HOF072: Nguyen Ngoc Duy

Nguyen Ngoc Duy grew up in the countryside in the central Vietnam province of Quang Ngai, where life was in constant upheaval due to the war. After the Tet Offensive in 1968, when his father had to briefly go into hiding or risk death, the family decided to seek safety in the south.

Two years after the fall of Saigon, the 17-year-old Nguyen was called to do military service. He decided to go underground instead, seeking protection from fellow Catholic parishioners and scrounging for food during a period of widespread shortage. During those three years in hiding, Nguyen also tried to join efforts to escape the country, offering his services to organizers and even reluctantly taking his mother’s wedding jewellery that she had given him. His mother had said to him: “these are the last pieces of my wedding souvenirs, son, please make sure they buy your freedom”.

Note to Researchers

A consent form was signed by each of the interviewees whose videos are posted here on the website. They have each consented to making the video available to the public and they have consented to the use of the contents of their videos by the Hearts of Freedom project researchers. Consent is not available to external researchers to quote or publish from it. Researchers interested in the subject have the opportunity to view a documentary film, Passage to Freedom which has been completed and is available through a distributor https://www.mcintyre.ca/ Researchers from the project are in the process of completing a full length book based on the interviews. Once this book is available researchers will have the opportunity to review it and to refer to it for research purposes.