At the helm of a U.S. warship, a Vietnam refugee comes home
By David J. Carter, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, November 7, 2009
Cmdr. Hung Ba Le, left, commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen, discusses the ship's position during operations at sea Wedneday. Le, the first Vietnamese-American to command a U.S. Navy ship, is returning to the country of his birth for the first time in 34 years.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — As South Vietnam crumbled under advancing North Vietnamese ****** 34 years ago, 5-year-old Hung Ba Le and his ****** escaped and eventually found refuge on a U.S. Navy ship.
This week, he returns to the land of his birth for the first time. And it is a U.S. Navy ship — the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen that he commands — that will take him there.
On April 30, 1975, Saigon’s fall was imminent. Le’s ******, a South Vietnamese navy officer, had just assumed command of the Nha Be Naval Support Activity Base after learning the previous commander left the country without warning.
He led his sailors until the last possible moment. But finding himself unable to communicate with his headquarters and fearing the impending collapse of the government, he ordered his men to go home and be with their families.
