Another Family Reunion

And with that, a summer break

My mother’s June 1975 calendar entry—”Jim to arrive.”

Early in June 1975, the Welch family was reunited once again.

The first time was when my mother, my six siblings, and our dog Duffy joined our father in Saigon in July 1974. We’d been separated from 1972-74 while he was working in Vietnam and we were safely ensconced in the family haven of Taiwan. He’d written to me saying that the move would be “an adventure for the whole family.”

What an adventure those ten months turned out to be.

The Washington Post, April 30, 1975

After he joined us in Boise, Idaho—where we’d been awaiting his arrival since our evacuation in early April—we drove across the country (yes, all of us in one station wagon!) to start a new post-war chapter in the home we’d occupied before leaving for Korea in 1970.

However, after a year spent languishing in the basement of the CIA HQ in Langley (as I recall him saying), my father chose to retire. After a year muddling in the suburbs of Virginia, my mother chose to foster a relocation once again. This time to Maui, Hawaii, where we could enjoy a blend of the East & the West, and where she could seek some peace after what she called a “rugged time.”

The family in 1980 on Charley Young’s Beach. Photo by Yvonne Alexander.

This photo reminds me of many hours spent outside, enjoying fresh air and sunshine. It speaks of days spent on a beach towel, reading and watching the clouds go by. The image beckons, and it is a calling I cannot ignore.

In the past three years, I’ve published numerous “Stories of Vietnam,” and I hope you’ve found value in them. A pause from the stories this summer will give them time to breathe and for us (I hope you all will) enjoy the gifts of summer. I will return in September to check in and look forward to meeting you again there.

With kind regards,

Kat Fitzpatrick

One of my favorite Hawaii photos. My sister Kim and I showing that you can climb a coconut tree—if it’s not too tall.

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About Kat Fitzpatrick, M.F.A.

I am the author of the nonfiction book, For the Love of Vietnam: a war, a family, a CIA official, and the best evacuation story ever heard, which combines the history of the Vietnam War with tales from my family’s lives including how we resided in Saigon in 1974-75 as the North Vietnamese Army was making its way toward the city, and how, at the eleventh hour, my father, a CIA official, coordinated the rescue of over 1,000 South Vietnamese—the staff and families of “House Seven.”

I continue to publish current and retrospective “Stories of Vietnam” here on Substack, adding layers to my own stories as well as featuring other voices, including those of Vietnam veterans and Vietnam refugees. I reside in the Capital District of New York.