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(FOX 5\/KUSI) \u2014 In the heart of San Diego\u2019s vibrant\u00a0Little Saigon\u00a0community of City Heights, along a small six-block stretch of El Cajon\u00a0Boulevard, nearly every shop and business owner has a story about second chances.\u00a0The Tran\u00a0family is no exception.<\/p>\n
Brittany, Nicholas, Victoria, Vu and San are siblings. Their family built the Vien Dong World Foods Supermarkets<\/a> after escaping at the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon.<\/p>\n Nicholas Tran was just 4 years old. His memories are still vivid.\u00a0\u201cWe didn\u2019t choose to leave Vietnam.\u00a0I\u2019m emotional now, that\u2019s what I remember they had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n On April 30, 1975, the Fall of Saigon\u00a0marked the end of the Vietnam War and the beginning of a mass exodus of Vietnamese refugees fleeing their country.<\/p>\n Read more stories about the 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cYou had\u00a0to walk through the swamp to get to the ocean. It was so scary, because it was so dark and you were walking through the mud, trying\u00a0not to get detected,\u201d said Nicholas.<\/p>\n With four children in tow \u2013 including a toddler and a 3-month-old the family left Vietnam in the middle of the night, hiding aboard a small fishing boat.<\/p>\n Brittany Tran Olarsch is the eldest of the siblings. She was just 6 years old when the family escaped.\u00a0 \u201cWe had no food, no water for three days at sea. I remember hearing children crying, begging for water. It was the most painful memory for my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople were so thirsty they were drinking saltwater, we had a couple of people die.\u00a0The bodies, they threw them overseas and you keep moving,\u201d\u00a0Nicholas recalls.<\/p>\n Read more stories about Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage <\/a><\/p>\n After surviving days out at sea, the family spent over a year in a Malaysian refugee camp. Eventually sponsored by an American church,\u00a0they arrived in San Diego in March of 1979 with no money and just the shirts on their backs.<\/p>\n Nicholas Tran will never forget what his father had to say. \u201cMy mom cried, and she asked my dad, \u2018How are we going to survive?\u2019 And my dad said, \u2018We didn\u2019t come this far just to fail.’\u201d<\/p>\n The family survived on donations and lived in a 2-bedroom apartment with other refugees. Sen, their father, a businessman in Vietnam, saw a need.<\/p>\n Victoria Tran talked about her father\u2019s desire to open a grocery store.\u00a0\u201cHe missed home, and we were always looking for our own kinds of food, so that\u2019s why he started a grocery store, to help the refugees connect back to our homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n So, from a small streetside market, Vien Dong quickly grew into a cornerstone of the community. What began as a way to bring a taste of home is now not one, but two thriving stores in City Heights.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve come a long way. Our parents made so many sacrifices, not knowing what the outcome would be. But they took a chance, a risk,\u201d said Brittany.<\/p>\n From the Fall of Saigon 50 years ago, to the heart of San Diego today.<\/p>\n \u201cThe American Dream really is that you can be anything you want if you work hard enough for it. Even if the odds are against you, if you\u2019re willing to work hard enough, and you\u2019re here in America, it\u2019s possible,\u201d said Vu Tran.<\/p>\n Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/i><\/p>\n