese Army and fleeing to another district to escape the communist onslaught. He later returned to Hue to look for his wife and children. A year after Hue was free from conflict, he helped to organize a committee to search for the missing and the dead. The organization discovered mass graves and counted over 3,000 deceased, which they subsequently disinterred for identification and reburial. The graves included government officials, civilians and foreigners who either had their skulls crushed, were buried alive, or were suffocated. After the Fall of Saigon, he was put into a reeducation camp for eight years. He came to the United States in 1994. He shares his hope that future generations will know, understand, and learn from his experiences.

2013-09-24

Interviewer: Nancy Bui

Transcriber and Translator: Quan Tue Tran

Audio/Video Recorder: Nghia Tran