If my memory serves me right, I came to Pleiku, Cu Hanh Air Base 32 years ago to report for duty at Thai Duong-Jupiters 530 Fighter Squadron. The 530^th Fighter Squadron was activated at Pleiku on December 1970, operating A-1 Skyraiders. It belonged to the 72^nd Tactical Wing, which was part of the 6^th Air Division. This tactical wing consisted of 530^th FS, A-1 Skyraiders; 118^th OS, O-1, O-2, U-17; 229^th HS, UH-1H with detachment B, 259^th HS, UH-1H; 235^th HS, UH-1H with detachment G, 259^th HS, UH-1H. The Sixth Air Divisions Headquarters was at Pleiku Air Base. It consisted of the 72^nd Tactical Wing at PAB and 82^nd Tactical Wing at Phu Cat Air Base (vnaf.net).

I was and still am very proud to serve at this fighter squadron, which belonged to the Viet Nam Air Force -once was a significant and colorful fighting force that deserves to be remembered (vnaf.net). This is also the reason for me to build this site to be a tribute to the Thai Duong-Jupiters 530 Fighter Squadron and to the men that were part of it. And, I also hope that this site will be a place for our children to come to visit in order to understand more about their parents who fought for freedom that they are enjoying. So they can recognize the love we have for our country inside the stories we told them and see the pain that we have felt, having been forced to flee a country we love so dearly.

Of all the generations that have felt the full tragedy, it is ours. Our parents, at the time of the war have already lived long and fruitful lives in Vietnam; and the generation to which our children belong, was spared the full trauma of the war. Many of our children cannot imagine what it was like to live during the war, to see the sky light up with fire or to hear the sounds of battles. It was an experience that we seldom described to them, and a pain we never showed them.

They, our children and their generation, grew up so far removed from their roots and from the reality of war that at times, we must wonder if they could ever understand and appreciate both our sacrifices and our achievements.

The past twenty nine years must be like a dream for us, a period during which we lived in a world to which we never emotionally belonged, a period during which we waited to return to our homeland, but never knowing whether it was possible. During this time, we watch our children grow up deprived of any emotional knowledge of our homeland, relying only on our personal conviction to instill in them whatever we could so that we could have something Vietnamese inside of them to hold onto, however small. How many times we have felt the frustrations of watching them grow up as Americans, as the environment has force them to become, and as Vietnamese, out of the immense love and respect they have for us.

At times, we were hurt because they let us down by not being Vietnamese enough. But we must understand that our children can never deny the twenty-nine years of American influence. And we must understand that our children were desperately torn between these two identities. With this site, I hope all the former Thai Duong 530-Jupiters Fighter Squadron pilots and its other flight squadrons pilots and friends can join me and welcome our children visiting us and share their thoughts and hope that they can learn how to harmoniously combine the two identities. We hope that this cultural combination is something we will be able to accept not only in our children, but also in our grandchildren.