A family walks down the pathway toward the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point, surrounded by American flags and calm waters.
A family walks down the pathway toward the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier at Patriots Point, surrounded by American flags and calm waters.
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Former Vietnamese Refugee To Share Personal Escape Story and Rescue with Greenville County Students

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Lan Dalat was 13 years old and living in war-torn, communist, Vietnam when his parents decided to risk everything and flee the country in 1981.   Facing a possible capture by the Vietnamese, or worse death, Dalat’s family boarded a wooden fishing boat with more than 100 other refugees seeking a new life.

On Friday, September 30, more than 100 fifth-grade students from Sterling School in Greenville County will travel down to Patriots Point to hear Dalat’s story of survival, and his journey to the United States where he has worked hard to become a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army.

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum’s program titled, From Boats to Boots and Beyond will begin at 10:00 a.m. aboard the historic USS YORKTOWN.  The event is free and open to the public.   In addition to Lan Dalat, two former crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Ranger will discuss their memory of March 30, 1981, when they discovered Dalat’s fishing boat drifting powerless in the South China Sea.  All 138 refugees were rescued by the USS Ranger crew after more than a week at sea and several days without food or water.

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Lt. Col. Lan Dalat in front of the USS Ranger. The carrier rescued him and 138 other Vietnamese refugees in 1981 after several weeks at sea.[/caption]

“After a week of starvation, dehydration, and exposure on the open sea, seeing a fleet of ships coming to our rescue immediately triggered the impulse for survival,” said Lt. Col. Lan Dalat.

Greenville County’s Sterling School is a participant in the Patriots Point Education Department’s Blended Learning Program.  The fifth grade is currently studying immigration in Vietnam.  The topic shares similarities to the ongoing migration crisis happening in the Middle East.

“We are excited about this program and the continued growth of our education department, the Patriots Point Institute of History, Science and Math,” said Patriots Point Executive Director Mac Burdette.  “Our goal as a museum is to bring history to life, that’s what we are doing for these students from Greenville.  They have read about stories like Dalat’s.  Now they have the chance to meet and hear him in person.”