A Mother on Surviving the Tet Offensive and Escaping from Vietnam
On January 31, 1968, Lan Cao’s family was living just outside of Saigon, getting ready to celebrate the Lunar New Year of Tet. Instead, her father — a military commander — had to rush off to war.
The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong had launched a surprise attack on her city and over one hundred other South Vietnamese locations. This became known as the Tet Offensive, and was one of the biggest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, which led to a decline in public support in the United States.
Lan was 7 years old. She and her family would eventually resettle in the US. Lan graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke and earned a law degree from Yale. She’s now a professor of international economics law and lives in California.
At StoryCorps, Lan sat down with her teenage daughter, Harlan Van Cao. Harlan was 12 at the time of their interview — just a year shy of the age Lan was when she arrived in the United States. Lan shared what it was like to live under siege before rebuilding her life in America.
Top photo: Harlan Van Cao and her mother Lan Cao at their StoryCorps interview in Westminster, California.
Bottom photo: Lan Cao’s passport from the Republic of Vietnam, also known as South Vietnam. Courtesy of Lan Cao.
This interview came through the First Days Story Project, recorded in partnership with WGBH and PBS American Experience.
Originally aired February 2, 2018, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
David Wynn and Carolyn Lyon
The scene could be a bleak one — a hospital room, a patient near death, and no family or loved ones present during their final moments. But David Wynn and Carolyn Lyon are determined to prevent the lonely from dying alone.
David and Carolyn are volunteers at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, California, where they sit at the bedside of dying patients. David has been doing these vigils since 2008; Carolyn began in 2011.
When they get a call from the hospital staff that someone is alone and nearing death, David and Carolyn rush to the hospital — even in the middle of the night — to sit by the side of a stranger.
Originally aired November 24, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Kristin Glasgow and Karen Offutt
In the late 1960s, Karen Offutt was a patriotic teenager who got chills whenever she heard the “Star-Spangled Banner.” At 18, she dropped out of nursing school to enlist in the U.S. Army and was deployed to Vietnam.
As a stenographer, Karen was given top secret “eyes only” clearance working for high-ranking generals. Her duties included everything from typing and transcribing to serving tea.
At StoryCorps, Karen spoke with her daughter Kristin about her time at war.
Originally aired November 11, 2017, on NPR’s Weekend Edition.
Middle image: Karen Offutt being sworn into the Army in 1968. Photo courtesy of Karen Offutt.
Bottom image: Karen Offutt being awarded a Certificate of Achievement for her heroic acts in Vietnam in 1970. More than 30 years later, she was awarded a Soldier’s Medal for Valor. Photo courtesy of Karen Offutt.
The Unedited StoryCorps Interview: Jennifer Brooks & Jose Angel Quiñonez
Did you know that the stories you hear from us on NPR and our podcast are excerpts of interviews pulled from the StoryCorps Archive? Participants visit one of our recording locations with a friend or family member to record a 40-minute interview with the help of a trained StoryCorps Facilitator, or record a conversation using the StoryCorps App. We’re sharing this unedited interview from the StoryCorps Archive with you in its original form.
In November 2010, Jennifer Caldwell Brooks interviewed her husband, Jose Angel Quiñonez, about coming to the United States and his life here. They were recorded at our former StoryBooth at the San Francisco Public Library.
Jose describes coming across the border from Mexico with his five siblings when he was nine years old. Both of his parents had passed away and the children collectively decided that it was the best option for them. “There was going to be nothing for us in Mexico and there was nobody that wanted to take care of us,” he said.
About 22 minutes into the conversation, Jose tells Jennifer about the perceptions he had of her when they first met — she was white and came from an “upper middle class, educated, wholesome family.” It wasn’t until a Thanksgiving dinner at her dad’s house that he realized they had more in common than he first thought.
Jose and Jennifer look back on their childhoods and their parallel desires to just have a “normal” life. They talk about being parents to two young children together and discuss how their upbringings affect and inform the decisions they make.
Launched in 2009, StoryCorps Historias is an initiative to record the diverse stories and life experiences of Latinos in the United states. Sharing these stories ensures that the voices of Latinos will be preserved and remembered for generations to come. Historias recordings are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and in a special collection at the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas at Austin.
All material within the StoryCorps collection is copyrighted by StoryCorps. StoryCorps encourages use of material on this site by educators and students without prior permission, provided appropriate credit is given. This interview has not been fact-checked, and may contain sensitive personal information about living persons.
Francine Anderson
Francine Anderson grew up in rural Virginia during the 1950s. It was the Jim Crow South and “Whites Only” signs punctuated the windows of many businesses. Francine came to StoryCorps to talk about one night when she became aware of what those signs meant for her family.
Editor’s note: This story contains a quote where a racial slur is used.
Originally aired August 18, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Left photo: Francine’s father, Frank Napoleon Anderson. Photo courtesy of Francine Anderson.
Right photo: From left to right, siblings Frank, Lynne, baby Ife, Francine and Tony Anderson, shortly after the incident took place. Photo courtesy of Francine Anderson.
Sarah Churchill and Yomi Wrong
Many people come to StoryCorps to honor loved ones — often their parents. Yomi Wrong brought her mother, Sarah Churchill, to a recording booth to say thanks for never giving up on her.
In 1972, Sarah was pregnant with her third daughter. Shortly after giving birth, doctors told her that her baby had a rare genetic disorder that caused her bones to break under the slightest pressure. The doctors told Sarah that she had a choice — she could try to raise a child who might not survive, and, if she did, would be a tremendous burden on their family, or Sarah could leave the child at the hospital since she wouldn’t live long.
That baby was Yomi, who, at the time of this recording, was about to celebrate her 45th birthday. Here, Sarah tells Yomi about the night she was born.
This interview was recorded in partnership with the Disability Visibility Project.
Originally aired May 12, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Bottom photo: Sarah Churchill at a family gathering in the Bronx with her daughter, Yomi, in 1976. Courtesy of Yomi Wrong.
Kevin Fredericks, Isaiah Fredericks, and Josiah Fredericks
StoryCorps gives friends and family the chance to sit down together and ask questions they’ve always wanted to ask. Isaiah Fredericks and his younger brother, Josiah, made the most of that opportunity.
When this interview was recorded, Josiah was seven years old and Isaiah was nine. They came to StoryCorps in Los Angeles with their dad, Kevin, who fielded all sorts of questions from his curious sons — some of which we’ve never heard before.
Originally aired May 5, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Bottom photo: The Fredericks family in Reseda, CA in 2017. Courtesy of Kevin Fredericks.
Joanne Nucho and Jeff Ono
When Joanne Nucho was a child, her metzmama — that’s Armenian for “grandmother” — Isabel Kouyoumjian seemed like a superhero. She was tough, fearless, and even, Joanne says, a little pushy. But it wasn’t until later on that Joanne learned how she had come to be that way.
Isabel’s parents fled the Ottoman Empire (the region known today as Turkey) during the Armenian Genocide. It’s estimated that 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the empire’s ruling party during this ethnic extermination campaign.
Isabel was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon, and would later start her family in Beirut. During the Lebanese Civil War, Isabel and her two daughters came to the United States and settled near Los Angeles, California — the region with the world’s highest concentration of Armenians outside of their home country. That’s where she helped raise Joanne, and two other granddaughters, until her death at the age of 85 on March 3, 2016.
At StoryCorps, Joanne tells her husband, Jeff Ono, about her metzmama’s big personality and the outsized influence she had on her life.
Originally aired March 24, 2017, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Francisco Ortega and Kaya Ortega
Growing up in rural Tijuana, Mexico, Francisco Ortega was among the youngest of his family’s 10 children. In 1975, his parents made the difficult decision to leave him and his siblings in the care of his beloved aunt, Trinidad, and move to Los Angeles to find work. Once there, his father worked as a busboy and his mother as a seamstress in a clothing factory; each month they sent back money for food and clothing.
Only about 6 years old when his parents left, Francisco was an intuitive, energetic, and excitable boy. He spent hours playing in the hills and fruit orchards of Tijuana, and chasing rattlesnakes with his dogs. He also acted up a lot and often gave his aunt a hard time.
He didn’t see his parents for nearly three and a half years, and couldn’t understand why they left. He missed his mother terribly but through hard work his parents became more financially stable, and in 1978, 9-year-old Francisco joined them in Los Angeles.
At StoryCorps, Francisco—who works to strengthen relationships between the Los Angeles Police Department and the community—shares memories of his childhood in Tijuana with his 16-year-old daughter, Kaya, and tells her about the day he left Mexico to reunite with his parents in Los Angeles.
Originally aired December 16, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Above: Francisco and his younger sister Ana after arriving in Los Angeles in 1978. Photo courtesy of Francisco Ortega.
Alicia Beltrán-Castañeda and Serena Castañeda
Alicia Beltrán-Castañeda grew up in Salinas, California, in the late 1960s. Her mother, Beatriz Béltran, was an immigrant from Mexico, and her father, Manuel, worked both as a foreman at a food packing plant and as an overseer of migrant farm workers.
Their family of seven lived in a small trailer, but by working multiple jobs, Manuel was able to save enough money to buy a plot of land on which he built a house. Alicia vividly recalls sitting on a 1950s metal stool in their living room, watching her father paint some of the walls goldenrod, and others Pepto-Bismol pink.
Manuel died when Alicia was 13, leaving their mother to raise the children alone.
Beatriz began working for the Salinas City Elementary School District as a bilingual liaison for Spanish-speaking families and the administration, and later became a coordinator for migrant worker families. Through her job, she saw the poverty many migrant families lived in.
Alicia was not as familiar with the lives of migrant farmworkers until she came home one day to find that her bed was missing—she was furious. With all of her older siblings away at college, Alicia had finally gotten her own room, and she loved her bed, which had a pink cover and lace dust ruffle. When she confronted her mother, Beatriz explained that she had given the bed to a family that had recently arrived in California from Mexico, and Alicia remembers telling her mother that she did not understanding why that was her problem. Without explanation, Beatriz told her to fill shopping bags with canned food from their pantry.
Together they drove to a house where Alicia’s bed now was, a one-room shack with a dirt floor like the ones occupied by so many other migrant worker families. There they met a woman who was laying on Alicia’s bed with her newborn baby surrounded by her four other children.
At StoryCorps, Alicia told her own daughter, Serena, 13, how meaningful that experience was for her.
Originally aired November 18, 2016, on NPR’s Morning Edition.