Over the past week, the Vietnamese community in San Jose, and across the United States, has come together in writing and reflection to mourn the passing of Vũ Văn Lộc (Former Colonel of Republic of South Vietnam), a man whose quiet resolve and lifelong dedication helped shape the Vietnamese community in San Jose, and whose influence continues to be felt across generations and across the Vietnamese diaspora.
For more than five decades, Vũ Văn Lộc committed himself to
a singular purpose: to help a displaced people rebuild their lives with
dignity, and to ensure that their history would not be forgotten. The institutions he envisioned and
founded—most notably the Immigrant Resettlement and Cultural Center (IRCC) and
the Viet Museum—stand today as enduring pillars of San Jose community. At a time when refugees arrived with little
more than memory and hope, these institutions provided not only material
assistance, but also something far less tangible and far more enduring: a sense
of belonging, and the assurance that their experiences mattered.
Shaped by two wars that defined the fate of the nation, he
carried within him a quiet yet profound anguish over the human condition and
the fractured fate of the Viet people divided by civil conflict. Vũ Văn Lộc understood that survival alone was
not enough. A community, he believed, must also remember. Through his
writings—marked by human compassion and historical witness—he recorded the
painful refugee journey, the struggle of rebuilding in exile, and the determined emergencof a diasporic
identity. In doing so, he gave voice to stories that might otherwise have been silent,
stories of loss and perseverance, of assimilation and resilience, and of lives
shaped by the long aftermath of war
Many regard the Viet Museum in San Jose as Colonel Vũ Văn Lộc’s
most impactful legacy. Built nearly from nothing but humility, sustained by
conviction rather than resources, it stands today not merely as a collection of
artifacts and documents, but as a living space of collective memory. It is also a bridge between past and future shaping identity and historical awareness of the diaspora journey.
The Legacy of Viet Museum Is Under Threat
In recent online discussions, some opinions have suggested that the disputes surrounding the Viet Museum, which began during Advent of 2024 (Christmas 2024), caused profound emotional distress to Vũ Văn Lộc during the final months of his life.
