The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 212, Ed. 1 Monday, July 6, 1981 Page: 7 of 28
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\THE BAYTOWN SUN
Monday, July 6, 1981
VIET CADET: Refugee Is Freshman At West Point Military Academy
NEW YORK (AP) - Posters of
American jet fighters and of Ronald
Reagan’s presidential campaign
plaster his bedroom walls. His high
school classmates nicknamed him “the
General" and call him “ultra-
conservative.”
So it didn’t seem remarkable to them
that their friend should tipply for, and
win, admittance to the U.S. Military
Academy at West Point, class of 1985v
What is remarkable is that the skin-
ny, bespectacled 17-year-old who check-
ed into the military academy on the
banks of the Hudson River was 5'/2
years ago a refugee from America’s
most unpopular war — and unable to
say even “yes” and “no” in English.
Hung Vu is one , of the first two
Southeast Asian refugees to be ac-
cepted into the ranks of this country’s
military elite as a citizen — a brand
new citizen as of June 1.
For the quiet, personable youth, join-
ing “the long, gray line” is the crown-
ing achievement of what'he called “the
most difficult years” of his life, starting
Oct. 9, 1975, when he.arrived here with
his family, confused, -homeless and
depressed.
For his father, Tu Vu - a 10-y.ear
« , Vietnam Air Force veteran, three-time
refugee and “stateless person” for five
years — it caps the dream he has had
for his family since war forced them to
move from North Vietnam to. South
Vietnam in 1954, to neighboring Laos in
1968 and to France in May 1975, days
before South Vietnam fell to the com-
munists.
Aided by the Catholic Relief Services,
for whom Tu Vu has worked both in
Laos and Manhattan, the family reach*
ed the United States five months later.
Life was not easy. Tu Vu worked a se-
cbnd job as a United Nations security
guard to support his wife and two
children. He helped his wife shop until
she9 learned English through a night
course. Hung “didn’t even know how to
say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when he arrived,” the
Rev. Robert Charlebois, Tu Vu’s
employer, said.
“At first it was so frustrating,” Hung
said. “For my first (school) report I
had to look up almost every word from
the dictionary, and I couldn’t unders-
tand the questions on the tests.”
But within six months of-his arrival,
Hung had decided one thing — he
wanted a military careen.'
“My friends.think I’m crazy and joke
that I’m ultra-conservative, but they
still respect me,” said the honors
^ graduate of Newtown High School in
Queens. "
Perhaps because ofibe war he sur-
vived, national defense is one of Hung’s
deep interests. His convictions, ex-
pressed in a mature, three-page state-
By DON KENDALL
AP Farm Writer .
WASHINGTON -
Despite some improvement
in the livestock market, the
government’s overall price
index for farm ..com-
Summer Clearance
Sundresses
GLORIA VANDERBILT
DENIMS
STOREWIDE
60%
50%
OFF
OFF
2277
ment on why.he wanted to attendAVest
Point, were what impressed the admis-
sions board “right off the bat,” said
Capt. Blanche Mazur, his admissions
officer. ‘ '
He wrote about freedom and the fear
of losing it. He also expressed fear that
the citizens of his new country may not
care.
"Most young men no longer feel
responsible for fighting for this nation’s
freedom, the freedom that has made
America what it is today — the greatest
nation on Earth,” he wrote.
Perhaps, he said, America is in this
“confused” state because they are not
being offered leadership. “I am willing
to be a part of that leadership,” he
wrote._
“We don’t get that many thought-
provoking letters,” Ms. Mazur said.
“Oh, we get some applicants talking
about patriotism,‘but you could tell his
was genuine and you knew where it
came from. Plus, therfe was no extra
credit he had to be given. He earned
everything himself.”
His long list of achievement includes
a four-year grade-point average of
90.97, a state Regents scholarship,
Scholastic Aptitude Test marks of 520 in
English and 620 in math out of a perfect
800, and membership in the Uivil Air
Patrol, the National Honor Society and
student government.
AH this is in addition to wdrking four
days a week, four hours a day, at his
neighborhood pharmacy._
Hung was accepted into the, largest-
ever class of plebes, 1,550 men and
women chosen from among 11,000 ap-
plicants. With him will be another Viet-
namese refugee-turned citizen, Jean
Nguyen from Milton, Pa.
"Her father and I were in the same
unit in Vietnam and I can hardly wait to
meet her," Maj. Mack Brooks of the ad-
missions office said, adding that Miss
Nguyen is “superiorly motivated.”
In his easy-going way, h_..g will tell a
visitor the same about himself. He
wants to work as a Pentagon weapons
analyst. His major interests are politics
and civil and aerospace engineering —
both of which he intends to major in at
West Point. Someday he wants to work
for the CIA. „ k
“1 have a lot of ambitions," he said
with a small Smile.
He will tell you how American he
feels. His friends will tell you how
American he acts.
In a yearbook filled with scribbled
farewell notes over class pictures is a
longer than usual message from Hung’s
good friend, John Strugaru:
“General Hung,” it begins. “A
misleading name. You would think
Hung belongs somewhere in the Orient,
right? Wrong! Hung belongs In the In-
ner depths of America’s tradition.
“As congressman,” Strugaru adds
grandly, “I’ll propose a bill to add you
to the motto: “French fries, apple pie,
Chevrolet” and now “Hung.’
Kendall 's Farm Scene 8
Price Index Drops Despite Livestock Market Rise
Crop Reporting Board said.
Meanwhile, the prices
farmers pay to meet ex-
penses rose 0.7 percent
from May and averaged 10
percent above.a year ago.
Higher prices for farm
modifies dropped last equipment and family liv-
month, largely because of
lower prices for grain and
soybeans.
The Agriculture Depart-
ment said Tuesday that the
price index declined 0.7 per-
cent in June but still
averaged 11 percent higher
than a year ago.
Officials, said lower
prices te. TvLcct; soybeans
corn, hay and lettuce led
the decline.
However, higher prices
for hogs, tomatoes,
potatoes, broilers and
turkeys helped offset the
decline for the other com
modifies, the departments
Sale Good Monday-Saturday
No Layaways * All Sales Final
2227 N. Alexander
427-3098
Welch sees a woman’s
back, he says.he tries not to
think of it as. skin. . * ,
“I think of it as my can-
vas,” said the 33-year-old
tattoo artist who says more
women than ever are com-
ing into his parlor to have
colorful decorations per-
"THE PLACE FOR THE
FORGOTTEN WOMAN"
30%-50% OFF
SELECTED GROUP OF
SUMMER MERCHANDISE
LARGE SIZES:
77"
TOPS: 36-52
BOTTOMS: 30-46 WAIST
DRESSES: 16%-26%
36-46
BEGINS: TUESDAY, JULY 7,1981
ALL SALES FINAL
NO LAY AWAYS
(THIS AD DOES NOT INCLUDE SWIMWEAR
7' - PANTYHOSE, JEANS OR SLIPS)
BAY VILLAGE
TALL SIZES:
TOPS: 10-20 & S-M-L-XL
BOTTOMS: 10-22
DRESSES: 10-22
SLEEPWEAR: S-M-L
ing items contributed most
to the increase during the
month, while lower prices
were reported for feed and
fuel, the report said.
According to the
preliminary June figures,
which are based mostly on
mid-month averages,
prices of meat animals as a
group rose 3.3 percent from
May. The index was 4.7 per
cent above a year earlier.
Prices of food grains as a
group, including wheat and
rice, dropped 6.4 percent
from May. The index was
up 2.6 percent from a year
ago
He Gives Needle
To More Women
The June index for oil- theoreticaSly, that, farmers are averages for all types of with $13.30 in May and
ing
ed.
GALVESTON *(AP) -r-
When “Harpoon” Barry
‘mother’ on her right arm,”
Welch said. “I put it there
myself.”
But a rose or a rosebud is
the most asked-for tattoo
for wotnen customers at
Harpoon Barry’s Tattoo
Parlor, lie said.
“Usually they want it on
their back or on a breast,”
he said. “I had four girls
420-1843
SHOPPING CENTER
2225 N. ALEXANDER
I f' gffibftzbridd1 off :Ou»fiitfy * JSutrwfcw *■'
SUMMER CLEARANCE
30% to 50%
OFF
SUMMER
MERCHANDISE
various parts of their
bodies.
“It’s not all just sailors
and foreign people.
Nowadays your everyday
person is walking into a tat-
too parlor — your middle-
aged housewife, your
secretary. ’' Welch says.
“I even had a 65-year-old
retired schoolteacher. She
said the'only reason she
wanted a tattoo was for con-
versation at her bridge par
ty,” said Welch, who has a
wooden leg and could pass
as a pirate in a movie about
swashbucklers.
The walls of his parlor on
20th Street are plastered
with hundreds of patterns
waiting to be placed by a
special ink needle on arms,
chests, hipp7 breasts,
thighs, fingers, toes and
other places on the human
body
“Some people want them
in the wierdest places,
Welch said. “One guy
wanted a bird on his
ankle.”
He said young girls often
get small tattoos on their
buttocks so their parents
won’t know they have them
The old standby
heart with “mother” or
girl’s name printed in the
middle — is still a popular
tattoo, Welch said
— a
“My girlfriend hasjon a Galveston street
OUR BOARDING HOUSE
bearing crops, includin;
soybeans and cottonseed
declined 4.2 percent from
May but still was 28 percent
above a year ago.
Vegetable prices at the
farm dropped 10 percent
from a month earlier, with
lower prices for lettuce,
celery and onions accoun-
ting for most of it, the
report said. Higher prices
for tomatoes partially off-
set the decline. Compared
with a year ago, the overall
index was up 4 percent
Department economists
predict retail food prices
will go up an average of
about 10 percent this year,
compared with an 8.6 per
cent increase in 1980, the
smallest one-year gain
since 1977..
After sagging earlier this
year, livestock prices are
expected to move up
gradually and help boost
overall food prices in the se-
cond half of 1981, compared
with their relatively slow
gains in the first half
Farm prices in June
averaged 141 percent of a
1977 base price average
now used for comparison,
according to the
preliminary figures
The June parity ratio was
62 percent, down one point
from May but the same as a
year ago.
At 100 percent, the
dicator would mean,
have the same buying
power they had in 1910-14.
For example, the
average actual price of
wheat in June, according to
the, preliminary figures,
was $3.67 a bushel. That
was 52 percent of‘the June
parity price for wheat of
$7.11 a bushel.
The report also said :
—Cattle averaged $59.10
per 100 pounds of live
weight nationally, com-
pared with $59 in May and
$61.10 in June 1980. Those
cattle sold as beef,
—Hogs average^ $47.20
per 100 pounds, Compared
with $40.90 in May and
$33.10 a year ago.
-Corn, at $3.16 a bushel,
compared with $3.24 in May
and $2.49 a year ago.
—Wheat prices" at the
farm, according to the
preliminary figures,
averaged , $3.67 a bushel,
compared with $3.95 in May
and $3.69 a year ago
—Rice averaged $12.70
per 1QQ pounds, compared
$10.20 in June 1980.
-Soybeans were $6.99 a
bushel against $7.42 in May
and $5.91 a year ago.
—Upland cotton was 72.9
cents a pound on a national
average, compared with
72.3 in May and 62.8 a year
ago.
—Eggs were 57.1 cents a
dozen, compared with 56.3
in May and48.9 a year ago.
—Broiler chickens, at
29.2 cents a pound, com-
pared with 28.2 in May and
25.1 cents a year ago.
V./ 7-—.-.' 11 MM MM Fit f 11 P
one wanted it someplace
different.”
Men usually want birds,
especially eagles, he said.
He said the state of the
art has become much safer
with the use of sterile ink
and a sterile needle, which
is attached to a machine
that works like a jackham-
mer, repeatedly puncturing
the skin ''arid depositing
small amounts of color.
“You haveto forget about
it being someone’s skin you
are working on,” Welch
said. “I try to think of it as
my canvas.”
His customers relax in a
coin-Studded barber chair
while Welch, a former
seaman who learned tattoo
ing from a veteran artist in
Houston, puts permanent
images on their skin
‘When they ask us if we
can remove them, we tell
them no,” Welch ^aid
Welch fits the-image of a
seaport tattoo artist with
his peg leg and the images
of dragons, parrots and
eagles covering his own
body. He even used to work
on the high, seas, as .a
crewman on a cargo ship
But he did not lose his leg
while battling pirates for
buried treasure. It was the
result of a traffic accident
SUMMER SALE
SELECTED GROUP SPORTSWEAR
UP TO 50% OFF
SELECTED GROUP DRESSES
30% OFF
4V
2324 BAY PLAZA
422-9188
I ,—vV'Sf-jLY!'..
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with Major Hoople
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IV
2,301 N. ALEXADER
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• \ «•
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427 621 Jr
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Brown, Leon. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 59, No. 212, Ed. 1 Monday, July 6, 1981, newspaper, July 6, 1981; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1019511/m1/7/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.