Mr. Thanh D. Nguyen graduated from South Vietnam’s Thu Duc Military School, Class No. 12, in August 1962 and then completed a series of other military training for high ranking officers. His last ranking was Major (Thieu Ta) in charge Chief of Tactical Operation Center of Chau Doc, Southern Vietnam. After the Fall of Saigon (April 1975), Mr. Thanh Nguyen spent more than 9 years in prison camps in North Vietnam (from May 1975 to October 1984). He and his family arrived in New York in October 1990 through the U.S. government’s Humanitarian Order (H.O.) and then moved to Houston, Texas in July 1991. He and his family are currently living in Houston Texas, U.S.A.
Unlike most people at his age who accepted the fate of “too late to start it over” when it comes to education, he managed to earn his degree as a Legal Assistant from the Southwestern Legal Institute (Texas, U.S.A) while working full-time to support his family. He also received many scholarship offers to further his study in the legal field but he declined due to family responsibilities. After graduating, he then worked for the Brazos Law Office until 2008.
Mr. Thanh is the Founder and currently serving as the Chairman of the Board & President of the Vietnamese American Foundation. His unyielding passion, mission and purpose of his remaining days is to do everything he possibly can to promote, preserve and honor the legacy of the Fallen Heroes of the Republic of South Vietnam. “The promise that I made to my friends when I buried them (in prison camps) was that if I ever made it out alive, I will do everything I possibly can to bring them home to their families and that promise is still living inside of me each remaining days of my life.” , said Mr. Thanh Nguyen.
According to our founder Mr. Thanh D. Nguyen, “Mr. Nghi is one of the longest and steadfast serving staff for VAF. He doesn’t talk much. He just do it! When asked as to why he has such a commitment in serving VAF despites of all the ups and downs, he simply said “ Because VAF has helped find my uncle who died in a prison camp in North Vietnam and we never thought that we could find his remains. There are hundreds of others who ended up with the same unfortunate fate as my uncle are still languishing in the deep jungle and they deserve to come home.”
Mr. Pham is a graduate of the University of Houston, 2007, majoring in accounting. He currently lives in Houston Texas with his wife and two lovely kids.
Mr. Pham is currently serving as a Board member in charge of Finance for VAF and a member of the Core Leadership Team.
Đông-Châu always cherishes his childhood time visiting his father stationed at various army bases in South Vietnam. He feels fortunate and blessed that his father survived the war and subsequent years of imprisonment in the so called “re-education” camps after 1975. Many other children were not as lucky. Đông-Châu is determined to devote his best effort to help the younger generations of the fallen heroes of the Republic of Vietnam.
He is married and a proud father of four residing in Houston, Texas. He obtained his B.A. in Mathematics from Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut) and his Doctor of Medicine (MD, 1993) from Jefferson Medical College (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine (1993-1996) at Jefferson Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). He then completed his Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease (1996-1999) and Fellowship in Interventional Cardiology (1998-2000) at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, Massachusetts). He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine with double board certification in Cardiovascular Disease and in Interventional Cardiology. His father had served as Chief Medical Officer for the 25th Division of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces (SĐ25BB QLVNCH). After his release from the prison camps, his father had led his family to successfully escape from Vietnam by boat. They arrived in the USA as boat people and political refugees in 1980.
Dr. Cuong M. Nguyen has served as the President of VAF from [ ] to [ ] . Over the years, he worked alongside with our founder Mr. Thanh Dac Nguyen to fundraise for missions on finding the remains of our brothers and restoring projects for our national cemetery at Bien Hoa. He started his own private law practice 1995 and currently practices litigation and family law in Houston Texas. Besides helping VAF, he enjoys traveling with his wife.
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