#5 Samaritan Court

Mai-Thuy Swenka’s moving and powerful biography, #5 Samaritan Court, will challenge everything you think you know about the Vietnam War, the devastation of its people, and the unbridled heroism of its survivors.

# 5 Samaritan Court was more than an address located on a quiet street on Norton Air Force Base in Southern California. It was home and headquarters of a massive “rescue operation” orchestrated by Mai-Thuy to bring forty-nine family members to freedom in the wake of one of the most tragic wars of our time.

From a childhood spent in the throes of war-torn North Vietnam to her escape and resettlement in South Vietnam, Ha-Thi-Mai-Thuy seemed destine to live forever in the shadow of war. Yet it was love that thrust this youthful and vibrant young woman into the center of history. Skilled in English, Mai-Thuy’s career intersected with America’s growing military presence in Vietnam and led to a magical moment in 1970 when handsome Air Force Captain Ronald A. Swenka walked into the store where she worked and into her life forever.

Yet not even a happy marriage and a new life in America could overcome the catastrophe unfolding in homeland, and the fact that Ho Chi Minh’s victory was a death warrant for the millions of Vietnamese people who opposed him, including Mai-Thuy’s father, Ha-Mai-Anh, a famed Vietnamese educator and author.

Mai-Thuy refused to see this happen. From # 5 Samaritan Court, the young couple’s first home in America, she launched a relentless campaign to rescue her entire family by whatever means necessary.

However, as this very human story depicts, the challenges and heartaches inevitable in resettling in America, a world apart from everything her family had ever known was only the beginning.

This is a deeply personal and honest memoir of a true Samaritan.