The Price They Paid For Freedom Bọn Cộng Sản có đọc mấy cái bài trên đây cũng bị nhiễm, bọn xúc vật, ma quỷ nó ám cam tâm đi làm nô lệ cho Đảng CSVN để đàn áp dân lành. Bài các bác post ở đây không phải cho chúng mày đọc, chúng mày không có quyền bình luận vì tay chúng mày đãb nhúng chàm. Những bài này được post lên đây cho người ngoại quốc họ không biết tiếng việt họ đọc và 1 số nhân dân việt nam và những người Cộng sản Việt Nam có liêm sỉ đọc khi họ vươt tường lửa. Chúng mày bọn đàn gẩy tai trâu, sâu bọ lên làm người làm gì có đủ bản lĩnh để hiểu đâu là trái đâu là phải, lũ bọ hay vây quanh bãi phân thốị

The Pride they paid for freedom

The North Platte Telegraph September 17, 1998 © 1998 The North Platte Telegraph By Robin E. Shirley Telegraph Staff Reporter The World Came To Know Them As 'Boat People.' The South Vietnamese Refugees Fleeing The Horrors Forced On Them By The Viet Cong Suffered Great Loss And Tragedy In Their Quest For Asylum. This Is The Story Of Two Such Refugees And The Price They Paid For Freedom. Jack and Holly Duong of North Platte have survived a horror most of us can only imagine. The tragedy and hardships they've endured have strengthened them, but will remain in their hearts and minds forever. Their nightmare began in the war-torn country of South Vietnam in 1975, when the victorious Viet Cong established the Provisional Revolutionary Government. Jack, who was a lieutenant colonel in the South Vietnamese army, was imprisoned in a communist "re-education camp" where he was starved, tortured and beaten for over six years. "Sometimes, when my wife was allowed to visit, she would sneak food to me," Jack said. His wife Holly and their four children were forced to fend for themselves in an environment where they were under the total control of a cruel government. "It was hard," Holly said, "very hard. I was afraid. Always afraid." The South Vietnamese were not allowed an education, employment or property. Many had their homes and land taken from them. Others, like Holly, were forced to sell contraband at the risk of their own lives in order to feed their families. The Duongs knew their only hope of survival was escape. They also knew the risk was too great for the family to flee together. In late 1980, months before Jack's release from the prison camp, their eldest son and Holly's brother fled the country. The two were crammed into a small boat packed with refugees seeking asylum. After Jack's release in 1981, he and his daughter followed suit. Holly and her two youngest sons made several attempts to escape. "Three times they arrested me," Holly said, "but they released me." Holly explained that the communist government had no desire to take responsibility for South Vietnamese children, so they often released women who had small children to care for. Finally, in the fall of 1983, Holly succeeded. She and her two youngest children fled Vietnam. She had no idea when she loaded her young sons on the boat that her nightmare had only begun. "There were 65 people in the boat and not much food," Holly said, "enough for a week or two. The engine was bad and we were going the wrong way. We were 51 days on the sea." After their engine gave out, the boat drifted. By October, Holly was too weak to walk or stand. She could only watch in horror as her youngest son starved to death. Two weeks later, her second son died. "I could not help them. There was nothing I could do," Holly recounted her 15-year-old tale with emotion, "I still think of them." There were 19 people who perished before a fishing boat from Taiwan found them. The boat was towed to an American oilrig tender owned by Shell Oil and the refugees were taken on board. The most seriously ill were immediately airlifted to a hospital in Malaysia. Holly spent a month in the hospital and then worked as a volunteer at the refugee camp for nearly a year before transportation was arranged for her to come to the United States. During her ordeal, Jack was frantic, awaiting word that the rest of his family had made it to freedom. He went to the Red Cross in Los Angeles every day for nearly three years to see if they had located his family. Then one day in early 1984, he was told that Holly was in Malaysia. "I was so happy," he said, "they said Malaysia. That meant she was free. Then when she wrote me a letter, I was sad. I cried. My two sons were lost." Holly was finally reunited with the rest of her family in late 1984. They lived in Los Angeles before coming to North Platte two years ago. Their children still live in Los Angeles. Their daughter is a CPA and has given her parents their first grandchild. Their son is studying computer engineering. "I have friends who go back to Vietnam to visit," Holly said, "but I won't. Not until there are no more communists. I'm still afraid of them." "We don't trust them," Jack adds, "They caused us to pay a terrible price for our freedom."

-- Lấy Ý Nhân Phá Cường Bạo (DDT-CS@4H.Com), December 17, 2004