Veterans Day a time for thanks

Students assembled at the Wahkiakum High School gym on Friday to recognize Veteran’s Day and honor local veterans with a special program. Micca Cothren and Dallas Gott opened the event by singing the National Anthem.

This year’s guest speaker was Therese Pasquier, Director of Business Development for Paladina Health in Tacoma.

“I would like to say thank you to all our veterans and the families that have sacrificed so much for people in the world who need the freedom we have,” Pasquier said. “My family and tens of thousands of Vietnamese families would not be here living in this country if it were not for the veterans who have served this country so valiantly. Thank you so much, I am beyond grateful.”

Pasquier is one of five daughters born to a professional officer in the Vietnamese Army and his wife. The girls went to school six days a week and the only English she learned, she picked up to separate US soldiers from their candy. “You number one,” she and her friends would shout at the soldiers, who resided at a nearby base.

Pasquier received her name after her life in south Vietnam was disrupted by the advancing northern communist army. Therese, the name of a patron saint, was chosen for her by her Catholic parents when they became naturalized citizens. Later she met and married a man with French ancestry and a French surname.

“I don’t look like a Therese Pasquier,” she said. Her given name is Le My Ngo.

“I had a good life in Vietnam,” Pasquier said. As a child, she may have been sheltered from some of the evils of the day, but the adults knew more than enough to be frightened. Communists from the north had been quietly crossing the border for some time, infiltrating the towns and cities of the south. They looked no different than any who were loyal to the Republic of South Vietnam, and any interaction with them could be fatal.

One night, Therese and her four younger sisters were awakened by her parents and told that it was time to leave. The girls found five suitcases packed and waiting for them. They readied for the journey and opened their front door to discover the streets filled with people fleeing the village.

The seven members of her family walked to her uncle’s house. He had a vehicle and they were going to need it.

He also had 10 kids.

They had no options. They got every last one of them into that car. According to Pasquier, a trip to the water usually took three hours. This time it took them over two weeks.

They saw a lot of fighting along the way. Pasquier saw a truck blown up when it disregarded warnings and carried ammunition through a city that didn’t allow it.

Arriving at the harbor’s city, they joined their fellow travelers, sheltering on fishing boats at night, in case they needed a quick getaway. During the day, they stayed on land, waiting for news, waiting for a sign.

It came one day with the sound of sirens. She and her family quickly joined five other families on what she described as a very rudimentary boat. South Vietnamese soldiers shot cannons at the leaving boats, angry that they were being deserted, wanting to flee themselves.

Out in the water, the “boat people” waited for days, uncomfortable but safe from the carnage in a city. Then the report came over the radio. Saigon had fallen.

“That’s when we knew Vietnam had lost its freedom,” Pasquier said.

Along with hundreds of fishing boats, they moved out to the South China Sea and were picked up by American carriers. They were taken to Guam, then Camp Pendleton in California, where they sought a sponsor that would allow them to stay in the US. Eventually a church in Peoria, IL agreed to do so and they moved there to begin their new lives.

Pasquier spoke to the students and veterans about some of the freedoms we take for granted. She spoke about education.

“In our culture, it’s very important,” she said. “It’s your gateway to having a better life than your parents ever did.”

She came here with three words in English and eight years later, she graduated at the head of her class, as valedictorian. She and all of her siblings have graduated from college.

“We’re doing very well right now,” she said, “because of the freedom of education.”

“Success does not come easy,” Pasquier shared with the students. “It’s a lot of hard work. Take advantage of what is presented to you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Every accomplishment you set for yourself starts with simply trying it out.”

Following a performance by the Wahkiakum High School band, Retired Lieutenant Colonel Mike Thomas, Wahkiakum High School class of ’81, spoke to the students about local veterans and why we set aside a special day to honor them.

“There are veterans that came out of these bleachers,” Thomas said. “We were one of you. World War II ended 68 years ago and the veterans of that war did nothing less than save the world.”

He introduced three local World War II veterans who were sitting in the audience.

Tom Irving, who served in New Guinea, the Philippines at Luzon and Corregidor.

Carl Smith, who served at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

“It was hell from the beginning to the end,” said Smith, “250 veterans of World War II are dying every day. I won’t be around much longer, but I’ve made it to 94.”

Ralph Kenner, who served in New Guinea, in what Thomas described as some of the worst jungle fighting in the war.

Unable to attend the assembly were Charles Buennagel and Norman Anderson, two more WWII veterans that Thomas wished to honor.

Danny Eaton, a veteran and Commander of the local VFW ended the assembly with the reading of the names of all the local heroes who had served in the military. The senior class lit candles in their honor.