The Greater Houston area is home to the second-largest Vietnamese population in the country, with approximately 143,000 people, according to 2019 numbers from the Pew Research Center. But their history is one of resilience, filled with stories about refugees who made an all-or nothing escape from their fallen homeland and rebuilt their lives in a new country with nothing but the clothes on their backs. April 30, 1975 was the date that changed the fate for millions of people, caught in the crossfire of the Vietnam War. What would later be known as the Fall of Saigon marked the defeat of South Vietnam's government to the Viet Cong and the beginning of a communist regime. The arrival of Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. could be broken into three major waves. 🇻🇳❤️ The first wave consisted of mostly middle-class people who left the country shortly before the Fall of Saigon, a number of which had the financial means or connections to the South Vietnamese Army to leave early. The second wave consisted more of working-class individuals, known as ' "boat people" who came to the United States under the Refugee Act of 1980. Not everyone who attempted the harrowing escape lived to tell their story. Experts estimate thousands of people died at sea, victims of pirates or overcrowding on makeshift boats. Others who decided to stay or couldn't leave spent years in re- education camps, many who were dehumanized and tortured by the Viet Cong. Those who survived were lucky enough to make it to refugee camps in surrounding countries and eventually resettled throughout the world. The third wave arrived beginning in 1990, consisting mostly of Vietnamese detainees, political prisoners, and Amerasians (people who have one American and one Asian parent). Sources @abc13houston #goinghomeagainproject #houston #asianamerican #aapidiaspora 🇻🇳✨