After the Fall
After the Fall:
Stories of Survival, Hope and Resilience
On April 30, 1975, the North Vietnamese army invaded and Saigon fell. The lives of many Vietnamese, Khmer, Lao, Hmong, and Americans were upended. Join us for an evening of sharing personal stories from Mainers who experienced the war and its aftermath -- and prevailed.
Event flyer: Acholi, Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, Vietnamese
This event took place on April 28th, 2021. See below for recordings of the sessions and resources.
Presenter Biographies:
CHRISTOPHER M. BEAM has devoted his professional life to the study of the past as an archivist and teacher. From 1977 to 1988, he worked at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where he spent more than four years processing the Nixon White House tapes, worked with diplomatic documents, and served on the staff that appraised federal records. From 1988 to 2005, he was director of the Edmund S. Muskie Archives and college archivist at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and a lecturer in the college’s History Department.
Since 1989, he has also taught a wide variety of topics in history at the University of Southern Maine, Bates College, Central Maine Community College, University of New England and American Public University System. These include numerous courses on the Vietnam War, the Nixon presidency, the Afghanistan conflict, and all phases of U.S., Western European and world history. Most of the courses have been taught in a conventional setting, but since 2007, he has directed a large number of online history courses. More about Christopher can be found here.
ROTHA CHAN - In 1985 Rotha Chan, his mother, and two sisters were resettled in Biddeford, Maine as refugees, having survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia. He received his BS degree from Boston University with a major in International Relations and concentration in Rural Economic Development. Rotha has served several financial institutions in Maine and New Hampshire and has been in banking for over twenty years, currently serving as Vice President/Commercial Credit Manager at TD Bank. Rotha, his partner, and two sons reside in Saco, Maine. Rotha is a founding member of The Killing Field Survivors’ Society, founding member of the Asian-American Heritage Foundation, has served on the Diversity Committee of United Way of Greater Portland, and on the Board of Tax Assessment Appeal for the City of Saco, Maine. Rotha is currently serving as a Board of Director of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and the Anna Astvatsaturian Foundation. He is a Board Advisor of the United Asian Community, Cambodian Community Association, and the Greater Portland Welcome Center.
CAITLIN HUYNH - Caitlin Huynh is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees. She is a student at Portland High School and in 2020 Caitlin was the recipient of the Rising Tide Leadership Award. She is an athlete and a scholar.
DOUG RAWLINGS - Doug Rawlings was drafted and sent to Vietnam on July 2, 1969, where he joined the 7/15th Artillery. Sixteen years later, he was one of five people who formed the organization Veterans for Peace. He is the Maine Chapter President. He has taught at the University of Maine, Farmington, where he ran their Developmental Writing program.
THEARY LENG RYDER - Theary was born and raised in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has a BA in business and earned English proficiency certificate in Singapore. She is a nationally qualified medical and legal interpreter and translator for the Khmer language.S he is currently a full time medical interpreter for Maine Health. Theary volunteered extensively in Cambodia and is a founding member and current President of Imagine Cambodia Foundation, a non profit organization that cares for orphaned and vulnerable children. She is also a board member of the Cambodian Community Association of Maine.
THUY NGUYEN SULLIVAN - Thuy Sullivan was born in Hue (Hway), Vietnam, and grew up as Nguyen Thi Xuan Thuy in a home within the walls of the old imperial capital. After graduating from business college in Danang in 1992, she met her future husband in Hue. They relocated to Portland in 1995, and Thuy returned to school for a bachelor’s degree in accounting at USM. After taking time out to raise two children, she returned to the workaday world as an interpreter and now works as a Vietnamese Parent Community Specialist at Portland Public Schools. Her work as a bridge-builder between educators and student families has expanded to include work as a navigator of legal, medical, and governmental issues. Thuy is also a member of UAC, Unified Asian Communities.
Poetry by Doug Rawlings:
THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE
for Phan Thi Kim Phuc
"Whatever you run from becomes your shadow."-- traditional
If you're a namvet, a survivor of sorts,
she'll come for you across the decades
casting a shadow in the dying light of your dreams,
naked and nine, terror in her eyes
Of course you will have to ignore her --
if you wish to survive over the years --
but then your daughters will turn nine
and then your granddaughters nine
As the shadows lengthen.
So, you will have no choice on that one night
screaming down the Ridge Road, lights off,
under a full moon, she standing in the middle of the road,
still naked and nine, terror in her eyes
Now you must stop to pick her up, to carry her back
home to where she came from, to that gentle
village where the forgiving and the forgiven
gather at high noon. There are no shadows.
-- Doug Rawlings
Translated into Vietnamse by Lucy Do
BÉ GÁI TRONG BỨC ẢNH
dành tặng Phan Thị Kim Phúc
“Bất cứ thứ gì bạn chạy đi đều trở thành cái bóng của bạn” – châm ngôn
Khi anh cựu chiến binh, người sống sót sau những ngày bom đạn
hình ảnh ấy sẽ theo anh qua bao thập kỷ,
chiếc bóng hằn lên ánh sáng trong những giấc mơ đen
chín tuổi, trần truồng, mắt nai sợ hãi
Anh tất nhiên phải cố quên cô bé ấy --
để tiếp tục đời mình trong những trang kế tiếp --
nhưng đến lúc bé gái con anh lên chín
hay đứa cháu ngây thơ vừa tròn chín tuổi
Khi bóng xế đêm dài
Và một đêm anh không còn lựa chọn
tiếng kêu thét trên đường đê trong đêm tối không đèn
dưới ánh trăng rằm cô bé đứng giữa đường
vẫn chín tuổi, trần truồng, mắt nai hoảng sợ
Giờ anh bế bé lên nhẹ nhõm
đưa em về lại mái ấm thân thương
ngôi làng hiền hòa, nơi kẻ vị tha và người được ân xá
hòa hợp cùng nhau giữa buổi trưa đứng bóng . Đời không hắt bóng.
-- Doug Rawlings
UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE: A BALLAD
for Chuck Searcy and the thousands of Vietnamese who have labored off and on since 1975, working to undo what we have done
So I was maybe all of twenty-one
when they whipped me
into some kind of soul-less shape
Yet another one of America's
weeping mothers' sons
sent forth into this world
to raze, pillage, and rape
And now it's coming on
to another Christmas Eve
And songs of joy and peace
fill up our little town
How I ask myself
could I possibly believe
I could do what I did
and not reap what I had sown
In that land far away
from what I call home
a grandfather leads
his granddaughter by the hand
Into a field where we did
what had to be done
They trip into a searing heat
brighter than a thousand suns
---------
Doug Rawlings
7/15th Artillery
Vietnam 1969-1970
QUẢ BOM KHÔNG NỔ: MỘT BẢN TRƯỜNG CA
Thân tặng Chuck Searcy và hàng ngàn người bạn Việt Nam đang miệt mài công tác hàn gắn vết thương chiến tranh
Năm tôi hai mươi mốt
quân đội kéo tôi vào
những tháng ngày binh nghiệp
Người mẹ chiến binh Mỹ
rơi lệ thảm vì con
Bị gửi ra tiền tuyến
tàn phá, cướp giết và hãm hiếp
Và nay mùa lễ hội
trước ngày Chúa Giáng Sinh
Vui khúc ca hòa bình
tràn ngập thị trấn nhỏ
Tôi tự vấn thân mình
rằng tôi có thể tin
Những gì tôi đã làm
mà không gặt quả gieo
Nơi miền đất xa xôi
cách nhà tôi vạn dặm
Một cụ già dắt cháu
tay bé gái xinh xinh
Thả bước trên cánh đồng
nơi chúng tôi đã làm
những nhiệm vụ được giao
Hai ông cháu sẩy chân
ngã vào vùng lửa bỏng
nóng hơn ngàn mặt trời
-------
Doug Rawlings