The escape from Vietnam that tore my family apart

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6 • 814 Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the chaos of the helicopter evacuation from Saigon in April 1975, Doan Hoàng Curtis' sister was somehow left behind. It would haunt her family for years.

Doan was just three years old when her family made it onto one of the last helicopters to leave Saigon as troops from the communist North took over the city and the Vietnam war came to an end. Her father was a major for the South Vietnamese air force and if he'd stayed in Saigon he could have been killed. Leaving Vietnam was an extraordinary moment for the family, but one that would have a deep and lasting impact on them, because somehow, in the turmoil of the evacuation, Doan's 17-year-old half-sister Van was left behind. It would take Van six years and a treacherous journey via Thailand before she could be reunited with her family, who ended up settling in the United States. Doan says the anger and confusion of why her sister was left behind has defined her whole life. Now an award-winning documentary filmmaker living in the US, Doan returned to Vietnam in 2005 with her family - including her sister Van - to make a documentary and confront the past. It's called Oh Saigon: A War in the family.

News report of Fall of Saigon came from CBS news.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: June Christie

Lives Less Ordinary is a podcast from the BBC World Service that brings you the most incredible true stories from around the world. Each episode a guest shares their most dramatic, moving, personal story. Listen for unbelievable twists, mysteries uncovered, and inspiring journeys - spanning the entire human experience. Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Got a story to tell? Send an email to [email protected] or message us via WhatsApp: 0044 330 678 2784 You can read our privacy notice here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5YD3hBqmw26B8WMHt6GkQxG/lives-less-ordinary-privacy-notice

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:06.1	Can I just say?
0:07.6	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:10.1	It's such a wonderful listen.
0:11.7	So nice.
0:12.5	There are loads more like it on BBC Sounds.
0:14.8	Different paces, different heights, the roof is buckling.
0:17.9	Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.
0:20.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:21.6	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:27.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:31.2	And she's had to live with that.
0:32.8	So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.
0:35.8	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:39.7	Sort of expecting that every week now.
0:47.6	I just thought, what is going on here? Why aren't we finding her? Why aren't we doing something? Why isn't she with us?
0:55.2	It was just this kind of anger and confusion that I think defined me for the rest of my life.
1:01.9	Imagine this. You're in the midst of one of the fastest and most chaotic evacuations of a city in history. Your family is being piled into a helicopter in Saigon, but you're just three
1:08.9	years old and have no idea what's really going on. What you do
1:13.9	know is that your big sister, whom you love with all your heart, isn't with you.
1:23.5	This is Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service.
1:28.5	I'm Mubinazar, with the story of Vietnamese American documentary filmmaker Dwang Huang Curtis
	...

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