30 years after the fall.

Byline: Edward Russo The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 5/3/2005): Ming Hsieh was 19 years old on April 30, 1975, the day Saigon fell to North Vietnamese troops. A photo caption in Saturday's paper had an incorrect age for Hsieh.

It was 30 years ago, but Phung Hsieh of Eugene can still recall the anxiety that she felt when her former country, South Vietnam, surrendered.

Then 14 and living in Saigon, Hsieh remembers being frightened, not knowing what would happen to her and her family when the Communists completed their defeat of the U.S.-backed government and took over the city. `Everybody was talking, `What are we going to do?' ' she said.

Hoa-Lan Tran was living in Saigon on that same day, April 30, 1975. She recalls fear and dread. "My mother would not let her children go out on the streets because everywhere there was chaos, crime, personal revenge, lawlessness," said Tran, who was 16 at the time. "There was no order."

Brandon Nguyen was only 7 months old on that day. But as did other South Vietnamese, Nguyen's family later crowded into small boats to flee the country after the 30-year Vietnamese conflict ended. They were among the 500,000 so-called boat people who sought refuge in other countries. Tran's family, meanwhile, stayed in Vietnam for another decade, before immigrating to the United States.

Today, all three former Vietnamese residents live in Eugene, their entrepreneurial and artistic talents enriching the city.

Hsieh and her husband, Ming, own Yi-Shen, an Asian grocery and restaurant at 11th Avenue and Chambers Street. Nguyen owns Saigon Restaurant, at 19th Avenue and Agate Street, near the University of Oregon. Tran is a painter and architect.

The anniversary of Saigon's fall means different things to each of them.

For Tran, 46, the day signifies "a great loss." She was educated in French schools and familiar with Western ways. Vietnam was a French colony before and after World War II. "The world I knew, even the world at war that I knew, was, to me, rich, interesting, exciting," she said. "But all that ended on April 30. We became a part of a big police state."

Her family stayed after the big waves of refugees left the country. But the economy continued to worsen, Lan said. And her family chafed under the political restrictions. They finally left in 1985 and came to the United States. "There was not much opportunity for us," she said. "We felt that we needed to leave the country to be able to pursue our dreams and interests."

The anniversary prompts mixed emotions for Hsieh (pronounced "say").

She misses the people and culture of her homeland. "I miss the connections," she said, clenching her hands into fists and putting them together.

Hsieh and her husband work long hours, six days a week, stocking shelves, cooking food and waiting on tables. They have two teenage daughters.

In spite of the exhausting work, Hsieh believes that her family has had a better life in America than if they had stayed in Vietnam.

Hsieh, of Chinese ancestry, came from a family of merchants. She said the economic changes that were put in place by the Communists were especially hard on entrepreneurs.

The United States offered education, freedom and opportunity, she said.

"The lives that we are living are much better than it is over there," Hsieh said.

In most ways, Nguyen, 30, is a young American. However, he feels a need to learn more about Vietnam, the people and culture.

"I will always consider myself Vietnamese because of the way I look," he said.

Nguyen has been to Vietnam only once. Last year, his father, Le, who started Saigon Restaurant, died at age 51. His burial was in Da Nang. Nguyen was in Vietnam for just a week, too preoccupied to learn about the country.

"That's why I want to go back," he said. "So I can learn about where I came from.'

CAPTION(S):

Phung Hsieh (left) and her husband, Ming, of Eugene were 14 when their country fell to the Communists, 30 years ago today.