In 1954, An Tran sent six of her children from their home in North Vietnam to South Vietnam to escape the impending rule of the North Vietnamese communist government. An and her husband, Tau Nguyen, followed their children but were captured at the border and sent to separate jails. Tau escaped to South Vietnam, but An was returned to the North, where she lived with her eldest daughter, and gave birth to her youngest child, unaware of the fate of her husband.
The Nguyen family was eventually able to notify An that they had arrived safely in Saigon, but they feared imprisonment or death if they attempted to return North for her. After Saigon fell in 1975, a daughter who worked for the US Government was able to get the Nguyen family on a plane to the US. Tau Nguyen tried unsuccessfully to bring his wife to the US by official channels, and An herself made three unsuccessful attempts to flee by boat. After hearing of Tau’s death in 1987, An gave up her plan to emigrate, instead staying in Vietnam with her two children. The family, however, persevered, and An received permission to emigrate in 1993.
On February 23, 1993, 83-year-old An Tran, shown at center in this photo, wearing a black coat, was greeted at Sea-Tac airport by a large group of family and friends. The group included old friends from Vietnam, and the six children she hadn’t seen in 39 years, and their families.
Caption information source: "After 39 Years, Mother Reunited with War-Torn Family" by Evelyn Iritani, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 24, 1993, p. A1.
