WORCESTER It was during the fall of Saigon the last day of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975 Anh Vu Sawyer and her family were picked up by a military helicopter from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy there.
Sawyer, her parents and three siblings were among 7,000 people evacuated from the roof of the embassy during Operation Frequent Wind, and were one of the only few fortunate Vietnamese refugees able to leave the war-torn country with their family intact as communist forces from the north descended on and eventually overtook the city.
“The whole thing is a miracle because when I left Vietnam, we were in front of a large crowd of people, and I just prayed and asked God not to forget me,” said Sawyer, executive director of the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts (SEACMA) in Worcester. “I just thought if I could make it to the gate, we would be able to climb the gate.”
We have a place : For these UMass Memorial employees, AAPI Heritage Month comes with gratitude and appreciation for history msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Maria Siemaszko is on a mission to ensure as many other people as possible in the city can have similar experiences, going door-to-door as part of the sate Department of Public Health’s Vaccine Equity Initiative.