Victor over the Past - Chapter 3

From: … Nguyen @yahoo.com>
Subject: Nguyen... 's Biography
To: thuyhang606@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 9:42 AM

Thân tặng TH quyển hồi ký …

" Về chia sẻ kinh nghiệm với bạn bè. TH cứ tự nhiên. Nếu bài học cuả mình có hữu ích được cho đời thì mình nên chia sẻ. Có vậy thì xã hội mới tiến bộ và phát triển được. Những gì mình có thể để lại trên đời này thì mình nên để lại."

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CHAPTER 3

When my father reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, the government awarded him a

house in Can Tho. It was then that we started to live in Can Tho while my father continued

to fight in the war in a different town. Once a year we went to his area to visit for a day or

two. Then we went back to Can Tho because it was too dangerous where my father was.

Even when we were with my father, we only saw him maybe two or three hours that day.

Most of the time, we kept in touch with my father through letters only. We knew it was not

enough, but there was nothing else we could do then except before we slept, we prayed for

his safety every night. We prayed to God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit

because all of us, except our mother, were Catholic. We became Catholic to follow our

father's religion. My mother took each of us to church for Christening as soon as we reached

one month old.

Since we had the house at no cost, my mother took all the money she had from

selling her own house to join her younger brother in distributing electronic sound systems.

Most of these sound systems were smuggled through border without being taxed. My third

uncle somehow got a connection, and he needed a partner to help meet the required amount

upfront. Once my uncle and my mother bought them, they resold the systems for a

significant profit. Then as the market expanded, my mother started to travel from town to

town with her brother to sell the merchandise. As my mother became financially successful,

my father also got promoted to higher ranks very fast. He was sent to America a couple

times for military training. In 1958-1959, he completed BASIC course at fort Benning,

Georgia and in 1969-1970, he was trained for Command and General Staff at Leavenworth,

Kansas. Each time he spent almost a year before he could come back. Each time he came

back, he brought back with him stories about life in America. He talked about how

sophisticated and advanced the highway system is in the U.S. He admired the great effort

of the forefathers of this country who had sacrificed their lives to make the country to be a

great place for their children and the future generations.

Besides the eye opening experience, my father brought back with him some admiration

stories. He often mentioned about how great the Kennedys are. They worked very hard so

that their son could become the president of the country. He also talked about how strong

and determined General Paton was. He wanted to be able to do like General Paton did in

promoting himself before the official promoting ceremony. Although he was not able to do

like General Paton, he did get a lot of promotions in a short period of time. Within a few

years after the special training trips, he became colonel. Everything seemed to go well for

both of my parents career wise.

To be continued ...