Ninety-nine got on that boat near the mouth of the Saigon River. Most people were below
decks, literally crammed together like sardines. They wouldn't have known what was coming.
Total Despair. The storms come on the second day, this was
unbelievable. The boat was like a small leaf under boiling water. The waters get into the
diesel compartment. And then blow up the engine. No engine in the stormy seas is the most dangerous
That's when the worries start to creep in. You're at the mercy of nature, really. You
had no control of the boat. And I just remember the swell, it was really
huge, and it was just up and down, up and down.
People were scared. I thought I was going to die.
I think I never can see my mum again and my brother and sister again.
Five days we was at sea. And then every single day, everyone don't know what to do, they
just pray. It's the first time I've seen these photos
after 40 years. Most of them gave me goosebumps when I saw them. Ninety-nine people has been
hauled up to the deck is a big effort when they so sick, so weak. Me here, very skinny
after days at sea. It's very emotional photo for me. I can say that my life has been blessed
from the moment I've been rescued. Thank you, Australia.
I was born and grew up in Saigon. My parents have nine children. I am number four in the
family. On the 30th of April 1975 the north Vietnamese
army entered Saigon ending 30 years of war. There were incredible scenes as thousands
of Vietnamese crowded, pushed and squeezed to get on American helicopters leaving the
city – the last escape route out of Saigon. As the Vietnam War ended their whole lives
changed. A lot of people hoped that it would be a time of peace after 40 years of war.
But just the opposite happened right away. Anyone associated with a former regime, military
or civilian or even just normal people who seemed like a threat were sent away to re-education
in camps. Myself, as the son of a republic soldier,
so they still treat us as their enemy. And my dad and six sons have to escape. And to
stay in the jungle for two years. In Saigon, there were extreme food shortages.
There was no work to do. And it was just total deprivation. There was like, no future.
No freedom of speech, no freedom of gathering, no freedom of practising religion, all gone
under the new rule of the communist mechanism. People took to boats to flee. The ocean was
really the only way to go through the South China Sea.
But for most Vietnamese refugees their voyages were nightmares. Many boats sank. Many were
attacked by pirates. I heard figures up to a million people fled
and 300,000 or so perished in the escape. I was 21 in 1981, my father just approached
me and said, ‘Tonight, you have to go. Take along your younger brother and look after
him’. You know, when you got that news from your father is very, very sad very nervous.
You believe that you haven't a chance to see the country again. The parents, brother and
sister and friends. I was 14-and-a-half when I left Vietnam. Because
we lost everything my parents could only afford to do sent me on my own.
I was 15 my dad said he will go after me, so he stay back there. So I got so frightened
and sad. I was 13 when my mum call me and say, ‘You
go first with your brother and I will come later’. And then she starts crying and I
just cry with her but I don’t know where we’re going.
In the previous trip my brothers, four of them, ended up in jail. I was the first one
to escape successfully. The Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Sydney
heading for Vung Tao, Vietnam. On board are Australian troops and equipment bound for
the war zone. My involvement in the Vietnam War began in
1965 to 1967. My conscience was very much troubled, in fact, by our participation in
that war. It really achieved very little, but caused massive misery, especially to the
Vietnamese. And I felt very sorry for them. Wherever I managed to go, in the ships that
I was serving at the time I would make a point of visiting refugee camps. Distributing clothing,
distributing books, make that a little bit of a difference and someone cares.
To me it didn’t make sense taking people out of a camp in South East Asia, putting
them into another camp in Sydney or Melbourne. Just after I’d come back from my second
tour of Vietnam I got myself involved with what was known then as the Indo-China Refugee
Association in Canberra. You remember the Ho family. We had to actually
allocate two houses to them because there were 13 of them.
In 1981 I was posted to HMAS Melbourne. The HMAS Melbourne was Australia's only aircraft
carrier. It was the flagship of the Royal Australian Navy.
I was a commander and we were on passage to Singapore. We were 200 miles plus off the
Vietnamese coast. At that stage, you could not sail around South East Asian waters without
stumbling over refugee boats. They were basically running out of boats in
Vietnam. There were so many boats just going one way and leaving.
The dimensions of this boat is a little bit bigger than our boat. This one about 4 metres
width. And we only have 2.7. Captain Tam was from a fishing village and
he built the boat himself - to go fishing, ostensibly. But he built it in his mind for
the express purpose of escaping with his wife and seven children
I didn't want my children to grow up living under the communist regime, that’s why I
built the boat and planned the escape.42:24 Another big reason to leave is that my own
father and mother were killed by the communists. 42:32
It was only designed for like 30 people and 99 showed up. They were like doomed from the
start. Look at this! The first time after we slipped
through the check point, I. I was sitting right in the corner underneath.
They purposefully chose the night of the full moon because there were less patrols on full
moon. And the first night was just about, you know,
staying quiet and trying to sneak out as fast as you could. The boat was going at full rev.
About six hours later the engine conked out. Luckily we made it out of Vietnam water. But
the boat was just drifting in the sea. That night, as the boat got sucked into this this
gigantic vortex. The boat was caught in this big spin, just going round and round.
Dad was holding the steering and then suddenly lost control and the boat spin and then he
just let go. The force of the water, it was just so strong,
you could hear it, the sound was deafening. And I seriously thought that was that was
going to be the end of us. That's when dad was really worry - he can
see like death is coming. I sit next to my older cousin. So if I die,
I got my cousin sitting next to me. I saw two merchant ships pass by. We shot
up the flare to let them know we need help. We scream. We call. But no respond.
Everyone was just so scared. People were crying, people were praying. The next day was calmer
and then we saw a plane flying towards us. Again we set off flares, made some fire, some
smoke to get some attention. We saw the plane. It didn't fly away. It make
a circle. So we know it spotted us. I just saw the word Navy I said, oh, it's America!
Everyone was just, uh, so ecstatic. I just looked to the sky and thank God that, uh,
someone looked after me. The captain reported that a tracker had, detected
a fishing boat, on fire, about nine miles distant.
I was summoned to the bridge. And the commanding officer, said to me, I want you to take charge
of the onboard reception. The Navy creed is 'For those in peril on the sea. Do whatever
you can' irrespective of nationality, race, colour, creed, whatever.
Just half an hour later, is a whole fleet of big ships coming to us. Everyone screaming.
And happy. And believe that we will be rescued. By America people.
I can't remember whether I actually just grabbed my camera and did the job. I may have been
duty photographer that night. I'm just glad I did it. I'm so glad I did it. By the time
the recovery started, was darkness and I just remember it was big seas.
When we went alongside, we were the first boat there, the boat was just full of women
and kids. They'd obviously had a pretty harrowing time. And they just wanted to give us the
kids. They just want their kids to be saved. How on earth are you going to get 99 emaciated,
weakened, seasick, malnourished people three to five metres onto the lowest point of the
decking on the Melbourne. At first they try to let us climb up the ladder
by ourselves it was hard for most of us to do it because everyone's so sick
I heard the broadcast come over saying about they want to volunteers to go up the starboard
ladder bay and assist with embarking refugees There was guys starting to carry kids, there
was sailors climbing down the net, there was one sailor, all you see, all you see was his
back of his legs leaning over the side of the ship, trying to get down as far as net
to grab these people because we're very, very concerned that someone was going to fall.
it was pretty full-on, it was pretty intense. We knew there were sharks there. We just couldn't
see them. There was a lot of wash between the boats and we were extremely concerned
that people would be crushed against the ship’s side.
That's me on the bottom there with my arms out because there's a guy from Melbourne in
a harness holding a baby. And you think if he drops, you know, someone's gotta to catch
the baby. It's just that's how it was just scary. 00:15:18 An just the look on their
faces it's just stuck with me forever. I’d only been in the Navy two years. I was
only 18 years old. It was a it was a bit of an eye opener. I remember thinking back then
who would take a child in this? And then, you know, when you get older, mature and you
realise that they are trying to get him a better life, yep.
I was at the top of the ladder and making a very quick assessment as they were being
lifted on board. That is a top photograph of John Ingram, he
was everywhere that night. He was like a copper, directing traffic.
Some of the first were first kids who came up were, you know, quite sprightly and very
happy to see us. And then as the night progressed, as we went on bringing these people on, a
lot of the adults especially were just exhausted, absolutely exhausted, to the point where they
could barely get up to the ship. That photograph, when I took that, the thing
I remember is diesel fuel. She stunk of diesel fuel and it just suddenly hit me that these
people had been sitting in diesel fuel in their boat for all those days.
I remember when I was carrying that lady, because when I held her, she was she was very
limp. And I would sort of best describe it as like a semi-conscious state. They had been
through a lot. They've been through a lot. I was able to climb up the ladder onto the
deck and as I got to the deck my legs just buckled under me, so I swayed from side to
side just like a drunk man! I was really, really sick and so I couldn’t
climb the ladder. Someone have to pick me up.
I think that someone helped me to climb up behind me. 00:35:46 I remember I feeling happy,
someone help us be alive. This was a formidable experience. And I'm
absolutely full of admiration to this day, there's not a day in the last 40 years that
I haven't thought about how everyone got out safely and got on board safely without any
injuries or deaths whatsoever. The first shower was so great. We sing, we
happy, we clean off everything after four days of trauma.
The very first day, they gave us some singlet and a pair of shorts. The pair of shorts was
this big! Nothing kid’s size! But you make do.
We made up as many bunks as we could, the camp stretchers for them all.
I remember the big apple and the oranges. First time I've seen an apple. First time
was on the ship. The ship had some toys in storage and John
Ingram bought them up to keep the kids happy. Other sailors who had already bought stuff
for their own kids they gave these Vietnamese children their own children's toys, you know.
Stephen was part of a small group of men who came to me on the second morning and said,
look, you know, we'd like to help around the ship. What can we do?
Here they are painting a chipping paint, you know, doing the jobs I used to hate doing,
you know, and cleaning tables. I felt that was very good for the morale.
It was also important from the ship's company point of view because they didn't want to
be seen as passengers. The next few days we just pretty much went
about business as usual on the ship. We knew we were taking them to Singapore.
Under international law, Australia was obligated to accept these Vietnamese as refugees.
On the first night, only 22 wanted to claim Australia as the new homeland. By the time
we got to Singapore that had increased to 77.
I, uh, didn't need much convincing to you to say yes I'll be the first one to come to
Australia. I want to make a good life for myself and in in that I would repay to Australia,
to the community. Um, yeah, I felt a very strong sense of that.
The refugees picked up by HMAS Melbourne 200 miles off the coast of Vietnam had said they
fled in search of freedom. Melbourne’s commanding officer – Mike
Hudson – said it’s an old tradition of the sea, that ships render assistance to people
in distress, whoever they might be... I doubt that they would have lasted very much
longer – two or three days at the most if they hadn’t been given food or water.
There were actually tears in sailors eyes, um, because in that very short time, that
tense period, as those few days on both friendships had evolved.
They were designated by the HMAS Melbourne officially as MG99,Melbourne Group 99. And
that's how they know themselves. So once in Singapore, they were offloaded
onto buses and taken to a refugee camp. We got the promise from them that they will
come to visit the camp. And they did. This tiny camp on the northern end of Singapore
Island was designed to take only 1,000 people – at present there are more than 3,000 refugee
here. On my first visit there, I noticed that refugees
were making soup out of grass that they were cutting.
So, the arrangement that I came to was that the provisions from the Melbourne in fact
uh, would be distributed equally amongst all refugees there. 01:47:36 We delivered four
Landrover loads of dry provisions to the Hawkin's Road UNHCR Camp.
And they give us tin food, tin food, like, like spam or something.
And taste amazing because that is never used anything like that before and it tastes good.
There wasn't enough accommodation, so we were given a blanket each. And basically at night,
you just find yourself a patch of grass to lie on.
By 1981, the Australian Government's policy was to interview and process refugees out
of refugee camps in Southeast Asia. 00:48:19 per capita, Australia was a leader in the
number of Vietnamese refugees being accepted in the world. 01:39:20 and they were on a
Qantas flight into Sydney before the Melbourne got back to Garden Island. John Ingram visited
them at the East Hills hostel. I'd call him like a like a grand uncle in a Vietnamese
sort of way. He even had his own family adopt a couple of the girls.
After staying in the hostel for six months and then I moved out. To find job and work
in a factory. I worked in the factory for a year and a half 00:04:32 And then 02:33:56
I have a news from my parent that your three siblings they’re on the way. And then another
sister 00:06:38 And she also escaped. But we don't know where she is now. She's amongst
four hundred thousand people perished at sea on the journey for freedom.
The Federal government has dramatically tightened the rules on boat people.
We will decide who comes here and the circumstances under which they come.
In 2006, I was somewhat annoyed that Australia's attitude towards refugees had changed a lot.
And in a new uncompromising policy all unauthorised boat arrivals will be processed offshore even
if they reach the mainland. And I thought, well, we had something to be
very proud of. So I wrote an article for a Navy publication not knowing where it would
go and what would happen to it. Someone gave me the article written by John
Ingram. Who is John Ingram? I didn’t remember him. And why 25 years after the event there
is some guy, some Aussie guy write a story about us?
So that’s why I have to find him Luckily I got his number and I called him. The first
conversation was amazing. I was very surprised, very pleasantly surprised
to hear from him. John! Welcome to Oatley. How are you?
When he contacted me all those years later he was so proud to tell me about all the things
that he was doing. So this was the first house I stay after I'm
moving from to East Hills Hostel and I stay here with some members of MG99, we share rooms,
six people. Six people
I still have good memory of this time. I look up to him as a father because the way
he treat me like the way the father treated son, he took care of me. He looked after me
and we shared so many stories of our life. John I am going to take you to my bakery where
I run for 30 years. This new owner is very famous in meat pies and sausage rolls.
Alright. Ok. All the healthy things! Last December I contacted Stephen and I said,
look, do you realise that will be 40 years next June?
Few days later, John rang me. ‘Stephen, I think we should have a reunion. What do
you think?’. A few years ago John told me he isn't well
and I'm very worried because it's the kind of sickness that you worry.
I had radical surgery in 2009, but the cancer has spread elsewhere in my body.
So that’s why this event is very important to us.
It'll probably be the last time we will all ever all get together.
So we have only four weeks to go. The countdown starts now...
We meet at Captain Tam's house every couple of weeks, but as we get closer to the reunion,
it's every week. I got the list of the 51 MG99 members who
are living in Sydney. I took it on myself to do what I call rounding
up the Aussies. I said, Stephen, ‘You get the refugees together, I'll get the Aussies
together’. Both of us, we want to say thank you to all
the people on on the ship that night that rescued us.
Among the HMAS Melbourne sailors, we will probably have about twenty sailors who have
never been who never been found or recognised. So that'll be, that's a real a real treat.
I think the sailors are all certainly looking forward to it. I mean, some are coming from
as far as WA. Yes, I want to meet my sailor!
Today's the big day - the fortieth anniversary of MG99
The location is extremely appropriate. I discovered that tracker 851 had been salvaged at the
museum, aviation museum at Albion Park. That was the tracker spotted us from the sky
and then the process of the rescue come after. Just so grateful in fact that people can go
and actually touch, um, an aircraft and say, this one saved my life.
(Man points at photo board): Daddy was only 13 months old.
CARL ROBINSON, FMR VIETNAM WAR CORRESPONDENT: It's just so exciting. We've heard from, I
would say, a good 100 sailors and a good 20 or so have come to the reunion.
That's me just there. And They're just taking out one of the babies.
I was the last to get off our boat. Hello John! My name is Thor
Ah I remember you! I have waited 40 years. Finally, I get to
see you to say thank you. Back then I couldn't speak a word of English.
Hi, how are you? How are ya? Nice to see you again.
Very nice to see you and meet you again. I never expected to see you again.
I wondered, not so much where they actually went, but what sort of lives they had.
That’s me there... You look very similar.
Most people, like to think that when you pass that you leave a footprint. And I think that
because of that event that night, that when my day comes, I'll be able to leave a footprint,
something that's going to be there forever. It's made me a better person.
How old were you when you were on the ship? Eight months.
Was 14 then. … I've just always wondered, did they make a
good life? It' been there for 40 years wondering what's happened to them.
We know how old you are now. What have you been doing with yourself in Australia since?
I work as an optometrist. I'm in IT support for an IT company.
I have my own consulting company. You don't know their faces, you don't know
the story, but you knew that you were part of it. So it's just it's full circle.
I'm not like them, I worked very hard. I owned a bakery and I worked seven days a week.
It is wonderful to see what these people have achieved in their lives. I mean, it's been
absolutely amazing. To the Australian Navy in general and to the
officers, seamen and air crews of the HMAS Melbourne and HMAS Torrens in particular,
without you on that day, without your compassion and without your bravery we all would have
died. Gentlemen, we owe you our lives. I'm very proud of the fact that that that
Stephen, with a little bit of help for me, we've been able to sort of, um, uh, keep the
flame of MG99 alive. This to me, represented the pinnacle of my naval career.
When you sharing with someone moment of death and life, it seems like that they are you
and you are them. So we live in that spirit. The refugee cause is something that isn't
going to go away. If I were at sea today and I came across a boat of refugees whom I considered
to be genuinely fleeing persecution, then I would do all in my power to save them and
help them resettle. Tomorrow any of us, all of us, could be refugees, fleeing persecution.
For the lucky one the ending is happy. And for the big number of the others the ending
is horrible. But we are the lucky ones. We ended in this very lucky country.