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. 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.

The first refugees arrived at Camp Murray on May 20th, 1975. By mid-June, about 300 refugees from Camp Murray had been placed in communities, with 90 still remaining at the camp, and more arriving from Camp Pendleton. The Vinh family, shown here, had lived in a tent at Camp Pendleton for 40 days before transferring to Camp Murray. Larger families like the Vinhs were more difficult to place with sponsors. Mr. Vinh was a published author and professional journalist in Vietnam, and by 1977 was chief editor or Dat Moi (New Land), a bilingual Vietnamese newspaper published in Seattle.

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/
Caption information source: "Sponsor is next step to new life," Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 22, 1975, p. 31.
Caption information source: "Hard Times in Saigon" by Harriet King, New York Times, January 30, 1977, ,p. 30.