WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 20, 2015) -- April 29, 1975 is a day then-9-year-old Viet Luong said he remembers vividly. He was at the Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon and bombs were dropping.

North Vietnamese forces, led by Gen Van Tien Dung, were on their final push to take the capital of South Vietnam.

"I was saying my Hail Mary's -- praying to the Virgin Mary to save our family," said Luong, who is now a brigadier general and is director, Joint and Integration, Army G-8.

Luong spoke, following the screening of the documentary film: "Vietnamerica," at the Newseum here, Oct. 17. He and others depicted in the film attended.

As luck would have it, Luong, his parents and his seven sisters were rescued from the airport by Marines in a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter, and flown to a World War II-era aircraft carrier off the coast in the South China Sea.

When they landed, he said he asked his father, "Where are we?"

His father answered, "Aboard the USS Hancock."

"What does this mean," he asked.

His father replied, "It means nothing in the world can harm you now."

The next day, Saigon fell and South Vietnam was no more. For Luong, he was about to embark on the next journey of his life.

LUCKY LUONG

Luong admits he was lucky to escape with his family. A lot of South Vietnamese, some two million actually, left by boat or over land, to escape from the repressive communist regime that had taken over. Hundreds of thousands drowned or were killed by pirates during their escape attempts.

Since Luong's father had been a major, serving in the South Vietnamese marine corps, he would have been at greater risk than most of being killed or sent to one of the so-called "re-education camps." He and others who'd served alongside U.S. Soldiers were given priority during the evacuation, known as Operation Frequent Wind.

PATH TO THE ARMY

Luong said that even as a young child, his father was his hero. Every time he came home from the battlefield, Luong said he'd ask him what it was like. And his father would talk about some of his experiences, shielding little Luong from the worst parts.

In the early years of his life, Luong said he sensed a great spirit of nationalism among the South Vietnamese and he someday wanted to follow in the steps of his father and join the South Vietnamese armed forces.

Of course that wasn't to be. But once in the U.S., he said, he set his sights on joining the U.S. military. The desire to serve came natural because, he said, there's a martial tradition in his family.

Besides that, he noted, "It's a great opportunity to give back and serve in my adopted country."

When Luong was commissioned in the U.S. Army, he recalled his father being so proud of him.

He said his sisters were all very successful. When friends stopped by to chat with his father, he said he'd hear them ask about the daughter who got a PhD, or the other daughter who had passed the bar exam.

But then, "my father would say to them, 'oh, but you should hear about my son, who's a captain in the 82nd Airborne.'"

Unfortunately, Luong's father passed away in 1997, so he didn't get to see then-Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley, commander of III Corps, speak at his brigadier general promotion ceremony Aug. 6, 2014.

STRONG VALUES

Luong said memories of his father and the values his parents instilled in him and his sisters live on.

The Army Values -- loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage -- are those same values he said his parents had. He added that they're also values that are common to the Vietnamese culture, and, for that matter, many other cultures that have melded into the American culture.

The general, who speaks Vietnamese fluently, said he's proud to be an American and equally proud to be Vietnamese as well. He recalls the warmth that his American neighbors showed toward his family when they first settled in the U.S.

"We sometimes lose perspective of what a great country we live in," Luong said. "It's pretty important to remind our second generations that while you continue to work hard and contribute to our new country, take the time to reflect on the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world."