European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 27, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 20 the stars and stripes january 1981 modern living Benny Dang earned engineering degree at Kansas by Tad Bartimus associated press Benny Dang knows the american dream int Hes living Back in april he arrived in the land of Liberty with nothing but the clothes on his Back and in the pocket of his shiny Black he had no family and no friends in this big country so far away from his native he was but Benny had guts and brains and and he believed everything hed Ever heard about that it was the land of Opportunity if a person worked that there was Freedom to be what he wanted to be As Long As he didst lie or cheat or that people were Friendly and Gener Ous and champions of the he didst know what the words malaise or isolationism or quota this Benny Dang graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in mechanical the Story of this chinese Horatio Alger from Saigon began a decade ago in a pleasant tree shaded Villa where Cuong Dang Benny lived with his parents and six Brothers and his a prosperous cattle merchant whose own father arrived in Vietnam As a penniless chinese refugee in made an important my father always took the Long View of recalls he figured the Days of the French were Over so there was no need to learn that he told me i must study because that what americans by april student Cuong Dang was fluent in vietnamese and he was packed to go to Taiwan on a and pave the Way for his family to join him if the communists overran but the plans went awry when a Distant relative turned up at the House one the 21yearold single Secretary needed a male companion to escort her out of Vietnam in the american what had once been a simple drive to the Airport on april a mad Benny and his terrified companion were bundled aboard a air Force plane where they huddled on the floor in then Slid backwards with a Jolt As the Pilot took off in a Steep climb to avoid ground i asked the gunner where we were going but he said he didst when we landed it was almost dark and i  see they took us to tents and i fell the next Day i found out i was in in late May he and his Distant Cousin were flown to fort for his who had Many friends at the american embassy in soon left the Camp with a sponsor and went to live on the East but Benny didst know anyone to Call for i just filled out All the forms and hoped somebody would want me i tried to have i just knew something Good would it Bill and Martha associate professors at fort Hays state University in had four three of them in but the plight of vietnamese refugees touched them they wanted to through Church world services they applied to take a Coll Geage student into their the Kansas social and rehabilitative services people cleared their credentials quickly because of their past record As Fine Foster the Claflin provided a clothes and moral the ecumenical Center on Campus helped with scholarship Aid for his at the end of the first Cuong renamed Benny somewhere along the made All As and he worked says his american he Benny had guts and brains and and he believed everything hed Ever heard about that it was i ii inn  mini the land of Opportunity if a person worked that there was Freedom to be what he wanted to was the first vietnamese at the but soon other families came to town and he started tutoring their kids in the Hospital would Call us sometimes and hed Rush Down and interpret at the emergency he soon became the most useful and ambitious person around the next summer he worked three from before Dawn until Way after i painted houses for the minimum i didst cheat anybody and did Good work and they told their and then i got More says the wiry Young i was a Gardener for the Hospital and Learned How to grow the Best grass they Ever that was eight hours a five Days a then id jump on my grab a and Rush Over to the car dealer to Wash i did Quality i saved and had enough to move into the dorm that he wangled financial Aid with his Fine the Claflin character reference and his obvious soon everybody at the student Aid office knew me remember Benny Dang in the one who always wants the Short term he hustled Money by washing dishes at the microbiology lab and grading calculus papers for a he drove his Way around town in probably the oldest Volks Wagen in existence and concentrated on advanced math and science classes while sailing through electives such As chinese language and because he enrolled late in he lacked four credit hours to graduate last he got his degree in january three months after taking the oath of american Cit Benny Dang is As american As the Perm press shirt on his Back and the easy Slang on his but in his he is still very much the child of centuries of chinese he believes in and deeply mourns the absence of his weve tried to figure out a Way to get Benny family out of but cant do anything until he gets his says then he can Institute an official As Benny Waits for the wheels of bureaucracy to Start grinding away on his he does what he can to help those he left last Christmas i sent Mon sodium Gnu powdered clothes 40 pounds Worth of things that Cost plus to i sent u by then waited and i heard from my they got the pack they were very grateful and and said Amer Ica must be wonderful to have such Nice i wrote Back and told it