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In May of 1979, 441 Vietnamese refugees fled their country in hopes of landing anywhere but Vietnam. Shortly after leaving, pirates raided their vessel and the refugees were left adrift for days. The USS Tarawa, a United States Navy amphibious assault ship, finally rescued the refugees on May 8. Grace Tarawa Tran was born two days later and immediately became a U.S. citizen.
Tran revisited her birthplace Nov. 29, where she met with then-Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard A. Reed, a hospital corpsman who assisted in her delivery. Reed was assigned to Battalion Landing Team, Third Marine Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines.
“I’ve seen pictures of him my whole life,” Tran said, trying to find words. “I’m so excited to finally meet everyone. I didn’t know how big of a deal this would be until I got here.”
“Being with the BLT and the spectacular Marines, picking up the refugees and seeing the suffering they went through really changed my life,” Reed said. “Then I became a pastor and it’s all because if this young lady right here. I wanted to do more for people.”
Tran also met (Retired) Master Sgt. Teetai A. Nuusolia, then a Corporal, and former corporal John Ishikawa, who were both on ship during her birth. Both Marines were assigned to BLT 3rd Marine Regiment, 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines at the time and reside on Oahu today.
Nuusolia was on duty that night and still recalls the events perfectly, he said.
“I was on duty when I heard someone shout, ‘Baby, baby, baby!’” he said. “I [replied], ‘Baby?’ and immediately sounded off, ‘corpsman up!’ I remember everyone sounding off after me. When someone said corpsman up you immediately stopped what you were doing and found a corpsman.”
Reed was first to respond to the hollers.
“It was an unexpected surprise,” Reed said. “We’re taught medical protocol, but I was used to dealing with Marines. Ya know, sewing them up, giving them shots and going to sick call. But delivering a baby that was a brand new experience and a once in a lifetime experience.”
It seemed the Tarawa, known to those aboard as “Big T,” happened to be in right place at the right time when it found the refugees.
Its mission during that particular deployment was, “To embark, deploy and land elements of Marine Landing Force in as assault by helicopters, landing craft and amphibian vehicles and by any combination of these methods,” according to a statement made then by the former chief of naval operations’, Adm. Thomas B. Hayward.
“We were showing force around the world,” Nuusolia said.
The refugees were debarked at Phattaya Bay, Thailand, on May 12. There, Tran and her family began making arrangements to emmigrate to the U.S.
“They did not know which nation they were going to, they just wanted to escape Vietnam. My mother said she was really scared, but this was the opportunity to leave Vietnam and find freedom. They took a really big risk."
It was moments like this that helped write the bright history the Tarawa would soon unfold.
“1979 was a banner year for the Tarawa, marking her transition from a newly commissioned first-of-class ship to a fully operational ship-of-the-line,” read the operational history log of the deployment.
The tour showed the impressive capabilities of the Tarawa, which housed up to 30 aircraft and 163 vehicles at one point, transporting and deploying them to various exercises and humanitarian missions around the world.
Since then, both the Tarawa and Tran have made themselves permanently at home in America. The Ex-Tarawa was decommissioned in March of 2009 and is now anchored at the Naval Inactive Ships Maintenance Facility in Middle Loch on Joint-Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
Tran currently resides in Philadelphia and works as a financial analyst for an insurance company. Her mother, two brothers and uncle, also U.S. citizens, live in Philadelphia as well.
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 12.02.2010 21:23 |
| Story ID: | 61257 |
| Location: | JOINT-BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, US |
| Web Views: | 261 |
| Downloads: | 7 |
This work, Returning with Grace, by Sgt Tyler Main, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
