{"id":4614,"date":"2025-01-06T13:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T17:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/?p=4614"},"modified":"2025-01-06T13:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T17:32:16","slug":"vietnamese-american-veterans-honored-in-norcross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/vietnamese-american-veterans-honored-in-norcross\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese-American veterans honored in Norcross"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Metro Atlanta<\/a><\/div>\n
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Children (FODAC) is providing wheelchairs, walkers and other items to veterans and seniors in need. (Arvin Temkar \/ AJC)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By Reed Williams<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Updated Nov 11, 2024<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Thai Ty (left) salutes at a Veterans Day ceremony honoring Vietnamese-American veterans at First Senior Center of Georgia in Norcross on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. Friends of Disabled Adults and Children (FODAC) is providing wheelchairs, walkers and other items to veterans and seniors in need. (Arvin Temkar \/ AJC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In 1966, Thai Ty joined the South Vietnamese military at age 20 and served in an infantry division against the communist North for about five years of the Vietnam War.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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After the war ended in 1975, Thai said the Communist regime imprisoned him for 11 years. He was forced into hard labor and spent more than a year of isolation inside a tiny cell.<\/p>\n

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Thai said he was released from prison in 1985 and came to the U.S. in 1991 with his family under a humanitarian resettlement program. He moved to the Atlanta area in 1996, after he became a U.S. citizen, and now lives in Norcross with his wife.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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On Monday at a Veterans Day ceremony in Norcross, he stood proudly in his military uniform and saluted along with fellow Vietnamese-American veterans. About 100 people attended the event, which honored the veterans for their service. Dozens of seniors also will receive wheelchairs, walkers, shower chairs and other items as part of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

Thai said he was grateful to celebrate on the same day that veterans of the U.S. military are honored, noting that the South Vietnamese fought alongside American troops in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my second home,\u201d Thai said of the United States, speaking in Vietnamese during an interview on Sunday. \u201cI am very happy and proud to take part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s ceremony was held at the First Senior Center of Georgia, which provides health-related and social services to more than 1,000 seniors. Von Tran founded First Senior Center along with several other organizations that provide transportation, social services, end-of-life services and medical assistance to seniors, most of whom live in Gwinnett County.<\/p>\n

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Von Tran, founder of First Senior Center of Georgia, speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony honoring Vietnamese-American veterans at the senior center in Norcross on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Arvin Temkar \/ AJC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Tran, who came to the U.S. in 1985\u00a0<\/b>and now lives in Norcross, also runs a food bank that she said supports 3,200 households every month.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tran\u2019s father served in the South Vietnamese army during the war and delivered food and other goods to American military bases. In 1983, when Tran was 9 years old, she escaped Vietnam with four siblings and her parents in a fishing boat. It was a grueling six-day journey without enough food or water.<\/p>\n

As part of Monday\u2019s event, Friends of Disabled Adults and Children, a nonprofit based in Tucker, is giving away about 20 wheelchairs, 50 canes, 50 walkers and 11 shower chairs to seniors.<\/p>\n

The organization, known as FODAC, collects new and used medical equipment, wheelchairs and other items and refurbishes them. FODAC distributes about 10,000 items worth about $15 million each year, said its chief executive, Chris Brand.<\/p>\n

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Thai, 79, said he was grateful to be receiving a walker as part of Monday\u2019s event, noting that his health is declining. He still has shrapnel lodged in his legs and he has back surgery scheduled for next month.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In Sunday\u2019s interview, Thai recalled his time in prison after the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very difficult and hard time,\u201d Thai said. \u201cI had a very difficult time with hard labor, eight to 10 hours a day with little food, with torn clothes, and it was a lot of hardship for me. We ate potato with rice and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added he was in isolation for 16 months. \u201cThey were trying to brainwash me, and I refused to adopt their communist propaganda,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I disagreed, and they put me in isolation so they could control my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thai said the Americans awarded him and his unit medals for their role in the successful battle for the central city of Hue in 1968.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of my awards,\u201d said Thai, who at Monday\u2019s ceremony wore one of the medals pinned to his uniform.<\/p>\n

Oanh Vu, 89, another veteran who attended Monday\u2019s event, served in the South Vietnamese military and was forced into a labor camp for one year after the war. In 1993, he moved to the U.S. and became an American citizen in 2002. He now lives in Chamblee with one of his sons.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of the time I served in the military,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that his health is not good and he was grateful to be receiving a wheelchair as part of Monday\u2019s event.<\/p>\n

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Lat Nguyen and Oanh Vu chat at a Veterans Day ceremony honoring Vietnamese-American veterans at First Senior Center of Georgia in Norcross on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (Arvin Temkar \/ AJC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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About the Author<\/div>\n
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\"ajc.com\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Reed Williams<\/a><\/p>\n
\"Follow<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Reed Williams is a reporter on the Local team at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metro Atlanta Children (FODAC) is providing wheelchairs, walkers and other items to veterans and seniors in need. (Arvin Temkar \/ AJC) By Reed Williams Updated Nov 11, 2024 In 1966, Thai Ty joined the South Vietnamese military at age 20 and served in an infantry division against the communist North for about five years of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-hoat-dong-su-kien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4617,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4614\/revisions\/4617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fscofga.com\/vi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}