Vietnamese Mourn Death of a Songwriter

Hundreds of Vietnamese Americans gathered Tuesday to mourn the passing of Tram Tu Thieng, a songwriter known for preaching themes of love and reconciliation.

Tram, 64, died last week from a heart attack in his Anaheim apartment.

His songs, more than 300, aimed to persuade listeners to put aside political differences. They are heard on Vietnamese-language radio stations in Little Saigon and around the world.

“His songs bring people together,” said Xuyen Dong-Matsuda, one of hundreds who attended a gathering at Peek Family Funeral Home in Westminster, where Tram was cremated. “He knows how to bring out empathy in people, and that’s very hard to do.”

Truc Ho, who co-wrote songs with Tram and cared for him during his last days, said Tram--a former teacher in Vietnam--did not have much money but spent his life helping others, particularly children.

“On the outside, he was a songwriter,” said friend Du Mien. “But on the inside, he was always teaching kids the right thing. He lived for other people.”

Over the years, friends pitched in to pay for his travel to refugee camps around the world, including the Philippines, where many who escaped Vietnam were forced to live in camps in the early 1990s. He was known for “I Stand By You,” a song that became an anthem for Vietnamese refugees.

He had no immediate family but many friends who took turns caring for him around the clock during the last two months of his life.

After the funeral-home gathering, mourners moved to a Santa Ana temple for a traditional last meal of noodles and egg rolls. Tram’s ashes will be kept at the temple.

Tram was imprisoned twice in Vietnam after unsuccessful attempts to escape the country. He finally fled by boat in 1985 and arrived in Orange County, where he lived in a spartan one-bedroom Anaheim apartment.

He was an old-fashioned man who believed in Asian philosophy, friends said. When he was sick, he preferred Asian treatments over Western medication. He hid his illness from many. People are too busy and should not have to worry about him, he told Ho.

Ho and Tram co-wrote “One Day, Vietnam” in 1998, a song that inspired people to believe that the Communist country will one day become a better, beautiful homeland. The two made a promise to each other: Whoever survived would sing it to mark the passing of the other. On Tuesday, it was Ho who had to deliver on that promise.