As the war in Vietnam was drawing to a close, Rosa’s mother was eight months pregnant with Rosa and raising a one-year-old. During the Fall of Saigon, an urgent phone call from Rosa’s father, a helicopter pilot for the South Vietnamese army, alerted her mother to leave South Vietnam now, any way she could.
Her mother made her way to a fishing boat that was launched into the South China Sea. Before long, the passengers were rescued by a U.S. naval vessel and ferried 4,000 miles to Wake Island.
As soon as her father was able, he loaded his helicopter with refugees and took off. When it ran out of fuel, he managed to crash-land safely. Miraculously, he and his passengers were also rescued by the U.S. Navy and taken to Wake Island.
Rosa’s family relocated to Orange County, California, where Rosa steeped
herself in the American culture she grew to love.