South Vietnamese Flag

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Tue, 04/29/2008 - 10:36
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It's been a few days since I've been on Valley east of Walnut Grove, so I don't know how long they've been there.  But this morning I noticed both American and (South) Vietnamese flags on the streetlight poles along a good chunk of Valley.  They're probably on Garvey, too.

I figured there must be some significance to the flags, so I racked my little brain for a few moments and recalled that Saigon fell in late April 1975.  Turns out it was April 30, so tomorrow will be the 33rd anniversary of the end of the Republic of Vietnam.  I presume a number of local Vietnamese organizations kicked in some money for the flag display, along with that Freedom Boat exhibit they had at Rosemead Park a few weeks back.

It strikes me that there are probably a number of older Vietnamese (and maybe some US Vietnam Vets) who get a little stir in the heart when they see that row of Republic of Vietnam flags blowing in the wind.

South Vietnamese Flag

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Wed, 04/30/2008 - 16:54.

Story in the LA Times today. Except, as usual, they focus on Orange County instead of the San Gabriel Valley. Of course, to the Times’ credit, I didn’t see any mention of this anniversary in the "other" local paper.

South Vietnamese Flag

Submitted by Todd Kunioka on Wed, 05/07/2008 - 14:02.

OK, apparently not everyone thought these flags were such a good idea.

Just goes to show that you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

Vietname Flag

Submitted by centaur1255 on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 08:39.

The former principal at Potrero Heights Elementary in SSG, once told me that she did NOT celebrate any of the non-national "ethnic holidays" because she did not want to offend any group. When a group leader chooses to highlight one group's accomplishments, there will always be another group, no matter how small or large, to complain about "equal time".

South Vietnamese Flag

Submitted by Zebra24601 on Thu, 05/08/2008 - 10:06.

I'm not sure if our principal ever got involved, but I definitely recall Cinco de Mayo-related class assignments when I was in elementary school.  Never  had anything like Chinese New Year or Tet, but I've had elementary school students wish me happy new year around those holidays, so I figure they must be teaching that in school now, too.