518 - What Happens When A 1975 Refugee Returns To Saigon 50 Years Later? - Phuc Tran
Published: July 31, 2026
Duration: 1:02:37
In this episode, Ken sits down with Phuc Tran—author of the acclaimed memoir Sigh, Gone—for a deeply reflective conversation about returning to Vietnam for the first time since fleeing as a two-year-old refugee in 1975.
Fifty years after escaping Saigon, Phuc shares the complex emotional landscape of taking his American-born children back to his birthplace. Together, Kenneth and Phuc explore the psychological rift between first-generation refugee parents who refuse to return out of anti-communist loyalty or painful war memories, and second-generation Viet Kiều who crave cultural connection. The discussion plunges into dark, forgot...