The Perfect Storm

The Vietnamese Boat People

Quang was born in Ha Noi in 1953 just a year before Vietnam was divided into two and his family migrated south to Saigon. In 1970 he was drafted into war and recruited to Division 3 of the Special Task Force for the South. Days before the Fall of Saigon, Quang’s special unit was stationed in a small village when they had lost contact with their main command. They remained in hiding for days and emerged only to find that they had lost the war and had to surrender to the North. In 1978 in Quang’s second attempt to flee Vietnam, he would face the perfect storm that led to a series of unpredictable events. He shares how the care of a 9 year-old boy saved his life.