Photo By Maj. Jennifer Gerhardt | Air Force Lt. Col. Kevin Tran, the Singapore Country Director for the Pacific Air...... read more read more
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Forty-seven years ago, a young Vietnamese refugee boy spotted a nickel on the ground at Fort Chaffee. Now he’s back as a lieutenant colonel working to help Singapore bring F-35s and F-16s to Fort Smith.
“We left Vietnam April 27, 1975,” said Lt. Col. Kevin Tran, the Singapore Country Director for the Pacific Air Force in Hawaii. “The fall of Saigon happened three days later. My dad knew something was happening, we left with nothing but the clothes on our back.”
Tran’s father acquired a little boat for his wife and six young children. They were stopped by two South Vietnamese soldiers who pointed guns at the family and told them to get out of the boat. However, Tran’s parents pleaded with the soldiers to not harm their children. Ultimately, the soldiers let them go.
“We were ages 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. I was only three years old when this happened,” said Tran.
Once Tran’s father was out to sea, they found a large fishing boat. Luck found the Tran family again, because his father had experience as a captain of a fishing vessel and spending months at sea. Tran’s father offered to work on the ship for the captain and persuaded him to let the family come on board. They were at sea for almost a month before a large container ship picked the Tran family up.
The container ship took the Tran family to the Philippines where thousands of refugees were being processed. They received paperwork and immunizations before moving on to another refugee staging area in Guam. At the time, Camp Pendleton was the only refugee camp in the United States, and it was filling up fast. The Tran family was told they would be coming to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. They arrived in August 1975.
“I remember the flight from Guam to the U.S. because it was my first time drinking a Coca-Cola,” recalls Tran. “It was one of those first memories of my life.”
After arriving to Fort Chaffee, they waited for American families to sponsor them out of the refugee camp.
“I remember we were able to move around and roam the base,” said Tran. “I was out walking around, and I found a nickel on the ground. I thought I was a millionaire at the time. The first thing I did was go and buy some candy and ice cream. I was a happy-go-lucky four-year old.”
The Tran family stayed at Fort Chaffee for three months before they were sponsored by families in a Catholic community in Texas. They found a house for them to live in, and taught Tran’s father how to drive, plus get a job as a dishwasher.
The family settled right before their first American holiday: Halloween.
“They had to teach us about Halloween. The main sponsor tried to explain about kids dressing up in costumes and knocking on your door, and you must give them candy,” Tran recalled. “We were baffled. What tradition or custom was this? Why would the owner give kids candy? Because of the language barrier, they had my parents practice and go through the motions of giving candy out to kids. They really helped us.”
In 1977, the family moved to Southern California.
Although Tran was young and still learning the English language, he was happy to go to school.
“I did very well in school and graduated with honors,” said Tran. “But I was burned out and didn’t want to go to college right away. My siblings all went to college and did great, but I wanted to do something different.”
Originally, Tran wanted to join the Navy. However, the Air Force recruiter found him first. He enrolled in the Delayed Enlistment Program during his senior year of high school. He also wanted to become a naturalized citizen. Once he turned 18, he applied for it, but the process took longer than anticipated.
“The date for naturalization would have been during basic training,” said Tran. “My recruiter reached out to a congressman to ask for help. He was able to move my naturalization date to the day before I was scheduled to go to basic training.”
When Tran went to basic training in November 1990, he didn’t know what he wanted to do. He came in as “open general” and was put into law enforcement.
“It was called law enforcement back then before merging into security forces,” said Tran, who was stationed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. “I loved the job, but the operation tempo was really high with lots of deployments.”
Later, Tran’s wife pushed him to get his degree and earn his commission through the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Utah.
“I started off as a personnel officer,” said Tran. “I love all the jobs I’ve been in, but I thought the ultimate dream job would be a Foreign Area Officer (FAO).”
To be an FAO, a person needs to be fluent in a foreign language plus have a master’s degree in international studies. Tran already spoke Vietnamese, so the Air Force sent him to Monterey, California to earn his master’s degree. After graduation, he and his wife moved to Singapore and worked at the American Embassy for three years. He was also stationed in Yokota, Japan, and now in Hawaii.
Tran came back to Fort Chaffee this week to attend the Site Activation Task Force (SATAF) at Ebbing Air National Guard Base. Ebbing has been chosen as the preferred location for a permanent foreign military sales pilot training center and the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) training location for F-16s and F-35s.
The RSAF will potentially have a large footprint here at Fort Smith, not only with aircraft, but personnel as well. They will settle in and around Fort Smith, living in the community and their children attending the local schools.
“It’s like a giant circle,” said Tran. “Fort Smith people helped me settle in as a child, and now I’m helping others settle here. Fort Chaffee was the launching point for the life I have now. It’s like I’m passing the baton, but under different circumstances.”
| Date Taken: | 08.11.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2022 08:40 |
| Story ID: | 427088 |
| Location: | FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS, US |
| Web Views: | 912 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Former refugee turned lieutenant colonel visits Fort Chafee, by MSgt Jessica Wilson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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