Boat People Family Finally Gets To Thank Rescuing US Sailors

Six years after South Vietnam fell to the invasion from the North, a former sailor in South Vietnam’s navy and his young family managed a daring escape by boat into the South China Sea. Outrunning Vietnamese patrol boats, the engine then seized and they drifted for days into the Gulf of Thailand.

Being adrift in those seas was treacherous enough. But twice they were boarded by pirates who stole valuables, tossed food and water overboard and raped some of the girls at gunpoint.

Annapolis, Maryland’s Capital Online tells us what happened next.

The night after the last marauders attacked, Mr. Chau saw faint lights on the horizon. He used a searchlight to signal an SOS. Two ships passed by but then the last, the USS Lang, responded to Mr. Chau's last-ditch alert. The ship looped off course and picked them up.

The USS Lang, launched in 1968, carried forth the nickname “Lucky” Lang for its namesake, a World War II destroyer that survived many sea battles in the Pacific unscathed. “Lucky” also applies to the Chau family.

They settled in the United States, worked hard in a convenience store, became citizens, and put their 8-year old daughter and younger brothers through college and on to successful careers.

They didn’t forget the sailors of the USS Lang. The now grown pharmacist daughter and her mother traveled from Texas to attend the first reunion of the Lang’s sailors, to personally express their gratitude.

"My father kept a folder with information given to him on the USS Lang," Ms. Chau-Pun told those at the dinner. "Once in a while he would pull out the folder and remind us not to forget those that saved our lives. 'Make the USS Lang ... proud of you,' he said."…

"Thank you for saving our lives and giving us the chance to live the American dream," she told the 50 veterans and their families. "You are all true heroes."

As one of the sailors at the reunion said, "There was not a dry eye in the house."

Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese perished escaping their Northern overlords. The Chau’s were indeed lucky.

We’re, also, lucky to have them as US citizens.

Still, let’s work and pray that their story, and the stories of those who died before or while escaping, won’t be repeated by a new bug-out from our responsibilities and interests in Iraq.