Maughan recalls resorting to his high-school level French training at times to communicate with the Vietnamese soldiers with whom he fought.

Even though America eventually pulled its support for South Vietnam, Phuong Van Dam, 60, says he's still touched by the sacrifice made by American soldiers for his nation's freedom.

After the war, Van Dam, a pilot, escaped in an A-37 bomber to Thailand. When he first arrived in the United States, he says, he struggled to learn English. He eventually went back to school and is now an electrical engineer.

"In my country I saw a lot happen to my soldier people, and to American people," says Van Dam. "People die and people get injured because of the war. They sacrificed for my country, for my people."

For Thuc Nguyen, who was only 10 years old when his father fled from Vietnam, it was a harrowing ordeal to wait in the care of his grandfather for word of his parents' fate.

"Everyone in my family cried," said Nguyen, now 36. "We didn't hear anything for close to two months."

Tri Nguyen says the trek across Cambodia was a deadly one for many refugees.

"I'm lucky, I'm still alive now," he says. "A lot of people died on the way through Cambodia."

It took him nearly a decade to bring both of his sons to the U.S. Now, he says, his family is reunited, and he's grateful for everything he's learned here since his first visit while training during the war in Fort Benning, Ga.

"If you are born here you have complete freedom," he says. "You are free to speak anything you think. ... We sure appreciate everything we learned from them."

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E-mail: dbulkeley@desnews.com