TRUNG HỌC DUY TÂN - PHAN RANG

[DIEU HUYEN]

Các bạn có ai là học trò ngày xưa hay là bạn của ông Charles E. Cable ( Chuck ) Xin vui long liên lạc địa chỉ và số tel dưới đây.

Charles E. Cable
156 Armstrong Drive
Claremont, CA  91711

909-625-2277 (home)
909-261-6450 (cell)



Dear Ann,

Thank you very much for allowing me to speak with you by telephone this afternoon.

A short time ago, my dear friend, Ton That Van, sent me an email about the Duy Tan High School reunion on Saturday, July 17.  Unfortunately, I cannot attend and look for my former students and professors because we will be at our two grandsons' birthday celebrations in Newport Coast all afternoon.

I was a volunteer with International Voluntary Services, Inc., (Co-quan Chi-nguyen Quot-te) in Phan Rang from September 1966 to March 1968.  My primary work was to assist with the English classes at Troung Trung-Hoc Thap Cham (if I spelled that correctly!).  The professors and school principals included Mr. Van, Mr. Khai, Mr. Khoi (who has been growing grapes south of PR), Mr. Chanh, and Mr. Hao. There may have been others that we also worked with, but it has been 42 years since I left!

Last October 19, my wife, Vicky, and I drove with our guide from Andy's textiles in Nha Trang, and a driver. We visited a high school on the north side of Phan Rang where Jay Scarborough used to teach, saw our old house on the east side of the former Catholic High School (TTH Troung Vinh Ky) where two sisters and their families live, then went to visit Mr. Khai, Mr. Chanh and Mr. Hao.  It was incredible to return and find friends after more than 40 years.   The three gentlemen did not remember my face but they did recognize my name when I handed each a business card.

We also visited the site where the Peter Hunting Memorial Library used to be.  It is now a street. (It was built from 1967 to 1968 with the financial assistance of Mr. Hunting's family in Connecticut, IVS and our volunteers, USAID, and others.Beryl Darrah, an English teacher at Duy Tan High School, was primarily responsible for coordinating the start of construction. After Beryl left for the USA, I helped on getting construction material from USAID and electrical wiring courtesy of the U.S. Air Force out at airbase.) I recall assisting with purchasing the book cases and tables and chairs for the building from a local carpenter, and then starting the process to acquire books.  Jay Scarborough was probably the IVSer that helped finish the project in 1968.)

Back in January 1991 a small group of us returned to Viet Nam to see the country and to, hopefully, visit some of the places where we worked in the 1960s.  We encountered some difficulty in Ho Diem village (where I used to visit the church offices to have tea in the 1960s) and had to return to Nha Trang.  

Two of my former students and I have visited. One is Nguyen Thac Hung, an engineer with the Boeing Company in the Seattle area.  His name here, Hung Thac Nguyen.  The other is Bac Tran Dau (Dau Tran Bac) who lives in Fremont, CA.  Both of them--Hung and Dau--were outstanding students.

I would like to find other students who may have been at Thap Cham in 1966 to 1968.

Also, as I told you on the phone, I could not register for the website. I could not understand the instructions for the spam filter (the names Phan Rang, Thap Cham, Ninh Thuan, etc.)

Thank you.

Chuck