Opening panel and reception for the exhibit "Remembering Saigon: Journeys through and from Guam" at UCI

Thursday, January 30, 2025
6:00 PM - 7:30 PM (Pacific Time)
UCI Social Science Plaza A 1100
UC Irvine
Irvine, CA 92617

Join us for the "Remembering Saigon: Journeys through and from Guam" exhibit opening event. The panel discussion features Thomas Perez, a Chamorro veteran who served in the Vietnam War, and Bùi Văn Phú and H. Bryant Nguyen, two Vietnamese refugees who were processed on Guam during Operation New Life and went on to study at the University of California. The panel will be live-streamed via Zoom for those who cannot attend in person. Following a panel, you're invited to a reception and exhibit viewing at UCI Libraries' Orange County and Southeast Asian Archive Center. Space at the reception is limited, so please RSVP early.

Location: Social Science Plaza A 1100
University of California Irvine
Irvine, CA 92617

To join on Zoom, register here.

About the exhibit: 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. To commemorate the sacrifices of those who fought during the war on behalf of both the United States and South Vietnam, as well as the narratives of hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled the war’s aftermath, the UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive, in collaboration with the UCLA Asian American Studies Department, has put together this public history exhibit at the Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center. “Remembering Saigon: Journeys through and from Guam” highlights how the stories of Vietnamese refugees, CHamorus, and non-native Guamanians became intertwined during the Vietnam War period and its aftermath.

This exhibit highlights the narratives of CHamoru Vietnam War veterans, Vietnamese refugees, and Guamanians who contributed to Operation New Life. It features photographs, historical artifacts, archival documents, and oral histories from the UC Irvine Southeast Asian Archive, the Vietnamese Heritage Museum in Garden Grove, the Micronesia Area Research Center at the University of Guam, the Memoirs Pasifika podcast, the National Archives and Records Administration, and personal collections.

Exhibit is in Orange County & Southeast Asian Archive Center at UCI, Lower Level of Gateway Study Center.