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Dr. Patrick Lam - Immigrant Stories

Patrick Lam was seven when he fled South Vietnam on a wooden junk with several aunts in 1979. They spent several months on the small Indonesian island of KuKu. A refugee agency then assisted them on their journey as refugees to the United States, first landing in San Francisco before being sent to Port Arthur, Texas, and finally to the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Over the next few years they followed work and moved to several Chicago suburbs, with Patrick attending a succession of schools. Patrick did well in school and eventually earned a medical degree.

Interview Links

Feature Excerpt

Fleeing from Vietnam

Abstract

Interview Session (Audio)

Transcript

Photos

Caption
Patrick Lam in 2014 with daughters Melodie and Isabella.

Where:
Unknown

When:
2014

Ownership:
Narrator’s photo

Caption
Patrick Lam with his family in 2014 at their home in Springfield. From left to right are Patrick’s mother-in-law, his wife Mary, his daughter Melodie, daughter Isabella and Patrick.

Where:
Springfield, Illinois

When:
2014

Ownership:
Narrator’s photo

Caption
Patrick and his daughters, Melodie and Isabella, with the interviewer, Ed Cunningham, during Patrick’s interview in 2014.

Where:
Office of Brown Hay

When:
2014

Ownership:
Narrator’s photo