Tieu Pham
Tieu Pham arrived in Guam in late April 1975 with his wife Minh and 5-month old son An. In Vietnam, both Tieu and his wife had learned English and used it in their work as employees of the American construction consortium RMK-BRJ as well as for the Dynalectron Corporation. Because of their status working for large American companies they were among those prioritized to leave Vietnam by C-130 military aircraft for Subic Bay in the Philippines before the North Vietnamese Army invaded Saigon.
Without knowing what would happen after they left Vietnam, both Tieu and Minh grabbed whatever possessions they could fit into their suitcase as well as Tieu’s briefcase. After hearing that Saigon had fallen on April 30, Tieu and his family were transferred to Guam as a part of Operation New Life. Their stay in Guam lasted only a few days and Tieu’s family of three left Guam on May 8, 1975 arriving at Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton in California.
After being sponsored by a Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brown in southern California, Tieu and his family moved to Orange, California and Tieu quickly looked for a job and applied for government assistance to help support his wife and child. He first worked late night security guard shifts for a local warehouse as well as for the Saint Joseph Hospital of Orange. Then after working as a draftsman for a number of years for the Bechtel Corporation, Tieu tried his hand in a number of different trades from restaurant management, to carpet cleaning, to realtor and to independent courier service. In the eyes of his three children his greatest success was being a loving father who always showed his support whether it was driving his kids to judo practice or driving all three on their commutes to college every day to both UCLA and UC Irvine. Tieu Pham passed in 2011 but he is survived by his son An who earned his PhD and teaches at CSU Monterey Bay, his son Hoang who earned his MD and works as a doctor in San Jose, and his daughter Kimberly who works as a photographer and video content manager and took pictures of the documents in her father’s briefcase to keep the family immigration history alive.
Without knowing what would happen after they left Vietnam, both Tieu and Minh grabbed whatever possessions they could fit into their suitcase as well as Tieu’s briefcase. After hearing that Saigon had fallen on April 30, Tieu and his family were transferred to Guam as a part of Operation New Life. Their stay in Guam lasted only a few days and Tieu’s family of three left Guam on May 8, 1975 arriving at Marine Corp Base Camp Pendleton in California.
After being sponsored by a Mr. and Mrs. Larry Brown in southern California, Tieu and his family moved to Orange, California and Tieu quickly looked for a job and applied for government assistance to help support his wife and child. He first worked late night security guard shifts for a local warehouse as well as for the Saint Joseph Hospital of Orange. Then after working as a draftsman for a number of years for the Bechtel Corporation, Tieu tried his hand in a number of different trades from restaurant management, to carpet cleaning, to realtor and to independent courier service. In the eyes of his three children his greatest success was being a loving father who always showed his support whether it was driving his kids to judo practice or driving all three on their commutes to college every day to both UCLA and UC Irvine. Tieu Pham passed in 2011 but he is survived by his son An who earned his PhD and teaches at CSU Monterey Bay, his son Hoang who earned his MD and works as a doctor in San Jose, and his daughter Kimberly who works as a photographer and video content manager and took pictures of the documents in her father’s briefcase to keep the family immigration history alive.