people, and the ravages of war. After he had exhausted his energy and ideas, and when he could continue no more, Do returned home. For the first time in a year, Do embraced his parents and family. All was not at peace, however. The government had filed a lawsuit against Do for his social activism. On the day of trial, he walked to the courthouse. Lining the streets of Saigon all the way to the door of the courthouse were family, friends, neighbors and strangers who had turned out en masse to support him. When he entered the courtroom, the judge announced that, due to the popular support of the people, the case would be dismissed. That was Do's first taste of the law—he would always remember it. Do would later obtain a high school diploma after a program of self-study. In his late teens through college and up until his escape from Vietnam, Do worked as a reporter and editor for several newspapers in South Vietnam and an interpreter for American and French journalists. Like many of his generation, he was fluent in French. In his lifetime, Do would master five languages. It was during college at the University of Saigon that Do met his wife, Loan, a fellow student. They were married, both at the age of 22, on January 21, 1964 in Saigon. Loan supported her husband in his writings and the increasingly visible role he began to play in the fight against communism. Their support network extended beyond writers and included professionals, Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese, of all backgrounds united in the cause for a free and autonomous Vietnam. One such friend was a long-time American advisor from the Rand Corporation, a California-based think tank. When Do and his wife made their successful escape to America, it was due in large part to him. Four days before the Fall of Saigon, the friend offered Do commercial airline tickets he had purchased for Do and his family. They had mere hours to pack. By this time, the U.S. military had become firmly ensconced in Vietnam. The French war had turned into the American war. Like the French, the Americans, too, would be defeated. Indeed, on April 30, 1975, the communist North Vietnamese Army defeated the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Saigon fell to communist control. Americans were evacuating everywhere—the photographs of them jumping into and clinging