In behalf of my family - Nguyen Thi Kim Quy and Nguyen Phuoc Truong.  We respectfully sending our deepest condolences 💐, thoughts and prayers  to uncle Hien.  

We are very fortunate to have known such a quite and thoughtful man who loves his family!! May you be blessed in Buddha land.

Respectfully,

Monique Nguyen and family.

Dear Di Cuc, Thanh-Truc, and Minh-Tri,
I am so sorry for the loss a husband and a father.   My thoughts and prayers are with your family in this time of grief.  I love all of you... because we are a family!

MUCH LOVE,

DUC PHAM


We are deeply pained and words are of no help in expressing the sorry we feel at this moment, nobody can understand how hard a separation is...It remains only the eternal memory in our hearts of our dear UNCLE, he was loved by all of us and he will be cherished in our memories forever, I will include him in my daily prayers.

My name is Tohoa, i am your sister's daughter, growing up I have very little memories of uncle Hien, however most I pay my respect to Uncle was his quietness and (nghiem) but at the same time showing the gentleness of a father, as l lost our dad in 1961, come around 1972 uncle and auntie had reached out and offer to ashelter us to his family, in 3 years time was all that we spent and learn to know uncle, thou the short 3 years but we learn much of uncles and his gentleness,
Fast forward 1975 again he have reached out and got us thru the challenge of getting us to safety from Danang to Saigon , it was the time of scare and uncertain to what next?
When Saigon was fallen, that is when we are no longer have the privilege to learn more from uncle, but nevertheless my sincere and love along with respect is always go out to Uncle and his family.

My name is Hung Nguyen. I am the nephew of his wife. He is a man of honor and loyalty. When we just got to Orange County in 1975, he wanted me to show him how to play tennis. So, I took him to Westminster High School to start. As we were walking into the tennis courts, he saw Mr. Nguyen Cao Ky playing there. He got so mad that he decided to not play tennis anymore because he does not want to do anything that is associated with Mr. Cao Ky after the fall of 75. Ky promises to stay and fight to the end, but he left the country first. Uncle Hien wanted to stay in Vietnam until the end. His driver Mr. H had to put him on the airplane to get him out of the country.  

After I lost my dad in 1968, I always looked up to Uncle Hien. He has been my dad until this day.  

 
Thank you and give my best condolence and deepest sympathy, 

 
Hung Nguyen and the Family. 

Our condolences on the passing of your father and husband. May he continue to live though our memories. 

Peace and prayers to you. 

Angela

My name's Manh-Tong, the eldest of his grandsons. I have some memories I'd like to share with everyone about my Grandpa. 

I live in San Jose and always tried my best to visit my Grandpa every year. There are times I considered moving closer just to spend more time with him. The time we spent always doesn't seem like enough, but it definitely made a big impact in my life. As a child, my mother would remind me during Christmas and Tet, "Don't forget to call your Grandpa!" As I got older, Grandpa's conversations would get deeper which helped me grow as a person. It made me try my best in life and hope to make him proud.

He'd give me some life lessons that I'll never forget. Most recently, he spoke to me and my wife and said, "Wife and husband are like 2 bowls. Sometimes they'll run into each other and make loud noises, so you'll have to be gentle and give way to each other." He always communicated these strong values giving me great life lesson advice. I know that he would always remind me to never stop learning and constantly improve. He also had a vast knowledge about cars and was always sharing tips since we both had mustangs. I was so excited when he let me drive his car. He also taught me some planting tips and gave me seeds to grow. Everytime I see my passion fruit vine, I think of him. 

I know he loved all his grandsons and would talk alot about all of them. He had so many stories to share about family, his friends, and his life experiences. I miss him so much. "I love you Grandpa!" Those were my last words to him. I hope that someday we'll see each other again and spend more quality time together.

Thank you Grandpa for all the love, warmth, and kindness you've given me. I love you and miss you. 

Love,
Manh-Tong


My name is Sơn, the youngest brother of Hiến's, and I would like to say a few words in the memory of my brother whom we siblings affectionately call Anh Ba, to share both our joy in the gift that his life was to us and the pain that his passing brings.

Hiến was born on 15 February 1934 in Bình Hoà near Saigon in Southern Vietnam, when Vietnam was still a colony of France. My mum and Dad used to call him Henri, or sometimes just Ri. He was the second-born of nine children, and the first of six boys. As I am the youngest child, with an age gap of more than 18 years between my oldest brother and me, I was not around when he was growing up, but he was certainly around all the while I was growing up.

I guess the first twenty years of his life would have been a very difficult time for a child to grow up in Vietnam because of the aftermath of the Great Depression, followed by World War II, then the French-Vietnamese war. Our family had a hard time making a living because our parents lost their farming business through many wars, and around the time I was born my dad lost his job because of his support for the resistance against French rule. My brother had to start earning money at a young age to support himself and our family. I imagine that all this must have contributed to shaping the character that he was: quiet, with an outwardly taciturn demeanour, and very hard working.

In 1952, the year that I was born, he enlisted in the Air Force after finishing high school. He was sent to train in France, Morocco and Algeria. He came home two years later to a Vietnam that was no longer a French colony, but that was divided into two countries with opposing governments. He served in the Republic of Vietnam's Air Force until April 1975, rising to the rank of colonel. After South Vietnam was invaded and taken over by the communist North, he left the country to start another life in America.

I could not imagine my life without my brother Hiến. My own memories of things and events connected to him are too numerous to recount. In the living room of our parents' house, a large valve radio that he brought back from overseas, which had a built-in record player, was the source of news and entertainment for many years. I was exposed to western music thanks to the records that he bought. Almost all the toys I had were bought by him from his overseas flights. I remember his wedding celebration at home when I was five, and after he moved out, I spent many summer vacations living with his young family when I was in primary school. I remember going with him to the maternity hospital where his first child was born, the weekend Sundays that he took his family to visit us, the grief and sadness his family suffered at the loss of some of his infant children. I remember the trips he took us to our mum's home town of Bình Dương, our dad's home town near Mỹ Tho, and the resort coastal town of Vũng Tàu.

He had what I would call a brilliant career as a pilot in the Air Force and commercial aviation, which I think was the result of his competence, conscientiousness and dedication to his work - these are the qualities that sum up his character. What happened to Vietnam in 1975 was a personal tragedy to many of us, and my brother, like many former citizens of South Vietnam, had to restart his life from scratch with many disadvantages in a foreign land, but through sheer hard work and persistence, he managed to provide for his young family and help his children become successful adults. I regret that, after 1975, because our family was scattered over three continents, I was only able to see him in a few brief visits to California, but these times will remain among the most cherished moments of my life. During these visits I realised that he felt a lot of sadness and disappointment because of life's circumstances, but I could also feel his deep love for all in his families, his care for his friends and work associates, love for his native country, and love for flying. I can still see the hundreds of pictures of all types of aeroplane that he cut out of magazines and stuck on the wall above his bed in our parents' house, and the books behind the glass door of the bookcase in our living room: "A Pilot's Life" by Toàn Phong, "Vol de nuit" (Night flight) and "Terre des hommes" (The World of Men) by Saint Exupéry. 

My dear brother, I love you deeply too, though we men always find it hard to express these feelings out loud. If there is life after death I hope you will find peace and happiness for eternity, and know that you are loved and respected by all who know you, for the caring and decent person that you were. Whenever I look up in the sky and see a plane passing, I will think of you and silently call your name.

Your little brother.

OBITUARY

Đại Tá Huỳnh Văn Hiến

February 15, 1934 – December 11, 2020

Peek Funeral Home

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services