Vietnamese Community Drops Plans for Parade

Vietnamese leaders in Westminster have dropped plans to hold a controversial parade to honor slain South Vietnamese soldiers, possibly ending a furor that has raged for more than a week over the racially charged remarks of a Westminster city councilman in voting against a parade permit.

Vietnam veteran Chuyen V. Nguyen, a spokesman for the Vietnamese community in Westminster, said Saturday that about two dozen representatives decided late Friday night to cancel any plans to hold a parade this year because there is not enough time to properly prepare.

The parade was planned for June as part of a Vietnamese holiday and intended to honor all soldiers who died fighting Communists in Vietnam.

“We hate to see so much publicity surrounding this parade and then not be completely prepared,” Nguyen said. “We are afraid of making mistakes and then looking bad.”

The uproar began last week when the South Vietnamese Armed Forces Day committee was denied a parade permit on a 4-1 vote of the Westminster City Council. At a meeting televised on a local cable channel, Councilman Frank Fry Jr. told the veterans that they should commemorate their war dead on a U.S. holiday.

“If you want to be South Vietnamese,” the councilman had said, “go back to South Vietnam.”

Fry apologized for his remarks. He said he did not intend to “belittle . . . the sacrifice made by our allies, the South Vietnamese, during the Vietnam War. . . . I would like to apologize for my statements that have caused this outcry.”

Fry said Saturday that he planned to meet with members of the Vietnamese community soon.

Nguyen said Fry contacted the group Friday and wanted to meet to “clear up all misunderstandings and promote better harmony in the future, and he wants to show he is sincere in his apology. And we want to show the councilman we are sincere in our position.”

The earlier remarks by Fry prompted a recall campaign that was initiated by an ad hoc committee representing about 30 Vietnamese organizations. But the campaign was called off after Fry apologized. More than 5,000 flyers and 500 posters critical of Fry had been printed in Vietnamese.

Before the meeting, Nguyen said, they were considering applying for a parade permit in Santa Ana, where several city officials voiced approval in preliminary discussions.

“It’s a touchy situation for us,” Nguyen said. “If we go to Santa Ana, it would mean we kind of had to get out of town to find help.”

Would Reconsider

Meanwhile, Westminster Mayor Charles V. Smith and several City Council members have said they would consider the veterans’ parade application again.

Tien Nguyen, a spokesman for the South Vietnamese Armed Forces Day committee, said Friday that Fry had telephoned and asked to meet with him to cement his previously stated apology.

“We will contact Mr. Fry, we will shake his hand,” said Tien Nguyen. “And I hope we will work together in the future on this issue.”

Chuyen Nguyen said: “We will write a letter of gratitude to the Santa Ana City Council for their generous offer to let us hold the parade in their city. We respect the decision of the City Council of Westminster not to give us a permit for the parade because we are law-biding citizens.”

He said memorial services will be conducted as usual on June 17 at Melrose Abbey in Anaheim.