If Donald Trump had been running for president in the 70s and if Americans had listened to his “lock your doors, folks” fear mongering and if Trump had looked into the faces of children refugees and cruelly said — as he says today — “You can’t come here,” the Virginia Army National Guard would not be pinning a star on its first Vietnamese “boatperson” to be promoted to general officer in the Army.
Fortunately, at the end of the Vietnam War Americans did not lock their doors, but rather opened up their homes and their hearts to the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled Vietnam and came to the United States after the fall of Saigon and for 10 more years thereafter.
One of those youngsters whom Trump did not have the opportunity to tell “You can’t come here,” was. Lapthe C. Flora, a native of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
According to Cotton Puryear at the Department of Defense:
Following the Communist capture of Saigon in 1975, Flora and his brothers fled the city to avoid being drafted into the North Vietnamese military. He spent more than three years in the jungle, and then fled by boat to Indonesia, where he spent a year living in three separate refugee camps.
In Flora’s own words:
It seems like just yesterday that I had arrived in this country as a traumatized and penniless Vietnamese “boat refugee” who spoke not a single word of English…But what I had then and still have, to this day, is an enormous sense of gratitude and desire to give back to America for her priceless gift of freedom and a second chance in life.
After he arrived in the U.S. and quickly learned English, Flora finished his high school education in only three years and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington in 1987, when he was commissioned in the Army Reserve and later transferred to the Virginia Army National Guard. There “he served in every staff position within 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, including commander of the battalion…He most recently served as the commander of the Virginia National Guard’s Bowling Green-based 91st Troop Command and will serve as the assistant adjutant general for strategic initiatives.”
The new general also completed three overseas deployments to Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.
As so many young Vietnamese refugees, Flora was adopted by an American family and, as so happens, his adopted father was an officer in the Army’s 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, who landed on Normandy 72 years ago.
Virginia Army National Guard Col. Lapthe C. Flora chose to have his promotion at the National D-Day Memorial, in Bedford, Virginia, to honor his father’s military service.
General Flora again:
I am keenly aware of the historical significance of today’s ceremony and am deeply grateful for the honor and recognition, but today’s event should serve as an affirmation of faith in the American dream…The possibility in this great nation is boundless; the American dream is real, only if you dare to pursue it with laser-focused, hard work and perseverance.
Congratulations and thank you for your service, General. This from another immigrant who also had the opportunity to realize the American dream and who hopes that, indeed, the possibilities in our great nation will continue to be within reach of those born here and those who reach our shores and “dare to pursue it with laser-focused, hard work and perseverance.”
Lead photo: Thuy Flora, left, and Christine Flora, right, pin brigadier general rank on Lapthe C. Flora during his promotion ceremony at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Va., June 6, 2016. Virginia Army National Guard photo by Cotton Puryear
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.