History of Vietnamese immigration to New Orleans

Powerhouse of Prayer

The 39 years of Vietnamese Catholic history in the Archdiocese of New Orleans largely can be traced to these men, who passed through Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, in 1975 after fleeing their war-torn country. Some of the future priests were mere infants or children at the time. Front row, left to right, Father Paul Van Tung Nguyen, who was 26 when he arrived at Fort Chaffee; Blessed Sacrament Father Viet Chau, 35; and Father Joseph Duc Dzien, 21. Back row, Father Joseph Dau Van Nguyen, 25; Father Vinh Dinh Luu, 2 months; Father Luke Hungdung Nguyen, 11; Father Joseph Man Tran, 9; Father Bac-Hai Viet Tran, 22; Father James Bach, 25; and Father Lich Van Nguyen, 22. This eight-page pullout is a tribute to the Vietnamese Catholic presence in the archdiocese over the last four decades.

The history of Vietnamese immigration to the United States is relatively recent. Before May 1975, most Vietnamese residing in the United States were spouses and children of American servicemen in Vietnam. Then, on April 30, 1975, Saigon fell to Viet Cong troops, which decisively ended the Vietnam War. This marked a big event for America as well as the Vietnamese people. Suddenly, there were more than 200,000 Vietnamese refugees departing from their native homeland to various countries in the world.

From their homeland, they were airlifted or fled Vietnam on U.S. military cargo ships and then transferred to United States military bases in Guam, Thailand, the Wake Islands, Hawaii and the Philippines. The entire operation of transferring the massive number of refugees was nicknamed “Operation New Life.” From the various bases, they were transferred to four refugee camps throughout the United States. The four main centers for refugees were Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida and Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania.

In May 1975, Archbishop Philip M. Hannan, with his prior experience of resettling Cuban immigrants in America, realized the Vietnamese refugees needed to be resettled in America as soon as possible. By the end of May, he was the first archbishop in America to visit the Vietnamese refugees in Fort Chaffee. He was accompanied by Father Michael Haddad, who was director of Catholic Charities of New Orleans. Originally Archbishop Hannan wanted to sponsor just 100 Vietnamese families through Catholic Charities, because he thought an average Vietnamese family consisted of four or five in a household.

For the Vietnamese, the “family” meant everybody in the village, including parents, children, grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc. One particular Vietnamese family had 97 “extended members.” By the time Archbishop Hannan left Fort Chaffee, he decided to sponsor 1,000 families in New Orleans. In his openness to provide homes for Vietnamese refugees, he unknowingly was providing for the future needs of the church of New Orleans. Many of the young souls in those refugee centers would go on to religious life or be ordained priests for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Many of the current Vietnamese priests in the Archdiocese of New Orleans have some connection to these refugee centers.

A few weeks later, the first 200 families trickled into New Orleans, half going to the Versailles Apartments in New Orleans East and the other half going to Kingstown Marrero Apartments. The majority of the Vietnamese refugees were Catholic, and so the church played a big part in their daily life. New Orleans naturally attracted many Vietnamese because of its familiar environment of sub-tropical climate, a super rich and convenient Mississippi River that runs across Louisiana just like the Mekong River runs across Vietnam and proximity to water resources for fishing. All these things reminded the refugees of home.

The first three priests to arrive in New Orleans in the summer of 1975 were Father Joakim Nguyen Duc Viet-Chau, Father Andrew Tran Cao Tuong, and Father Tran Cong Nghi. Father Nghi, who came from Fort Chaffee, was the first director of the Vietnamese Apostolate under Archbishop Hannan. Father Viet-Chau and Father Andrew Tuong came to New Orleans from Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. Father Viet-Chau resided at Hope Haven and cared for the Vietnamese on the West Bank. Father Andrew Tuong resided at St. Elizabeth Home on Napoleon Avenue and cared for the Vietnamese on the East Bank.

THE HISTORY OF THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITIES ON THE EAST BANK

A. The History of Mary Queen of Vietnam Parish