Journey to Freedom

Yung Nguyen

One late night in early 1980, Yung woke up at his simple home just outside Saigon to find his father still awake. Under the dim light of a small electric bulb, the father was sewing the pair of sandals his son would put on the next morning to start a long journey across Cambodia. For some reason, Yung was not thinking much about what must be going through his parents’ minds at the time. They of course knew his journey would be extremely dangerous: Yung’s cousin had two sons who previously left Vietnam in a similar attempt, and they were never heard from again.

Shortly before sunrise, Yung left home to catch a bus to Tay Ninh, a province bordering Cambodia, where he would meet up with a couple of friends and three Cambodians who would be their guides in the journey ahead. The first part of the trip was uneventful, and about a week later, the group of six would pass through the famous Khmer temple of Angkor Wat on the way to Battambang, the Cambodian province bordering Thailand. Then the group was noticed by a Vietnamese Communist troop patrolling the area—the Vietnamese were then occupying Cambodia. In the ensuing melee, everyone but Yung was either captured or ran away. Yung would never see any of his friends again. He was now on his own, in a far away and unfamiliar land, where he did not speak the language, and the only thing in his possession that had any value for his survival was his pair of sandals.

Yung decided to press on, in spite of the knowledge that Thailand was still a hundred miles away, and lurking in the jungle along the border were many guerilla groups, including the ruthless Khmer Rouge. It was in this jungle, one of the most devastated and inhumane places on earth, that Yung met the kindest people he would ever know—the angels who risked their lives to save his.

Arriving in Louisville on Thanksgiving Day the following year, Yung knew he was the luckiest person in the world—he had beaten impossible odds and survived. In the new country, Yung was blessed with a beautiful family and many good friends who together helped him succeed in many endeavors he set out to do. From businesses like Appriss and IVS to nonprofit Lac Viet Academy, the organizations Yung founded continue to provide many jobs while improving the lives of many victims and other less fortunate people.

Over the course of many years working in the Vietnamese American community, Yung met many Vietnamese who served during the war. They did their best to defend South Vietnam, then suffered terribly at the hands of the Communist victors. Their sense of duty and the sacrifice they and their families had made was an inspiration to Yung and his colleagues.

Yung also had the opportunity to work with many Americans who went to Vietnam during the prime years of their lives, fighting to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. He came to realize that many Americans did genuinely try their best not just to defeat the enemy but also to help the people of South Vietnam—that the U.S. military is not only the best but also the kindest the world has ever known.

Yung founded the Tri Ân Foundation with the hope that the many inspiring stories of these American and Vietnamese heroes would be better known to everyone of this and future generations.