‘We’d either die together or start a new life’: GP recalls escape from Vietnam
Dr Thanh Huynh shared his story at an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Australia’s involvement in the conflict.
Dr Thanh Huynh’s path to general practice began with a dangerous journey over a thousand kilometres in a barely seaworthy boat.
It was 1983, and Dr Huynh was just 12 years old as he fled Vietnam for Australia with his father and older brother, crammed into a small wooden craft with dozens of others.
His father, a schoolteacher, had already been imprisoned by the communist army and made the decision to flee the country with his two young sons.
Dr Huynh recalled his life-or-death escape as part of the Inverell RSL’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War.
