He "fled" Vietnam after the fall (liberation) of Saigon:

Mr. Hyunh is an immigrant from Vietnam. He was born sometime after 1949 ("Snow"), but he was already a young adult with a baby daughter in 1975 when the Vietnam War came to its dramatic climax.

At the conclusive battle of the war (the Fall of Saigon), the United States sent helicopters to evacuate South Vietnamese citizens. Mr. Hyunh and many others abandoned their old lives and attempted to board the last helicopter, but the pilot claimed only one more was allowed on board. Mr. Hyunh offered his daughter and she was taken aboard, never to be seen again for many years.

https://heyarnold.fandom.com/wiki/Mr._Hyunh.

So.... what was he?

  • Nounverb [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    A feel good story for Americans about the Vietnamese they killed.

    "B-but this guy fled! Commies!"

    • queenjamie [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Yeah when he "abandoned his old life" I wonder what it was? What was it that he was so afraid of that he would try to flee on an American helicopter? 🤔

      • sailorfish [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Lmao what it's not like people in a war know for certain that at tomorrow at 2pm the hostilities will definitely stop for good and we can all rebuild and live happily. If I have a kid in the middle of a war zone I'm gonna take the opportunity to get them out of there, sorry to be a lib

  • Puffin [any, they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Somebody is not a bad person for fleeing a decimated country in search of a better life. You can critique somebody for not staying and rebuilding sure, but I'm not gonna blame somebody for taking the opportunity to emigrate to a much wealthier country when given the chance.

  • handystack [none/use name]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Listen, all ARVN that could flee in 75 did flee. The ones who failed to get out faced brutal treatment in the reeducation camps. The South Vietnamese battle flag -not the flag of Vietnam- flies over every pho shop in the USA now. The ARVN fought for royalism and capitalism. Does that make them "bad"? Maybe so; that's for you to decide. I find it doesn't matter much. They will be dead soon. Their children and grandchildren are our peers, and their political allegiances will eclipse those of the refugee generation soon enough.