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Quang X. Pham

A Sense of Duty: Our Journey from Vietnam to America Paperback – April 20, 2010

by Quang Pham (Author)

4.7 58 ratings

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A memoir by a former Vietnamese refugee who became a U.S. Marine, Quang Pham’s A Sense of Duty is an affecting story of fate, hope, and the aftermath of the most divisive war the United States has ever fought. This heartfelt salute to the spirit of America is also the account of the author’s reunion with his long-absent father, Hoa Pham, himself a devoted officer who saw combat firsthand as a South Vietnamese fighter pilot. Hoa’s revelations about his wartime experience leave Quang even more conflicted about his service in the Marines in the first Gulf War, and after years of struggling to reconnect with each other and the homeland they left behind, the two set out on a final, profound quest—to make sense of the war in Vietnam.

Tracing Quang Pham’s uniquely spirited yet agonizing journey from his experiences as an uprooted refugee to his becoming a combat aviator, A Sense of Duty reveals the turmoil of a family torn apart and reunited by the fortunes of war. It is an American journey like no other.

Print length

288 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Presidio Press
Publication date

April 20, 2010
Dimensions

5.48 x 0.63 x 8.19 inches
ISBN-10

0891418768
ISBN-13

978-0891418764
See all details

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Quang X. Pham's memoir on parallel tracks-his life, and his family's, in Vietnam and then America-is a story of hardship, separation, and loss, but ultimately also of courage, loyalty, patriotism and achievement, an inspiring human story movingly told."
--Lewis Sorley, Author of "A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam"

"A Sense of Duty is a poignant story of two distant wars, service by father to South Vietnam and Marine son to the United States in the Persian Gulf, but ultimately it is a son's tribute to his father and a way of saying "thank you" to all in his father's generation who served honorably to defend freedom and whose story has yet to be told."
--Larry Berman, author of No Peace, No Honor: Nixon, Kissinger and Betrayal in Vietnam

In his singular memoir, Quang X. Pham examines a forgotten, unexplored tract of that purgatory of the American Dream known as Vietnam. His surprising account of family and war, sacrifice and redemption is essential for anyone who would seek to understand the legacy of that lost conflict and the generation-spanning turmoil to come in Iraq.
Congratulations on a fine book.
--David J. Morris, author of Storm on the Horizon:Khafji-The Battle that Changed the Course of the Gulf War

Quang Pham's journey from refugee to Marine Corps Combat Aviator spanned two countries and two wars in search of honor and triumph. With A SENSE OF DUTY, Pham has achieved both: this tale of his and his father's wars is a testament to the heart, told with an aviator's stiff courage and clear vision. Insistently aware that war's passions extend their energies through generations--preserving the twisted genetic strands of both redemption and tragedy--this book marks the anniversary of our decade-spanning war in Vietnam while framing important questions about our second such war in Iraq.
--Joel Turnipseed, Author of BAGHDAD EXPRESS

"Quang Pham has written a superb account of the remarkable journey he and his family experienced. As someone who lived and fought with the South Vietnamese forces and witnessed Quang's outstanding service in the US Marine Corps, it was an exceptionally moving read. Everyone American should read this wonderful story to better appreciate the freedoms we enjoy."
--General Anthony C. Zinni USMC (Retired)

About the Author

QUANG X. PHAM served as a Marine helicopter pilot in the 1991 Gulf War and in Somalia. He has been an executive with QTC Medical Services and CEO of Lathian Systems, a company he founded. He is a popular public speaker and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows offering reflections on Vietnam. He lives in California with his wife, Shannon. Visit the author’s website at www.asenseofduty.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

FIRST FLIGHT

When i was six i took my first airplane ride. My entire immediate family came along, as well as an older cousin. We were so excited we kept talking about the excursion for days in advance, and I could hardly sleep the night before. A white mosquito net covered my small body and blurred my half-asleep vision. Waking and turning, I tried to count the different cricket sounds through the night; their cadence rang in unison like a kinetic, unseen symphony. In the distance, faint explosions occasionally interrupted the cricket chirping but didn’t silence them. Just like the people in my neighborhood, the insects were used to war. On most nights I would sleep right through the detonations. On this night I wished I knew what the crickets were saying.

I wasn’t alone. My mother lay nearby, and my sisters slept in the same room; that’s the way it was in our country. Families lived together and slept together. Our grandparents had lived with us until they passed away in 1969, within a year of each other. But little did we know that one day the Vietnamese diaspora would sprinkle us all over the world; we would all have our own houses.

Summer vacation had begun and we were heading for the low mountains of Da Lat, some 200 miles north of Saigon, to cool off for the day. When I was growing up, we hardly ever had any family vacations, so this would be a rare treat.

Because the countryside was dangerous, especially at night, for us air travel was safer—and we knew the pilot. That day the rain came and went, washing away the red clay on the pothole-filled dirt road leading to the airport. At the airport we moved among airplanes worth millions of dollars, yet we only had to step outside the gate to see a country mired in poverty. Our driver had dropped us off near an old, yellow half-cylindrical aluminum hangar from which we watched dozens of planes taxi-ing for takeoff and landing. We weren’t at the civilian passenger terminal. We stood on the military side of Tan Son Nhut Airport, one of the busiest in the world in 1970.

We boarded a World War II–era C-47, the military version of the DC-3, a reliable, twin-engine transport. On its fuselage was the South Vietnamese national insignia, a white star on a blue disk surrounded by an outer red ring, with red and yellow side bars. A national vertical yellow flag with three red horizontal stripes was painted on its rudder. The other passengers included families of military men, some in uniform. After a quick safety briefing by a crew member, we sat quietly on the red canvas seats usually reserved for airborne troops.

As the plane lumbered down the runway and took to the air, I looked out the window while gripping my mother’s hand. She was also holding my older sister Thi, who sat on her other side. I could barely make out smoggy Saigon receding beneath the wings. Soon green rice fields and grass-roofed villages appeared. We were flying low enough to see tiny farmers and their water buffaloes dragging wooden plows. Growing up in the city, I had only seen buffaloes and fields in newspaper photographs.

After about fifteen minutes, the pilot in the left seat motioned to me to come into the cockpit. I unbuckled my belt and stumbled up the aisle, nearly tripping over the rollers on the floor. He picked me up and placed me on his lap. I could smell his signature Aqua Velva after-shave lotion and sweat. I hesitated to touch the controls even as he assured me that it was all right to steer the plane. He smiled to the copilot as I cautiously reached out and slightly pushed on the steering column.

There in front of me was our beautiful country. Tall, sharp mountains guarded deep green valleys, and the brown Mekong River wound sinuously through its delta to the sea. Large thunderclouds were scattered throughout the skies, ready to strike lightning and dump rain on those below. The plane was buffeted by the stormy air. The hazy countryside appeared so peaceful. But unbeknown to me at that age was that our people, of the north and south, had been at war for almost two decades, the two sides supported by opposing superpowers. They had to choose sides or, unfortunately for many, face the wrath of all.

The pilot was my father. He had become one of the most experienced pilots in the VNAF. He pulled out a cigarette and turned his head to the left to blow the smoke out the small, sliding cockpit window. He hoisted me up by the waist so I could see over the nose of the aircraft. It was dizzying to be staring straight down at the ground as it moved underneath us.

We landed and spent the day in Da Lat. The return trip took nearly two hours, but I could hardly wait for us to land so I could go brag to my friends. I was hooked on flying that day. It would take another twenty years before I would become like my father, soaring over the plains of Texas, serving my country as a military aviator.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Presidio Press; Illustrated edition (April 20, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0891418768
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0891418764
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.48 x 0.63 x 8.19 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,773,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,183 in Asian American Studies (Books)
- #1,455 in Vietnam War Biographies (Books)
- #4,686 in Vietnam War History (Books)

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4.7 58 ratings

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Quang X. Pham

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Quang Pham is a biopharma entrepreneur, author, speaker and Marine Corps veteran of the Persian Gulf War. He has received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® and is a graduate of UCLA.

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Thanh

Pham brings 2 important topics to light

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2005

Verified Purchase

Quang Pham, in his excellent "A Sense of Duty", weaves a touching and poignant narrative of the classic story of the American Dream. Yet he also unflinchingly brings two very important subjects to light. Firstly, he publicizes the often ignored plight of the South Vietnamese military. These brave warriors were abandoned by their own leadership and by the American government which responded to public opinion shaped by socially irresponsible media and academic elite who failed to see that Vietnamese could be nationalist and not communist at the same time. Not only did this 'Greatest generation' lose their nation, but they had to ensure the survival of their families afterwards. Those that did not languish in concentration camps had to start all over again. How many of our generation could do what they did? Yet American history and popular culture so readily forgets maligns as cowards, if they recognize their existence at all. If there is any comparison to Iraq, than this is it: we cannot abandon our allies again.

The second issue, which resonates with me personally as a fellow Vietnamese-American military officer, is the topic of Asian-Americans in the military. American race politics always manages to leave Asian Pacific Americans out of its dicussions. Specifically in the US military, Asian-Americans have made some of the most valiant yet underreported sacrifices--Japanese-American 442 combat regiment, Filipino fighers on Bataan death march, etc. Asian-Americans contribue directly to the Global War on Terrorism because of the language capabilities we offer. We Vietnamese-Americans have lost two of our sons in Iraq. It's time Hollywood and American culture woke up to the courage that's being displayed on a daily basis (like Quang Pham's), rather than perpetuate archaic racist stereotypes.

Quang Pham's work and he himself is the embodiment of the American Dream, of redeeming the honor of South Vietnamese veterans, and of the oft-ignored Asian-American face of the US military.

8 people found this helpful

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Billy R. Watkins

A Family and Duty

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2005

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A SENSE OF DUTY is the accounting of the American Dream fulfilled and like so often in our National past, it is the story of strangers to our shores who adopt, adapt and succeed.

The Father, Phan Van Hoa, trained by the U.S. Military as a Fighter Pilot, but very much a Hero and Patriot of his native Vietnam, was able to get his wife and children onboard a U.S. C-130 just hours before the fall of Saigon, only to remain behind to continue the fight and then be made a prisoner of war for a long twenty-one years. Duty as an example and an excellent roll model.

The Mother, Nguyen Thi Niem, keeping her children under her protective wings, ended up in Southern California, by way of Arkansas, and though a struggle was able to learn English and find work and see to her children's education and proper upbringing. Again Duty and an excellent Roll Model.

Finally there is the son, Quang X. Pham, the author of this book who completes college, joins the Corps, becomes a Marine Pilot serving in Desert Storm and in Somalia and is now a successful businessman and author. You begin to think there is something in the genes about duty and responsibility and being recognized as a Roll Model.

This is an excellent story and gives a rare glimpse into the true nature of Vietnam and how the citizens fought to maintain their National Sovereignty. For too long we as a Nation have had misconceptions about Vietnam and have only been exposed to more negative displays via the tv media. It is Vietnams loss and our gain that this family is now part of our family.

I am anxious now to see what Mr. Phan's next book subject will be and I will put my name on the reserved list.

Billy Ray Watkins

Fernandina Beach, Florida

8 people found this helpful

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Timothy J. Bazzett

Personal History at Its Best

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2007

Verified Purchase

Quang X. Pham's moving memoir, "A Sense of Duty: My Father, My American Journey," reads like a modern Horation Alger success story. But more than that, it is a rare look into the difficult private lives of one fragmented and frightened family who barely made it out of Saigon during those infamous "last days." Pham's father, a South Vietnamese AF pilot, stayed behind, a victim of his own sense of duty, and paid a heavy price. In cuttingly clear and elegantly simple prose, Pham tells of his life, from the refugee camps of Guam and Arkansas to the working-class "mean streets" of Oxnard, California, and of the ceaseless toil and sacrifices made by his mother in a strange land. "A Sense of Duty" also tells of Pham's hard-won transformation from a ragged refugee boy to UCLA graduate and decorated USMC pilot and Gulf War veteran. But underneath it all is an aching yearning to know a father who was lost and then found again. Pham's story is indeed an "American Journey," one that will be read, and read again. This is more than a memoir; this is personal history at its very best.

- Timothy James Bazzett, author of "Love, War & Polio: The Life and Times of Young Bill Porteous" and "Soldier Boy: At Play in the ASA"

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