A five-year old boy whose family fled the country in the closing days of the Vietnam War returns to his native country almost 35 years later as the commander of a warship.

“My crew and I are proud to be able to represent our country to the people of Vietnam,” said Le.

“This will be an incredible experience for me personally, to return to the land of my birth for the first time since I was a child. My memories of Vietnam are very few, yet I still feel very drawn to it, to its culture, and to its people,” Le said in an online report by the US 7th Fleet.

Le, the first Vietnamese-American to command a US destroyer, told Thanh Nien Weekly in an email interview: “The US and Vietnam have a growing friendship, and our military-to-military engagement with Vietnam continues to advance at a measured pace.”

Last year, the hospital ship USNS MERCY was the first US military vessel to visit Nha Trang since 1975, providing humanitarian assistance in cooperation with the Vietnamese Medical Corps.

During the visit, the crew of the destroyer, almost 300 strong, will engage in a series of activities including a community service project at a primary school and visit a vocational training center for homeless children, according to the US fleet.

Le was born in Vietnam’s former imperial capital city of Hue city. In May 1975, Le and his family were picked up at sea by the USS Barbour County (LST 1195). The Le family immigrated to the US and settled in Northern Virginia.

Granted US citizenship in 1985, Le graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1992 with merit and was commissioned as a US Navy officer.

Le assumed command of USS Lassen in April this year.

Reported by Van Khoa