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A Miraculous Journey

"It was April 30th, 1975" said my father as he started to weep in tears when telling me his story and experience in Vietnam. I could never forget those nights where we would sit together as a family and reminisce on our past. Without saying a word, I listened carefully to my father's words. The emotions and gestures manifested by my father were as if he was reliving the same tragic experience; his face pale and his eyes red. My father's story was not just an ordinary fairy tale; it was a sea of memories that ran deep inside my heart as I began to comfort my father and experienced what he had experienced through the shedding of my tears for my country's loss. After the war, there was nothing left but poverty, fear, hopelessness, and corruption. April 30th, also known as Black April, marked the day when the American forces withdrew from Vietnam. This day had significantly impacted Vietnam as well as Western countries as millions of Vietnamese fled overseas while others stayed to continue fighting in an already defeated battle. A number of innocent lives laid dead on the streets and rice fields. The sound of babies' cries was accompanied by gunshots, both combined to produce a horrifying tune that day. People ran for their lives, by feet to nearby countries and by boat to overseas. Furthermore, the whole city was devastatingly tattered apart. History often suggested that Vietnamese escaped to follow the "American Dream," but certainly, this was a false claim because they had no idea what the American Dream is. Living in a country overwhelmed by terrors and lacked of security, the only solution was to escape, although Vietnamese refugees did not know where to escape, but then, again, at that time, anywhere was better than home.
My father was a Vietnamese military officer in Vietnam. Life was very difficult for him and the rest of my family because of one main reason: it was during the time period when our homeland was in a civil war (the Vietnam War). He was forced...