Want China imes
Date: 2015-05-01
By: Samuel Hui

Earnest Tchang, a member of the Chinese Nung Commando Unit serving under the US Army’s Fifth Special Forces Group during the Vietnam War said his

Earnest Tchang. (Photo/Samuel Hui)

dream is to promote peace and mutual understanding across the Taiwan Strait during an interview with Want China Times on April 30 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon.

Born in Fujian province in Southeastern China in December of 1940, Tchang moved to the port city of Haiphong in Northern Vietnam, then known as French Indochina, to escape the Japanese occupation forces. After the French were defeated by Ho Chih Minh’s Communist Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Tchang’s father who was the representative of Shell Oil Company decided to move to Saigon in South Vietnam which was then under the control of Bao Dai, the last emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty.

In 1955, Ngo Dinh Diem, the non-Communist nationalist leader overthrew Emperor Bao Dai and established the Republic of Vietnam in the South. Diem then introduced a policy of naturalization to make all Chinese residents living in the nation citizens of South Vietnam. Due to this policy, Tchang’s family decided to leave Vietnam for France. However, Tchang alone chose to come to Taiwan alone due to his love for and loyalty to the Republic of China (ROC).     [FULL  STORY]