The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, with the fall of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese communist forces. In the immediate aftermath, 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. Vietnamese refugees arriving to the West Coast in May 1975 were brought to the Marine Corps base at Camp Pendleton near San Diego, where “tent city” camps had been hastily set up. Washington State, under the leadership of Governor Dan Evans, developed a comprehensive resettlement program, and recruited refugees from Camp Pendleton to settle in Washington State. Arriving refugees were temporarily housed at Camp Murray, a National Guard base near Fort Lewis, until they could be matched with sponsors to provide help with housing, employment, and skills needed to navigate their new home.
In May 1975, the first group of 530 refugees from Camp Pendleton were selected, mostly at random, from over 1000 that had applied to settle in Washington. On May 20, the first 34 Vietnamese refugees arrived at SeaTac airport. They were greeted by dozens of local Vietnamese women who had volunteered as Red Cross translators and hostesses, and then taken to the Vietnamese Assistance Center at Camp Murray, where they were met by Governor Dan Evans and his wife.
Here the Dương family with children sits at Camp Murray after their arrival in Washington from Camp Pendleton. They were among the first group of 34 refugees to arrive in Washington on May 20, 1975. From left to right: Mai Tran (mother), children Son Dương, Thong Dương, and Hoa Dương, and father Bình Dương, a former officer in the South Vietnamese military.
Caption information source: “Evans greets Viet refugees,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 21, 1975, p. A1 Caption information source: “After the fall of Saigon: When Washington did the right thing for refugees,” Seattle Times, April 24, 2015. Retrieved at https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/editorials/when-washington-did-the-right-thing-for-refugees/ Additional information from the Dương family.
