After the Vietnam War ended in April 1975 with the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese communist forces, many thousands of people from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos fled violence and persecution in their home countries and sought refuge in the United States and elsewhere.

This image shows the Chau family in Seattle. From left: son Alexander, daughter Le Phuong, mother Chung Qui, father Chau Dieu, and son Chi Huy. In 1976, the Chaus were facing poverty and persecution by the new government and fled Vietnam. Chau Dieu hid his family and another family of eight in the bottom of a fishing boat while he and Chi Huy pretended to be fishermen. They evaded Vietnamese patrols, were taken to Singapore by a freighter, and got to a refugee camp in France. Alexander Chau had been living in Seattle since being brought there by a military family in the late 1960s, and he helped his family come to the US. At the time this image was taken, there were two older sons in the family who were still in Vietnam and had not been heard from since the war.

Caption information source: "Chau Dieu's dash for freedom," by Fred Brack, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 19, 1977, page A3.