NGUOI VIET - Vietnam-born U.S. soldier honored after Iraq death

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Vietnam-born U.S. soldier honored after Iraq death
Thursday, November 25, 2004 Compiled by Vann Phan

WESTMINSTER, Calif. — A Vietnamese refugee who fled through the jungles of Southeast Asia but died in the deserts of Iraq was buried on Nov. 19 with military honors.

Army Sgt. Quốc Bình Trần, 26, of Mission Viejo, was killed outside Baghdad on Nov. 7 when a car he was riding in was struck by a homemade bomb.

“You have fought the good fight,” his father, Văn Trần, said during services at the Vietnamese Alliance Church in Midway City. “You have finished your race. We know you had a life full of danger, but you never called back to complain...

“You have honored the Vietnamese in this country,” he added, standing in front of his son‘s flag-draped coffin. “I am so proud of you.”

The victim was buried at Riverside National Cemetery with a 21-gun salute.

Trần, a mechanic in the California Army National Guard, was deployed with the 81st Brigade Combat team based in Camp Murray, about 30 miles south of Seattle. He was a member of Company B, 181st Support Battalion, which is located in San Bernardino.

He was the ninth California guardsman killed in the conflict.

“Simply put, he is an American soldier,” Thomas W. Eres, adjutant general of the California National Guard, told mourners. “He joins a very special band of brothers. They will never be forgotten.”

More than 400 people, including about three dozen from the military, attended his funeral, where eulogies were offered in English and Vietnamese.

“There was no politics here,” said Jim Caccavo, a California National Guard reservist and former Vietnam War correspondent. “There was just a tribute to a very remarkable young guy who had quite a life and this is where it ends.”

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