Brian Doan, a photographer, is facing the anger of Vietnamese Americans upset over his picture of a woman wearing a T-shirt with the Vietnamese flag and sitting next to a brass bust of former Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
8 Images

PHOTOS: A family’s differing views on Vietnam’s past

Brian Doan, a photographer, is facing the anger of Vietnamese Americans upset over his picture of a woman wearing a T-shirt with the Vietnamese flag and sitting next to a brass bust of former Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

Brian Doan, a photographer, is facing the anger of Vietnamese Americans upset over his picture of a woman wearing a T-shirt with the Vietnamese flag and sitting next to a brass bust of former Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

After lunch at his house in Long Beach, Brian Doan shows his mother, Hao Tuong, and father, Han Vi, a book of Vietnam War photographs. The rift between Brian and his father, a former intelligence officer in the South Vietnamese Army who spent 10 years in a Communist labor camp, shows the generational divide in the Vietnamese American community.

After lunch at his house in Long Beach, Brian Doan shows his mother, Hao Tuong, and father, Han Vi, a book of Vietnam War photographs. The rift between Brian and his father, a former intelligence officer in the South Vietnamese Army who spent 10 years in a Communist labor camp, shows the generational divide in the Vietnamese American community. (Bret Hartman / For The Times)

A 1988 photo of the Doans in Vietnam. Patriarch Han Vi Doan is fourth from the right. His son Brian stands beside him.

A 1988 photo of the Doans in Vietnam. Patriarch Han Vi Doan is fourth from the right. His son Brian stands beside him. (Doan family)

Brian Doan holds another version of his controversial photograph, which was defaced during a recent exhibition in Santa Ana.

Brian Doan holds another version of his controversial photograph, which was defaced during a recent exhibition in Santa Ana. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Brian Doan, left, and his father, Han Vi, surf the Internet at Brian's Long Beach home. Han Vi wonders if his son doesn't fully understand the legacy of older Vietnamese.

Brian Doan, left, and his father, Han Vi, surf the Internet at Brian’s Long Beach home. Han Vi wonders if his son doesn’t fully understand the legacy of older Vietnamese. (Bret Hartman / For The Times)

Brian Doan, left, eats dinner with his parents. Once, Brian would have told his father how wrong he thought he was.

Brian Doan, left, eats dinner with his parents. Once, Brian would have told his father how wrong he thought he was. (Bret Hartman / For The Times)

Brian Doan, bottom left, and his son, Nicolas, 3, feed fish in the backyard of their Long Beach home as Doan's father, Han Vi, top left, mother, Hao Truong, sitting, and wife, Quynh Chi Nguyen, watch from the dining room.

Brian Doan, bottom left, and his son, Nicolas, 3, feed fish in the backyard of their Long Beach home as Doan’s father, Han Vi, top left, mother, Hao Truong, sitting, and wife, Quynh Chi Nguyen, watch from the dining room. (Bret Hartman / For The Times)

Brian Doan, left, walks his parents to their car after having them to lunch at his Long Beach home.

Brian Doan, left, walks his parents to their car after having them to lunch at his Long Beach home. (Bret Hartman / For The Times)

1/8