In the second week of August in 1975, St. Mark’s Catholic Church welcomed Shakopee’s newest Vietnamese family. Duong Manh Hung and Pham Thi Hoa and their four children arrived: Duong Thi Hai-Van, eight years old; Duong Trung Duong, age seven; Duong Trung Viet, who was six years old; and Duong Chi Thanh, who was four years old.
Huế is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế Province in central Vietnam. The city served as the administrative capital for the Nguyễn dynasty. The city’s economy is primarily built around tourism, as it contains one of the few UNESCO-designated sites in Vietnam, the Complex of Huế Monuments being a tourist attraction, alongside its moat and thick stone walls. The complex encompasses the Imperial City, with palaces and shrines; the Forbidden Purple City, once the emperor’s home; and a replica of the Royal Theater.
The city was also the battleground for the Battle of Huế, which was one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War. During the Republic of Vietnam period, Huế, being very near the border between the North and South, was vulnerable in the Vietnam War.
In the Tet Offensive of 1968, during the Battle of Huế, the city suffered considerable damage not only to its physical features but to its reputation as well, due to a combination of American military bombing of historic buildings held by the North Vietnamese, and the massacre at Huế committed by the communist forces.
After the war’s conclusion in 1975, many of the historic features of Huế were neglected because they were seen by the victorious communist regime and some other Vietnamese as relics from the feudal regime; the Communist Party of Vietnam doctrine described the Nguyen Dynasty as feudal and reactionary.
There has since been a change of policy, however, and many historical areas of the city are being restored and the city is being developed as a center for tourism and transportation for central Vietnam.
Duong Manh Hung was born on December 25, 1926, in Hải Ninh. Hải Ninh is a rural commune of Bắc Bình District, Bình Thuận Province in South Central Coast Vietnam.
When the family arrived in Shakopee, they stayed at Third and Scott Street. Beginning in September 1975, the family resided at the Stans house on Second Avenue, according to an article in the Shakopee Valley News called “Vietnamese family welcomed” in August 1975.
In Vietnam, Duong Man Hung was a nurse’s aide with the United States Navy in Saigon. On September 12, 1970, he received an Army Commendation Medal of Valor from the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). Once the communists took over at the Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30, 1975, the area marked the end of the Vietnam War. Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, situated in the south.
After the Fall of Saigon, Duong Manh Hung was forced onto an evacuation plane without explanation. Luckily his wife, Pham Thi Hoa, and their four children were together on the plane. They were not told why he was leaving Vietnam or where he was headed, according to the Shakopee Valley News. The family also did not speak English and used interpreters when they arrived. Luckily, they ended up in Shakopee.
A couple of weeks later, Pham Thi Hoa and Duong Man Hung joined a group from St. John’s Lutheran Church and St. Mark’s Catholic Church at the Amtrak station in Minneapolis to meet the next family arriving from Vietnam. Jacob Le Van Sach and Diep Pham Ngoc Sach and family were happy to welcome to Shakopee and were happy to have other Vietnamese families in the area.
Duong Manh Hung was employed by Midland Glass Company of Shakopee. Eventually, the family moved to Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where Duong Manh Hung died on July 14, 2002.
Pham Thi Hoa took care of their four children, who started school in Shakopee. In 1975, Pham Thi Hoa was reportedly looking forward to some snow! She was not worried about the amount. “My husband will lift it from the sidewalk!”
Bibliography
“Vietnamese family welcomed.” Shakopee Valley News, 13 Aug. 1975.