The Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage was established by Protestant Men of the Chapel at Cam Ranh Air Force Base in 1967. Baptists helped to support it, and Southern Baptist missionaries filled the roll of pastor to the children.

In late March of 1975, as Nguyen Xuan Ha, director of the Orphanage, received news that his country was falling to communist forces from the north, he decided he must somehow get his children out of Vietnam, and hopefully to America.

On April 2nd, he, his staff and 82 children left their orphanage in three tiny busses, bound for Phan Tiet, in hopes of boarding a boat to Saigon. They encountered the first of many harrowing experiences before reaching Phan Tiet. On the road, fleeing soldiers boarded the busses. At one point, Mr. Ha said, other South Vietnamese troops blocked the vehicles from crossing a bridge, and fighting erupted between the soldiers.

After getting his group through this near disastrous experience, they arrived in Phan Tiet. The city was jammed with refugees, and boat owners were demanding exorbitant fees to rent a boat. For the first of many times when it seemed God was intervening in their behalf, an erroneous report was circulated that another road had been opened up to Saigon. Many refugees left the city, hoping to get to their destination via this road. Director Ha was then able to get his group on a boat for considerably less money.

They went as far as Vung Tau by boat and the rest of the way to Saigon by bus. Thousands of refugees crowded this city too, and everything was in turmoil. It was a frightening situation, and Mr. Ha took his children to the Baptist refugee center for several days to decide his next move. Worried about their safety there, he again moved them further south to Rach Gia, a port city. There he bought a leaky old diesel boat, 4,500 liter of fuel and food supplies.
They soon learned they had an inexperienced crew, as the boat rammed several other vessels getting out of the harbor. After two nights and a day, the wheezing old engine gave out, and they were adrift. God’s hand was evident again when a Taiwanese merchant ship cam by, first ignoring their pleas for help, and then turning around and coming back. They tied their small craft to the big one and were towed for two more night and a day toward Singapore Harbor.

The help was not a mind-easing experience though. “We were nearly frightened to death,” said Mr. Ha. “The ship would travel slow during the day and speed up at night.” They had to hang on for dear life and weren’t able to sleep at night. Instead, they squatted and kept watch, with an axe in hand, ready to cut the tow rope if it looked like they were going to be dragged under by the moving force of the larger boat.

As the ship neared Singapore, the crew motioned for Ha and his men to cut the tow rope. The larger ship was bound for Hong Kong, and this was as far as they would take them.
Again the boat was helplessly adrift. This time God sent a rescue plane which spotted them, and later three fishing boats. The refugees were taken off the leaky boat and carried to harbor.
But more waiting, weariness and anxiety beset them. They sat in the harbor for five days, scared and hungry, until finally a friendly policeman took a message from Mr. Ha to Southern Baptist missionary, Bob Wakefield.

Help came almost immediately. They were all put aboard a landing craft and taken to an island for quarantine. For five days they rested and tried to recuperate from their terrible ordeal.
Meanwhile, Southern Baptist missionaries were working to get them air passage to the United States. The group was taken to a Singapore army camp and put on a jet, bound for New York, via Switzerland. From New York, they were flown to the refugee center in Ft. Chaffe, Arkansas.
After a brief stay at Ft. Chaffee, and the Paul Martin Ranch near Houston, the children were brought to Buckner Baptist Children’s Home in Dallas.

BUCKNER BULLETIN - VOL. XXII, NO. 4
July-August, 1975

This site is dedicated in honor and memory of thay Ha.
www.CamRanh1975.org
web@camranh1975.org

OUR VISION:
To obtain the Cam Ranh City land and rebuild the orphanage in dedication to Pastor Ha Xuan Nguyen.

More pictures to come.