Liem Luu

Ms. Luu’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. Luu Van Co, members of the landed gentry in the Hai Duong/Hai Phong/Kien An area. Ms. Luu had a younger brother and sister who currently reside in Vietnam and France, respectively. At the age of 11, Ms. Luu began working on the plantation and, within three years, headed the plantation’s operations.

At age 19, Ms. Luu married Mr. Vu Khac Thu, a government civil servant. The ceremony took place on January 28, 1942 in the town of Kien An, Vietnam. After the wedding, Ms. Luu lived mostly in Ha Noi from 1942 to 1951, apart from a brief period in 1947 when normal life in Ha Noi was interrupted by the French reconquest of Viet Nam. During this time period, she gave birth to 3 sons (Dung, Thong, and Cung) and one daughter (Van a/k/a Vanessa).

One especially notable event during this period (1947) was her dangerous journey from a Communist controlled area north of Ha Noi back to her village of Khinh Giao, which was controlled by Nationalists. Because no transport was available, she made the 45-mile trip on foot through endless twisting narrow country footpaths that border the two opposing military forces. Her guide abandoned her and her two infant boys when French soldiers appeared one night. She hid in a ditch with her little boys for more than an hour as the troops passed.

Ms. Luu and her family lived in Hai Phong from 1951 to 1954. During this time period, she gave birth to two additional daughters, Nguyet and Nhat (aka Natalie). At the end of the first Indochina war in 1954, the family decided to move south to escape communism. Ms. Luu made the solo effort to move her family of six children from North Vietnam to Saigon because her husband had to remain in Hai Phong to fulfill his government duties.

Ms. Luu's immersion into western culture began in 1955 when her husband joined the Foreign Ministry and received a diplomatic appointment in London. She again led the effort move the entire family to Europe. It was a most challenging transition into a foreign culture that required her to learn a foreign language and the diplomatic skills of foreign officer spouses.

After two years in London, Ms. Luu moved back to Saigon where she lived from 1958 to 1964, apart from an extended stay in Seoul, South Korea to visit her husband on his second diplomatic posting. She did not stay in South Korea because her six children needed her guidance during their critical pre-college years.

In 1964, Ms. Luu moved to London for the second time with only her four youngest children. Her two older sons had left home in 1963 to study in the United States and Australia. In 1966, Ms. Luu moved to Manila to join her husband who was a diplomat at the Vietnamese Embassy to the Philippines. There, at the age of 43, she gave birth in 1967 to seventh child, daughter Ngoc (aka Minh).

In 1968, Ms. Luu’s husband became a member of the South Vietnamese Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1968. Ms. Luu followed him to Paris with her youngest daughter, Minh. All of the other children were studying in the United States

or Australia at the time.

Ms. Luu returned to Saigon in 1973 with her husband and youngest daughter. They fled Saigon in April 1975, two days before the fall of this city to Communist forces.

Ms. Luu rebuilt her life in the United States in Alexandria, Virginia where she lived until her death on August 10, 2016. During her life, she was an avid gardener and family cook. While in the Philippines, journalists featured Ms. Luu’s delicious Vietnamese cuisine after being entertained at her home. In 2015, she received an award from the City of Alexandria for beautifying the City with her garden. She raised her youngest daughter Minh, made Vietnamese delicacies, and enjoyed the company of her children, her grandchildren, and more recently, her great grandchildren.