HOF075: Nguyen Trung Thu

On April 30, 1975, Nguyen Trung Thu was offered spots for himself, his wife and their two toddlers in a navy landing craft that was leaving the country. With little food or water and travelling in a vessel not built for the ocean, the passengers feared for their safety. Fortunately, a South Vietnam navy fleet of 29 ships, headed for the Philippines, heard their SOS calls and brought them on board one of their ships. Once he arrived at a refugee camp in the U.S. base of Guam, Nguyen opted to settle in Canada because of its reputation as a peaceful country. Already fluent in French, Nguyen quickly found work in engineering and eventually rebuilt a career as a senior manager in large-scale, international engineering projects.