Mr. Ba Van Nguyen, 73, passed away peacefully in his home at 8:32pm on Monday, June 17th, 2013, due to a seven year battle with Dementia. He was born on January 10th, 1940, in Long An, Vietnam, to father, Nguyen Van Lu, and mother, Le Thi Trau. Mr. Nguyen was the second oldest of four brothers and five sisters. He lived at home until he was 23 years-old (1963) when he joined the South Vietnamese Air Force. From 23-25 years old (1963-1965), Mr. Nguyen trained in Nha Trang Air Force Academy. During this time he also trained in Alabama and Texas. In 1965, Mr. Nguyen’s squadron in Nha Trang flew the helicopter. It was during this time that he met the love of his life, Mrs. Nho Tran. Seven months later, on February 18, 1966, they were married. Two years later, in December 1968, their first son, Miki Nguyen, was born. While dedicating himself to his immediate family, Mr. Nguyen also took care of his parents and nine siblings.
From 1970-1971, Mr. Nguyen trained to fly the Chinook (CH-47) helicopter in Texas. In 1970 he became a Major in the Air Force. In 1972, Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen gave birth to their second son, Mika Nguyen. Then in 1974, their third child was born, but this time, a baby girl, Mina Nguyen. Although it was a time of excitement, the Vietnam War was underway.
By mid April 1975, Mr. Nguyen continued to be on standby, waiting for next orders from his superiors. After finding out that there was no further hope and that the chain of command in leadership had fallen apart, Mr. Nguyen had to plan through his next steps.
On April 29th, 1975, at around 10:30am, Mr. Nguyen landed his Chinook helicopter in front of his parents’ home in Saigon. Mr. Nguyen quickly gathered his family onboard the helicopter. He made a second stop a half-hour away to gather supplies and to meet up with other squadron members. Mr. Nguyen originally planned on flying to a remote island to get away from the heavy fighting in the city.
On his way out to sea, Mr. Nguyen could hear English communication chatter on his radio. It was then that he knew in the distant there could be a US Navy ship to perhaps help everyone on the Chinook. As soon as he picked up visual of a ship, he began to head towards it slowly and cautiously. Unlike the smaller Huey helicopter that were able to land on many ships, the Chinook was too big to perform such a landing. Here is an excerpt from NPR’s story from 2010 – “35 Years on, Vietnam Heroes Reunited, Decorated”:
“Among all the Hueys on that first day, a crowded Vietnamese CH-47 (a twin-rotor "Chinook", the heaviest helicopter in the Vietnamese inventory) also attempted to land but was frantically waved off. The aircraft was much too large for USS KIRK’s flight deck, so the pilot hovered low over the fantail and unloaded his precious cargo of men, women, children, and infants - and his aircrew - into the waiting arms of KIRK crewmen below. Then, flying his behemoth helicopter all alone, the pilot moved a short distance off KIRK’s starboard quarter, hovering within inches of the sea. He slowly rolled the Chinook on its right side, escaping the spectacular crash unharmed by diving out the left door in mid-roll. Both main rotors disintegrated on impact, and shattered shards of the blades flew across KIRK, splashing into the sea well to port. The crew of the KIRK’s motor whaleboat were standing by and rescued the pilot in short order. All crewmen and family members were reunited unharmed on the USS Kirk that day.
"There was only one CH-47 that came to the USS KIRK FF1087 in 1975. Your father hovered the helio over the fantail of the KIRK and his passengers jumped out to the arms of the KIRK crew. He then came to the right of KIRK, rolled the helio to the right and jumped out on the left side. Your father was a very brave man and he accomplished a remarkable and professional job to save his passengers and his family. There could hardly have been a more masterful bit of flying, or a braver pilot that day."
Paul H. Jacobs
Captain, USN Retired
Commanding Officer
USS KIRK FF1087 {74-76}
Roughly 24 hours later, Mr. Nguyen and family transitioned from the USS Kirk to a few others ships heading towards the United States… heading toward freedom.
On, May 12th, 1975, Mr. Nguyen and his family stayed at their first refugee camp in Guam. They stayed here for just one day and then flew to Wake Island and stayed for approximately 1 ½ months. After this, they flew to Camp Pendleton and resided there for three weeks. Finally, on July 22nd 1975, the Nguyen family was sponsored by Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Bellevue, Washington.
Full of hope, yet anxious as to what was to be in their future, Mr. Nguyen landed his first job at Suntran Electronics and was hired as an assembly worker at $2.75 an hour, five days after arriving to the United States. Determined to get a better job, Mr. Nguyen decided to go back to school. He went to technical electronics school during the day and worked as a custodian by night. In the summer of 1978, Mr. Nguyen received a job at Teltone Electronics.
In October 1978, Mr. Nguyen and his wife saved up enough money to purchase their first home in Bellevue, WA. Mr. Nguyen studied hard to become an American Citizen in 1981. Mr. Nguyen and his wife felt that by becoming an American Citizen, this would provide them and their children with more opportunities. In October 1984, Mr. Nguyen accepted a job at Boeing working in military electronics. He worked at Boeing for 18 years until his retirement in 2002.
Mr. Nguyen’s hobbies included writing for the Vietnamese newspaper, playing the keyboard, singing karaoke, dancing with his wife and playing with his grandchildren.
Mr. Nguyen was diagnosed with Frontal Temporal Dementia approximately seven years ago (2006), but it was suspected that he had the disease approximately one year prior to him being diagnosed.
Mr. Nguyen was an amazing father, husband, grandfather, friend and hero. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Nho Nguyen, and his children, Miki Nguyen (and daughter-in-law, Karen, and grandchildren Lexi, Lucas, and Liam), Mika Nguyen (deceased in 2003) and Mina Nguyen-Driver (and son-in-law, Jason, and grandchildren Miles and Lila). Mr. Nguyen was an incredible inspiration to his friends and family. He will be greatly missed.
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