Today marks the 29th year in which Viet Nam's former capital city fell, taking democracy and the hopes of freedom of millions with it. Such a controversial time which returns to haunt and to mock us now as we are in the midst of another very similar world event in the form of Iraq.

But today is to remember Saigon and the battles that the South Vietnamese and those against the Northern Communists fought. Though we lost on such a large scale, those of us who fled and survived still remember and daily live in testimony to the freedom and the dignity that they couldn't rob from us. We who are still loyal to our yellow flag with the three red stripes. We who are fortunate enough to continue living now in democratic lands.

Since arriving in Houston and encountering so much more of my fellow countrypeople here, today is a special day because I have others to share it with. Others who know its significance. Who loss pieces of themselves, their families, their lives because of it. Yet they are still here, still remembering, still paying tribute and still fighting the current government that stole their homeland.

It is significant to me because I was born in Saigon after the "Fall" but am proud of that fact. Though I grew up across the globe, I cannot deny my origins and am trying to remember the impact that April 30th holds for all the Vietnamese across the world.

For most, it is an anniversary of death as many still vividly recall watching the last of the American troops pulling out and destroying all last remnants of hope that still existed. Only to be greeted by the approaching ominous rumblings of the communist tanks breaching this last remaning stronghold. It is impossible to imagine for those of us not present what horrors, despair and brokeness must have enveloped each soul as it witnessed Saigon take its dying last breath.

Thus, today, we honour and remember you, Saigon, and hold you in our hearts for what you still represent. For our hopes for the future of our country and for the memories, both good and bad, of the past. We are your living battle scars as we live on, grafted into other soil abroad. But our branches all turn towards you today.

You are not forgotten.

You are the heart from which our blood flows.