Yung Nguyen, student during the War

Interview Dates & Times: Sunday, April 16 & 23 at 10 AM
Locations: IVS Office at 10001 Linn Station Rd and his home at 18421 Bridgemore Ln, , Louisville, KY
Interviewee: Yung Nguyen, Student during the War

Oral History Team:

Interviewer 1 – Dede Tran

Interviewer 2 – Quang Le

Recorder & Note Taker – Ha Phan

Photographer & Videographer – Van Tran & Bryan Warren

Summary: Yung Nguyen is a successful and respected entreprenuer and inventor in the Louisville area. He was born in Saigon during the Vietnam War, which confounded his future in Vietnam and eventually led him on a suspensfully dangerous journey to America. On April 16 and 23, he sat down with us to share the salient details of his story about escaping Communism and discovering success in America.

The first part of our interview with Yung took place at the office of IVS, a voting services company he founded. Seated at the helm of the desk, Yung, without hesitation, took us back to post-colonial Vietnam where he said his parents, former civil servants, were forced to flee from their northern hometowns. If they would have remained there, he said, they would have had to endure immediate scorn, abuse, and even the penalty of death under Hanoi's new reign of communism.

With great candor and clairity, he recalled how with only the clothes on their backs, his family trekked to Saigon, the American-back capital city of Southern Vietnam. There, Yung said, he was able to grow up sheltered from his parents' afflictive past and most of the horrific toils of the civil war.

In responding to questions about his wartime political views, Yung was critical of the Communist government. Characteristically careful in choosing his words, Yung censured the government for its excessive control over civil liberities and rights, corruption, and pettiness. He said towns were nearly driven into famine because of the government's inflexibly tight control on the movement of food supply throughout the country.

His stories about the state of Vietnam during and right after the Communist takeover were both thrilling and chilling. But it was the tale of his escape by foot from Vietnam into Communist infested Cambodia then to America that is unbelievably extraordinary.

In our attempts to allure the public with our project, we will save the details of his escape for the exhibit or feel free to come to Crane House and listen to the recording.

Due to time constraints, the first part of his interview ended abruptly as he was recounting his desolate days in Cambodia. A week later we met up with Yung at his east Louisville home to collect the rest of his story.

Below, we are pictured seated in the parlor of his home.

Here, Yung shows us his patents on his victim notification and electronic voting software.

In the end, we learned the story behind the man whom the Louisville Vietnamese community for decacdes has held in high regard because of his accomplishments and community work. His ascent from humble beginnings to deserved prosperity reaffirms that the American dream is still accessible and his close encounters with death make us believe in fate again. His story is sure to please and enlighten when it is featured in our 2011 exhibit.