Bùi Văn Phú
In 1975, Bùi Văn Phú was a law student and student activist at Saigon University. In the spring of 1975, Bùi Văn Phúfled Vietnam by ship. Along with other refugees on Saigon II, an engineless boat, Bùi Văn Phú made his way to Singapore and Subic Bay in the Philippines before arriving in Guam. After living in Guam for one week, Bùi Văn Phú left to Pennsylvania via Fort Indiantown Gap. Since his resettlement, Bùi has worked in education, including a role as an educational consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Southeast Asia. He is now a community college instructor and a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here, you can read, in translation, his reflections on his time on Guam.
"We arrived in Guam on a blazing hot afternoon. Orote Point camp, also known as Tent City, was much larger than Subic Bay camp [in the Philippines], but devoid of trees. As the bus entered the parking lot, on both sides of the barbed wire fence there were people waiting. There were voices calling out to each other, asking for news of who made it and who did not, with many sad faces and shaking heads.
After completing the admission procedures, since my cousin had a child he asked to be sheltered in an area with shade so his infant boy would not have to suffer from the burning sun.
I was taken to a military tent. Upon opening the door, I saw a man sitting quietly on a cot with a sorrowful face. The tent was built on the ground with a dozen cots inside, but all were empty and there was only one person, with me now as the second. He asked where I came from; I replied from Subic Bay. He told me he was requesting to be repatriated.
I was surprised and asked him why he wanted to return home when he not had even arrived in the US yet. He was a navy official who vacated Vietnam hastily, leaving behind his wife and children, and now he missed his family so much that he wanted to return. He introduced himself as the songwriter Trường Sa.* His name immediately reminded me of a song that was quite popular on Saigon radio. I asked if he wrote the lyrics that Lệ Thu sang: “The street has been deserted since you left. Afternoons swinging with sorrow footsteps…” He claimed to be the author.
His eyes were red. His face was full of worries and desperation. He asked me, do I intend to return home to Vietnam? I said I also came alone, my parents and siblings left behind, but I wanted to go to see what the US was like, not to return."
After completing the admission procedures, since my cousin had a child he asked to be sheltered in an area with shade so his infant boy would not have to suffer from the burning sun.
I was taken to a military tent. Upon opening the door, I saw a man sitting quietly on a cot with a sorrowful face. The tent was built on the ground with a dozen cots inside, but all were empty and there was only one person, with me now as the second. He asked where I came from; I replied from Subic Bay. He told me he was requesting to be repatriated.
I was surprised and asked him why he wanted to return home when he not had even arrived in the US yet. He was a navy official who vacated Vietnam hastily, leaving behind his wife and children, and now he missed his family so much that he wanted to return. He introduced himself as the songwriter Trường Sa.* His name immediately reminded me of a song that was quite popular on Saigon radio. I asked if he wrote the lyrics that Lệ Thu sang: “The street has been deserted since you left. Afternoons swinging with sorrow footsteps…” He claimed to be the author.
His eyes were red. His face was full of worries and desperation. He asked me, do I intend to return home to Vietnam? I said I also came alone, my parents and siblings left behind, but I wanted to go to see what the US was like, not to return."
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Bùi Văn Phú’s student ID card. He was enrolled as a law student at Saigon University when he left Vietnam as a refugee.
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Bùi Văn Phú’s handwritten diary entry written at the Subic Bay camp in May 1975.
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Photo of Bùi Văn Phú with his cousins, taken on Grande Island in Subic Bay, Philippines in May 1975. Bùi is on the far right with his cousins (sons and daughters of his uncle, his mom’s older brother, who did not leave Vietnam). He is next to Dr. Tran An Bai, who is his uncle’s oldest son. Dr. Tran An Bai earned a PhD in law from Saigon University Law School and was a District Attorney of Gia Dinh municipal court. He is holding his son and his wife is next to him. On the morning of April 29, 1975, when all seven children of Bùi’s uncle left Vietnam, Bùi went with them.
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Map of “Tent City” at Orote Point given to Bùi Văn Phú when he arrived in Guam. He stayed in K2 A29 (Area 2, Tent 29).
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Bùi Văn Phú’s handwritten note about locating Nguyen Thi Thu Huong. When in Guam, he began to go to the Red Cross office to look for his high school sweetheart, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, and her family. Nguyen Hoang Tan is the name of her brother and Nguyen Vinh Tan is the name of her father. He got some information of them passing through Guam, but he was not sure if they were the ones he was looking for or just other refugees with the same name.
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Bùi Văn Phú’s handwritten note to keep track of the days he stayed in Guam.
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