Bitter Memories and Old Flags

Today’s 24th anniversary of the fall of Saigon summons bitter memories for those who fought in Vietnam and for their fellow Americans, so divided over the war. For the Vietnamese refugees in Orange County, the recollections rankle even more.

This week the Westminster City Council properly reversed its policy of past years, deciding not to allow the flag of the defunct South Vietnam to fly alongside the Stars and Stripes on city light poles today.

It’s one thing to fly the flags of foreign nations when their leaders visit. But the city, which includes “Little Saigon,” allowed itself to be put in an awkward position by hoisting banners in past years for a former American ally that is no longer a nation.

Strip malls in Little Saigon have been festooned with the red and gold flag of the former South Vietnam for months, a sign of the depth of feeling many immigrants have for their former country. The flags have been a reaction to one shopkeeper posting in his store earlier this year the flag of Communist Vietnam, victor over the Saigon government, and a portrait of Ho Chi Minh, the late North Vietnamese leader. Truong Van Tran’s display of these images touched off weeks of demonstrations in Little Saigon, led by Vietnamese who fled the country after 1975. The rallies prompted criticism that the Vietnamese have been here long enough to adapt to the laws and customs of their adopted home and put away the flag of their native land.

The anti-Hanoi anger of Vietnamese exiles and their children is understandable. After their victory, the Communists were brutal to many of those who had opposed them. Hundreds of thousands left Vietnam, many fleeing on barely seaworthy boats and braving all manner of dangers to escape.

The demonstrations in Little Saigon should have been a lesson in 1st Amendment rights of free speech. Westminster’s decision on the flag should be a reminder of the importance of Old Glory as the symbol of the American nation for its cities.