AMERICA AND VIETNAM: A NEW ERA : Voices

“It’s a little too soon. There’s still a lot of broken hearts out there. For those of us who are in this museum today, there’s a lot of bitterness toward a man who wasn’t even there. What’s his purpose? He’s only a few blocks from that wall--why doesn’t he go look?”

Wayne Anthony, 49, U.S. Army veteran who spent 1967-68 in Cu Chi.

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“I am very, very happy. We need to move on. It has been 20 years and our family in Vietnam needs our help. My son died fighting for his country. It is time to make peace. Do not forget those who died, but make it a better life for the children today.”

Duc Do, whose youngest son, Minh, a South Vietnamese fighter pilot, was killed when his plane was shot down in 1970.

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“I think it stinks. I don’t think they made as full of a commitment as possible for locating our lost brothers over there.”

Kerry Wiggins, Army Vietnam veteran

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“I was born here in America and I believe this move creates more reasons for me to return to Vietnam to connect with my roots. Sure, I don’t know what people went through during the war, but I think that we can’t treat each other like this forever.”

Lisa Nguyen, 18, of Westminster, who was born two years after her parents came to the United States in 1975.

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“Clinton’s decision is completely wrong and comes at a wrong time. This should only be done once the MIA/POW issue has been settled . . . and once human rights and democracy have been established.”

Former South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu, in an interview on Little Saigon Radio.

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“This is the best news I have heard since coming to this country.”

Quoc Nguyen, who lost a leg in the war when a grenade exploded near him.

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“We’ve lost our country, our government, our flag, our homeland. For Vietnamese Americans, the President’s decision is like the second defeat, the second April 30, the second time we’ve been abandoned.”

Tri Thich, a Buddhist monk at the Bat Nha Temple in Garden Grove.

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“I feel very, very good because I think I can see my friends there now. This is a solution. We all know that later or sooner we must have this.”

Giao Van Do, 66, of Garden Grove, who worked at the U.S. Embassy in Saigon before it closed.

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“I think Vietnam probably has the world’s worst human rights record and I don’t think we should do anything to help out a nation of that nature. Here you have a government that practices extortion by warehousing remains of human soldiers and using them as bargaining chips.”

Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), a Vietnam veteran.

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“It had to happen sooner or later. I think the decision is very exciting.”

Thao Le, 29, of Anaheim, commented as he watched the announcement on television.

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“There are no rules over there. I don’t think we should do business with a country that believes in ‘no law is the law.’ That’s what’s happening in Vietnam, that is Communism. If there’s no political change, we don’t want to do business in Vietnam. All the money and jobs will go into the hands of the Communists, not the people.”

Van Vo, president of the Vietnamese American Business Assn., a Garden Grove-based marketing and consultant group for American companies looking to invest in the Vietnamese American community and Vietnam.

Compiled by Times staff writer Phuong Nguyen.