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Author Quang Pham Launches Book Tour at Cal State Fullerton
Author will speak about his father's sense of duty to remain in South Vietnam despite anticpation of its eventual fall in 1975.

April 7, 2005

When he was ten years old, Quang Pham, his mother and three sisters were put on a plane leaving Vietnam just days before the fall of Saigon.

Quang’s father, Hoa, a pilot for the South Vietnamese Air Force, wasn’t as lucky.
While Hoa was able to secure passage for his family, he felt a sense of duty to stay behind with his officers.

“The war wasn’t over for him,” said Quang, author of A Sense of Duty published this month by Ballantine Books. “He anticipated the fall so he made arrangements for our family to leave, but he knew he needed to stay – despite the consequences.”

The decision to stay was one that would separate Hoa from his family for more than a decade while he was imprisoned in a Vietnamese “re-education” camp.

Meanwhile, Quang grew up in America, attended school, graduated from UCLA, and eventually joined the U.S. Marines, becoming a helicopter pilot and serving his country, just as his father had years before.

As a helicopter pilot, Quang flew missions in the 1991 Gulf War and later, in Somalia.

Quang will speak about his experiences at a free public lecture and book signing at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in the George Golleher Alumni House. The Cal State Fullerton lecture kicks off a 20-city book tour.

For more information or reservations, call 278-7306 or e-mail Linda Mencken at lmencken@fullerton.edu. Reservations must be made by April 8.


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Quang Pham
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