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Article: Ties to Vietnam are still strong for family.(SOUTH)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- August 4, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Tom Ford; Staff Writer
On a cold and rainy April morning in Saigon in 1975, Lai Le, then 39, fell to his knees.
The South Vietnamese special forces commander's nation was crumbling. North Vietnamese troops were on the verge of overtaking the capital city.
Tens of thousands of South Vietnamese citizens had surrounded the U.S. Embassy, desperately trying to flee the country.
Lai, inside the complex with his wife, father-in-law and six children, prayed for the first time.
"Before, I don't believe in Buddha, or Mary Mother, or Jesus," said Lai, now 67 and a retired Burnsville resident. "Now I prayed three times with my ...