Anh Vu Sawyer '80

When a young girl, Anh Vu went to bed at night with bombs exploding around her; she would tell her sister, “If we’re hit by a rocket tonight and blown to bits, when we wake up in the morning, we will be in heaven with God.”

That was the only comfort Vu had as a child living in war-torn South Vietnam during the 1970s. Vu and her family were among the last Vietnamese evacuated from the roof of the American Embassy during the fall of Saigon.

“I made a promise to God years ago when I left Vietnam that someday I would tell my story—give my testimony,” she said. Her book, Song of Saigon: One Woman’s Journey to Freedom (Warner Books, 2003), is the fulfillment of that promise.

The book, co-authored by Pam Proctor, details the lives of AnhVu, her mother and her grandfather as part of a family struggling to survive amidst danger, suspicion and constant threat of war. It begins with 20-year-old Vu’s miraculous escape in the spring of 1975 aboard an American chopper.

“I cannot tell you what it was like,” said Vu, of the harrowing evacuation. “All I could think of when I was running was that in just 20 meters I would be on the other side; I would live; I would be free with no more uncertainty. I was also thinking that at any moment I could be shot.”

The family relocated to a refugee camp in the Philippines and eventually to America, where they were sponsored by Christ Church in Oak Brook, Ill. Vu came to Calvin in 1976 when Christ Church members and Calvin alumni Barbara and John Kieft secured a scholarship for her.

Song of Saigon: My Journey to Freedom

“What I learned at Calvin is that I could best serve God and others by pursuing excellence in the gifts that God had given me,” she said. “God is the finest in all things, and that is something that we should strive for also.”

Upon her graduation, Vu married Philip Sawyer. The book documents her personal and family struggles until she returned to Vietnam, 25 years after her escape, as part of a humanitarian aid organization.

“I am still afraid,” she said. “When I went back to Vietnam, the fear just came back. I still cannot watch any films about the Vietnam War. I cannot watch The Killing Fields, even though it is a film about Cambodia. When I started watching it, I could not breathe.”

Yet Vu has returned again to her homeland, and she and her husband continue to work for relief efforts there.

Vu’s memoir is based on her strong faith—a faith first introduced to her family by her grandfather, an opium addict who converted to Christianity and became a respected church elder.

“I thought I was holding on to God for hope through all of those years,” said Vu, “but I found out that it was God who never let go of me. I have learned that God calls us to be his hands and heart to love and serve his people wherever he puts us. Our witness comes from others seeing our lives.”

That philosophy is why the book is so important to Vu. “My family has not read the book,” she said. “The Vietnamese are very private people and don’t share private things. There is a Vietnamese saying about taking your shirt off to let people see your bare back. That’s what I did.”

Perhaps it is the honesty in the book that has so captured readers. Upon its release, the book earned the number-one ranking on Amazon.com in the History/Vietnam category. It also came in at number three in the Biographies and Memoirs category.

“I was given an incredible gift—an incredible heritage from my grandfather and also my father,” said Vu. “God has been very good to me. I have taken great risks, and God has come through for me. That is a message I must share.”