"Back at the Gap" Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) Vietnamese Started New Lives at Gap Article # 32 in a series When the Communists took over in Southeast Asia, Cambodians and Vietnamese who fled from their native countries were without homes. The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975 and the related appropriation act passed in May 1975 provided immediate assistance to these refugees. The President’s Special Interagency Task Force for Indochina Refugees was mandated to move refugees first to safe reception centers and then to initial placement with United States sponsors. Notwithstanding the scope of this massive task, the process of moving refugees to a settled and peaceful environment was very effectively accomplished, using the resources of 18 federal departments and agencies, 14 voluntary agencies, 10 State and local organizations, and the Task Force. During the eight month period ending in December 1975, over 140,000 refugees were processed under the Indochina Refugee Program and were temporarily cared for at Department of Defense refugee camps in the United States. The Indochinese refugees started to arrive at Fort Indiantown Gap in early June 1975. Thus, this event became an important part of the Gap’s history. By mid-December, 22,103 refugees had been sponsored by Americans into local communities. During this time, there were 74 weddings, 128 births and 10 deaths. Processing went quite well. The United States State Department had organized a program whereby local citizens pledged their assistance to sponsor the refugees by accepting responsibility for finding them places to live, providing financial assistance, helping them to cope with the American customs and language, and finding them jobs so these people could become self sufficient. My wife and I lived on the Post, and as time went on, along with many other volunteers, we were “caught up” in assisting the refugees in the camp. My wife served as a volunteer in the library and I was requested to organize a Boy Scout troop for the youngsters. We didn’t realize at the time what an amazing impact this would have on our lives. It may be amusing now to those former refugees who settled in this area, but I remember the grave concern of many Vietnamese who heard that here in Pennsylvania we have something called “snow”. Some even told me they thought they’d die because the snow would be harmful to them. Eventually, we came to know quite a few of the Vietnamese to the extent that we were blessed to have the opportunity of sponsoring a young Vietnamese jet pilot, Liem Troung. After his graduation from college, Liem married and now lives in California. We were also fortunate to sponsor Liem’s Air Force friend, Dung Phung, his wife Loi, and their one year old son Manh. Dung had been a helicopter pilot who had trained here in the United States before returning to Vietnam to serve in the South Vietnamese Air Force. Dung and Loi live in Cleona and we see them frequently. These young people were the same ages as our own son and daughter, and they lived with us at the Gap for a year and became part of our extended family. Today that one year old boy is a captain in the Air Force. His sister Thao, born in this country, is a graduate nurse in the Philadelphia area and the youngest brother Tien is a lieutenant in the Air Force attending pilot training. As a consequence of the relationship with our own extended family, we have maintained a close relationship with other Vietnamese families living in the area. So as a result, on three occasions, they asked us to sponsor reunions at Fort Indiantown Gap for the former refugees who processed through the Gap in 1975. Fort Indiantown Gap holds many memories for these people and over 300 eagerly attended their first reunion here at the Gap over Labor Day weekend 1983 on the occasion of their eighth anniversary. Over 2,000 former refugees from northeastern United States (from New England to Virginia) attended their tenth anniversary (1985) and a similar turnout occurred on their 20th anniversary (1995). In each case it was a sentimental journey to return to the Gap where they had started a “new life”. Perhaps not so coincidental, Doi Moi (New Life) was the name of the newspaper published by the Lutheran Social Services to help indoctrinate these new arrivals to the new ways of life here in America. For most of the Vietnamese attending these reunions, this was the first occasion for them to return to Indiantown Gap where they were processed into the United States under sponsorship of sympathetic and friendly Americans. Many made nostalgic side trips to the areas of the camp to see the barracks where they were housed during the summer months and early autumn of 1975. At their first reunion in 1983, the Vietnamese demonstrated that they had become assimilated into the American way of life, at least in regard to the picnic food. They served iced tea and punch, and cooked barbecue chicken, hamburgers and hot dogs over their charcoal grills, yet treated their American guests to their traditional oriental food as well. The celebration program began as the sun set behind Blue Mountain and the Children’s Festival of the Full Moon began. Candles and lanterns on sticks were distributed to the children. As these candles were lit, a colorful dragon appeared, assisted by the funny man named Mr. Earth. The dragon and the funny man performed the traditional dragon dance. Then, at a given signal, they led the children in a candlelight procession around the picnic area. It was a beautiful sight to see the hundreds of candles flickering in the picnic grove as all participated in the mid-autumn festival for children. This sentimental journey was concluded by a recitation by community leader Hu Van Nguyen, one of the older Vietnamese, who explained the story of the Children’s Festival of the Full Moon, and by the singing of traditional Vietnamese songs accompanied by a group of Vietnamese musicians organized for the event. Although these former refugees had rapidly adapted to their American way of life, for the American visitors it was heartwarming to see that the Vietnamese elders were keeping their culture and traditions alive by perpetuating these ancient customs and teaching them to the children. Arrangements for the first reunion were made by people who had befriended the Vietnamese community in conjunction with the Vietnamese Association of the Lebanon Area. Coordinating director was Dung Phung and another Cleona resident, Khang Duy Tham served as master of ceremonies. Mrs. Ho Thi Nguyen of Harrisburg served as the interpreter. The reunions for the 10th and 20th anniversaries were organized by the Vietnamese Community of Northeastern United States headquartered in Reading. Each of these programs included a picnic, religious services, tours of the barracks where the refugees once lived, cultural performances and spicy Vietnamese cuisine dished out field-style under drab green Army tents. All these reunions played an important part of the history of Fort Indiantown Gap, and the fort has been an especially meaningful part in the lives of these new United States citizens. The Gap was the first place in our country where these refugees began a new life, and it has a very nostalgic meaning for them. The combined humanitarian efforts of the military personnel, the State Department civilians and volunteers who served at the Gap during those traumatic days of 1975, and outpouring of compassion of the American sponsors, all contributed in large measure to the success achieved by these new citizens of our state and nation. These humanitarian efforts stand as a monumental part in the history of “Back at the Gap”. Published in the Wednesday edition, Lebanon Daily News, on January 26, 2005 © 2005 Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author. Go "Back at the Gap" Index