Dr. Ha H. Tuong grew up in South Vietnam to North Vietnamese parents. He served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam until the end of the war. Knowing what the withdrawal of American troops meant, he decided to flee the country. His journey, as a political refugee and one of the first "boat people", took him thousands of miles away to the Gulf of Thailand on flimsy boats. From the refugee camp in Malaysia he moved to his new home in Minnesota.