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Good Morning! Today is Monday, May 5, 1975??IICII a umig uone, 11 5done. Don’t look back. Look forward to your next objective.No. 75Fort Walton ReachPagesABy SHEILA BRAXTON The first 747 jet ever to land on the sprawling Eglin AFB touched down shortly after dawn Sunday unloading 374 exhausted refugees from Vietnam to the strains of the “Star Spangled Banner.”They will be followed Monday by 514 other refugees. Officials said two military C-141 transports carrying 70 exiles each are scheduled to land at 5:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. (CDT) and another 747 will come in at 1:35 p.m. with another 374 on board.The monstrous silver plane taxied down the runway carrying a belly-full of passengers who recently escaped from a war-torn country. Many of the refugees wept as they told newsmen horror-filled stories of their hasty retreat.There were no protesters among the 300 persons gathered at the base but only three or four persons greeted the refugees along the bus-rise to their temporary homes 12 miles north of Niceville.Dr. Pham Huu Phuoc, a 46-year-old neurosurgeon who acted as spokesman for the group, told those gathered around the plane that to his people, “America means freedom.”“I lost everything in Saigon. I am happy to be free but upset that so many of my people were left behind,” he said.Phuoc hopes to practice medicine again when established in his new home. He taught at the Saigon Medical School but was trained in the United States. He escaped Saigon with his wife and two children but was forced to leave his parents behind. “I don’t think the Communists will kill them,” he said, because they’re so old.”Dao Bach Lan, 30, was an account manager with Pan American Airways in a downtown Saigon Office. Dao escaped the country with her two young sisters but because of a misunderstanding, her parents and a 22-year-old brother were left behind.Dao told newsmen she was unaware that Pan Am had made arrangements for the evacuation of all the families of personnel on their last flight from her country.“I told them there was no room,” she cried. “No one told me my family could come along. I know they’ll be killed ” Dao’s brother was a South Vietnamese soldier and her father a retired contractor forthe government.Most of the refugees fled the country w ith only the clothes on their backs. Many were warned against carrying suitcases “to keep down suspicion.”Lee Thi Tam, a refugee who worked as a nurse for three years at the American dispensary in Saigon, escaped with her husband, 12-month olddaughter and four-year old son. Lee said her family managed to bring a half-kilo of gold to America but everything else — including five children, were left behind.Three of the children belong to Lee’s husband, Chong VanHoanh, by a previous marriage. Two of those left in Saigon were Lee and Chong’s.“I know we’ll never see them again. I know they’ll all be killed because I worked for the Americans,” Lee said. Also left in Saigon were 13 brothers andMOVING MOMENTVietnamese refugees with their belongings in hand pause to listen to expressions of welcome at Eglin Sunday and a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner performed by the Niceville Senior High School Band. (Photo by Emma Goggin)WORTH A SMILEsisters.Nguyen Van Minh, a Saigon attorney, escaped with his wife, daughter and granddaughterThe daughter. Chi Lang, 28, made arrangements for their flight through her employers atPan Am.VN Exiles WelcomedTo EglinBv CATHY BLUMThree hundred and forty four tired, war-weary and seemingly disoriented Vietnamese people got off a giant 747 Northwest Orient Airlines jet at Eglin AFB Sunday morning. The long awaited, much discussed refugees had finally arrived Of the 344, about 30 people took time to talk to newsmen and to respond to the welcome of local government and military officials.Spokesman for the bedraggled group was a leading Saigon neurosurgeon. Dr Pham Chu Phouc. He told the media that on behalf of the group and as the first Vietnamese refugee to set foot on Florida soil, “America is freedom to us — thank you.”The group to land in the early hours is the first of about 2,500 refugees who will make their home at the tent citv hastilyw •constructed at Eglin’s Field 2.The group was mostlyfamilies but there were some single women and men Upon arrival at the tentcamp, the refugees wereassigned tents and had an op portunity to rest, eat a meal and for some to seek medical attention before processing They were accompanied to their tents by volunteers.The kitchen was to stay open on a 24-hour basis and the first meal served consisted of tunafish sandwiches, rice, cookies, oranges, coffee, tea or milk The volunteers flow ed in a steady stream to the supply tent for infant supplies The hospital unit from Louisiana had treated about 25 people by noon — mostly children The major complaint was diarrhea, dur to the change in diet, medics said. There were several suspected cases of measles and one suspected case of hepatitis, all among the children Mass w as scheduled to be said at 10 a m but no one attended Another service was scheduled for noon and one for 7 p.m. Protestant services w ere held at 11 a.m., reports said The Chaplain’s Office said that a Buddhist monk was enroute to the camp but his arrival time was unknown Christian missionaries were on hand with a banner to greet the refugees at the landing strip The banner read, “The Christian Churches of America Welcome You ”As a group, the refugees were well dressed, some with coats, and sweaters. According to some of the refugees, the clothes on their backs and what they could carry were all they had.Most of the refugees interviewed by the news media said they had no contacts in the United States, but the telephone tent was used by someWEATHERMostly fair with increasing cloudiness in the afternoon mostly cloudy with a 30 per cent chance of showers and thundershowers tonight and Tuesday. Highs lower 80s, lows upper 60s. Winds southerly 8 to 13 mph. East Pass low tide 4:47 a.m., high tide 10:57 a.m. Island Pier low tide 2:01 a.m., high tide 9:24 a.m.Most of the youngest refugees laughed and pranced and sang nursery rhymes in broken English. It was the little refugees who seemed too young to realize the hell from which they had justescaped. Young Thu Lyn Lee is being entertained by five brothers and sisters who all seemed awfully glad to be in theirnew homes.(Photo bv Sheila BraxtonINDEXAmMMmonti ............ .7Aftridgt Column ........... 7AComics ....... 6ACrossword Puulo.............. ..7AOoo* A b k y 911Kditoriols ..... lt;4AHoroscopo......................IAObituarios . ....................)lOkaloosa Olfost ...............31Sports .................MlTV Schodulo .....................7AWomon ....... SA
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Fort Walton Beach Playground Daily News
Fort Walton Beach, Florida, US
Mon, May 05, 1975
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