Thanh
Lê grew up in Da Nang, the first city in Vietnam where American forces
landed in 1965. A navy recruit, Thanh Lê escaped by himself from
Da Nang, drifting in a boat in the South China Sea to the Hainan Island,
thence to Hong Kong where he stayed in a refugee camp for nearly 18 months.
In 1979, he arrived in Canada as a refugee. Now married to a Vietnamese-born
refugee and living in Canada, Thanh Lê is a mould maker in Rexdale,
Ontario, where he works for Glendan Mould Inc. [Photo, courtesy Charles
J. Humber]