Local author shares stories of life in war-torn Vietnam

The Monroe Historical Society welcomed local author Julie Loan Ky Alexander to its quarterly membership meeting last week, inviting her to talk about her book "A Rose on the Steel Ground.GÇ¥

The event was held 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Monroe Library, with refreshments prepared by Alexander.

"A Rose on the Steel GroundGÇ¥ recounts Alexander's experiences growing up in war-torn South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, and describes the region's subsequent conversion to communism. Alexander, who lives in Everett with her husband, Rick, and son, Michael, has worked at the Monroe Post Office for 17 years.

Monroe Historical Society board member Gail Dillaway introduced Alexander, who spent more than an hour showing photos, talking about her book and answering questions about her life in Vietnam and what it was like to build a new life in the United States.

Alexander was born in 1965 in Cu Chi, Vietnam, about 20 miles from Saigon, and grew up in a middle class family; one of eight brothers and sisters. Her parents operated their own successful dry goods store, which provided everything from food to electronics to office supplies.

Ironically, explained Alexander in her book, the store's prosperity was largely enhanced by the Vietnam War, as it was located near a South Vietnamese military base.-á

Alexander started documenting her memories because she wanted to her son to understand what she had gone through and why she decided to come to the U.S. It was through the encouragement of her husband that she sought to publish her book.

Her memories of her life in Vietnam are vivid.

"If you have never been there or seen pictures of it, Vietnam is like a wild, overgrown jungle,GÇ¥ writes Alexander. "Summers are extremely hot and dusty, and the jungle is wild and seems to be creeping slowly, day by day, toward town, as if to devour everything in the path of its creeping and swallow it whole.GÇ¥

During the war, Cu Chi became well known for an extensive network of underground tunnels that the communist fighters dug from Cu Chi to Ho Chi Minh City in Saigon. The tunnels were occupied by Viet Cong soldiers who used them to elude American soldiers during the war; they would hide in the tunnels by day, emerging at night to engage in warfare and obtain supplies.

Alexander's father refused to let his children outside after dark because it wasn't safe. "There's a lot of ghosts outside; you cannot go outside at night,GÇ¥ her father would say.

"But we were so little we didn't know what "ghosts' meant.GÇ¥

The Cu Chi tunnels were rigged with booby traps and Alexander showed a photo of the types of deadly traps the Viet Cong would construct.

Cu Chi was the target of a massive effort to eradicate the tunnels, which resulted in the United States dropping tons of explosives onto the region. The people of Cu Chi likened their resilience to "the rose that grows on steel ground,GÇ¥ which is where Alexander got the idea for the title of her book.

The U.S. came to the aid of South Vietnam because it hoped to prevent the communist takeover. U.S. military involvement, which escalated during the 1960s, and ended in August 1973.

"I want to say thank you to all American soldiers, friends and family that tried to help our country to survive,GÇ¥ Alexander said. "From the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate it for all American people that were trying to help us, trying to save our life. Thank you, so much.GÇ¥

The war ended in 1975 as the North Vietnamese Army captured Saigon.-á -á

Alexander's book was accomplished with the help of an editor, who was able to take Alexander's memoirs and "matchGÇ¥ what she wrote, keeping the integrity of the story while improving the book's grammar and sentence structure. Alexander, who speaks with a strong Vietnamese accent, said the editor was necessary to polish her use of the English language.-á

"My language is not too good,GÇ¥ Alexander said.

Managing Librarian Phil Spirito read several excerpts from Alexander's book. As a young child, Alexander recalls having to hide in a cave beneath their house because of the warfare that would erupt at night. Eventually, it got to a point where every night wielded fierce battle; the night air would be thick with gunfire and explosions.

"The vibrations sometimes were so powerful, I thought they would split my body apart,GÇ¥ Alexander wrote. "I thought my head would explode, my heart ached, and my limbs were uselessly limp with fear. The blasts sometimes lit up the tunnel so brightly that I could see my father holding my brother Tai tightly in his arms, while he was also using his body to block the opening of the cave.GÇ¥

Another excerpt described what it was like after the fall of Saigon in 1975, when the communists took over. Her parents lost their store to the communist government and were thrust into poverty.

"The communists took control of everything in Cu Chi. Our store couldn't re open because of the very sudden ' and what turned out to be brutal ' changes in the currency exchange: the whole country was in crisis, and our business had simply been bulldozed, flat,GÇ¥ wrote Alexander. "My parents also got in trouble because of the new government's new monetary exchange policy: my parents had too much cash on hand and the new government had set a very small allowance for every family.GÇ¥

Alexander eventually won a government scholarship, achieved a master's degree in accounting and was able to support her family. They had attempted to operate their own restaurant, but the communist government took that over as well, forcing them to work in their own restaurant.

Alexander shared her story with strength, resilience and a lively sense of humor. The decision to come to America was a difficult one, wrought with challenges, she said. After six months in a refugee camp in the Philippines, she landed in North Dakota in March 1993, and was greeted by a wall of snow and frigid temperatures. Her English instructional courses at the refugee camp did little to prepare her for total emersion into the language, and much to her dismay, her master's degree in accounting was useless in the U.S.

"I couldn't understand one word,GÇ¥ Alexander said. "I couldn't get any job in North Dakota.GÇ¥

So she came to Seattle.

Alexander said she was initially apprehensive about publishing something so personal for the entire world to read. But her husband encouraged her; he told her that her story was beautiful and that all American people would love to read it.

The book was published in February 2014.

"Basically, my whole book is blessing from God because I could not make it without praying,GÇ¥ Alexander said. "Any time I turned on my laptop, I had to pray first, "Please God, please Jesus, help me with my journal.' That is how I finished my book.GÇ¥

For more information about Alexander's book, visit www.facebook.com/A-Rose-on-the-Steel-Ground-786320744711709/. "A Rose on the Steel GroundGÇ¥ can be purchased at Main Street Books, 110 E. Main St., Monroe.