Historic Trust presents “Hidden Histories: The South Vietnamese Side of the Vietnam War”

As part of a suite of Veterans Day programming, The Historic Trust and Humanities Washington invite the community to an engaging in-person conversation with the historian and author Julie Pham at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Artillery Barracks, 600 Hatheway Rd., Vancouver, preceded by a small reception at 6:30 p.m. “Hidden Histories: The South Vietnamese Side of the Vietnam War” is free to attend. Pham will be joined by members of the Clark County Vietnamese community, who will share personal experiences surrounding the Vietnam War. A small reception will precede the talk.

The Vietnam War is seen by the Western world as a conflict between the Americans and North Vietnamese Communists, with the South Vietnamese largely absent. Yet many Vietnamese refugees who came to America after the war served in the South Vietnamese military, though there is little recognition and understanding of their contributions. In fact, the South Vietnamese are often painted as corrupt, apathetic sidekicks to the Americans. Pham draws from interviews  with 40 South Vietnamese military veterans in the United States and illuminates how people can remember historical events differently.

Pham is the CEO of  CuriosityBased; a consulting practice focused on fostering curiosity in the workplace. Her family owns Northwest Vietnamese News. She published “Their War: The Perspectives of the South Vietnamese Military in the Words of Veteran-Emigres” in 2019. She earned her PhD in history from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar.