Honored President of the Association of the Hue Medical School Alumni, dear brothers and sister, dear friends and family members.
Please allow me to call you brothers and sister. I was told that in the Confucian tradition the teacher is like a father to his students. If you considered my father as your father, then it only stands to reason that you are my brothers and sister. And what a wonderful, talented group of siblings you are. Welcome to my family!
As I was thinking about this reunion and what to say tonight it occurred to me how pleased Vati would have been to see you all here and to learn of your success. He would be so proud to see what you have accomplished. And he would like to know how your lives went after Tet.
My father would have listened with great interest and compassion to your stories of suffering and fighting, your memories of the time you spent in prisons and in reeducation camps, your efforts to start a new life in new countries, to learn new languages, to pass medical exams all over again so that you could practice the profession you had been trained for. Not all of Vati’s students were able to make a professional adjustment in their new country and had to learn other skills to feed their families and to survive. He would be sad that they could not use the training that he had taught them but still be proud of them that they made a new life for themselves despite all the obstacles in their way.
His students and his patients, that was all my father cared about. He was a teacher and a healer through and through. He was not interested in money – he only carried a few piasters on him – and left all these matters to my mother. In Germany he would often accept food that his patients had grown in their fields as payment for his work and would be delighted. He did not like being called Professor by his patients but was happy when they called him simply Herr Krainick. Despite his vast knowledge my father was a simple man, a man who was confused by politics and intrigue, somebody who believed in the kindness of mankind, somebody who could not understand that anybody would want to hurt him. I will never forget a night spent at Da Nghi. An Englishman, my father and I were sleeping in a school house under our mosquito nets when we were woken up by the bullhorns of the Vietcong, announcing their presence and asking the villagers to assemble. The Englishman and I sat up under our nets, terrified. My father woke up briefly, decided that there was no danger and went back to sleep.
My father wanted to make sure that all his students would graduate. He stayed on, despite the danger that was looming on the horizon. He did not live to see his students finish their medical training and become successful physicians. But as I said earlier he would be so proud of what they accomplished.
 I want to stress here that without my mother’s love for my father, her unconditional support of him, his work and her care for the Vietnamese people my father could not have done what he did. My mother stood by my father, even when the Vietcong came for him. She was told to stay behind and she flatly refused. She worked on behalf of the poor in Hue, begged for money from ever body that she came in contact with, be it visitors to their apartment on Le Loi or the charitable organizations such as the Caritas in Germany. People said when you meet Mutti you have to keep your hands in your pocket!
For many years after my parents’ death I was not able to talk about them – it has only been in recent years that I have tried to reestablish the connections with those who still remember them.
I went back to Hue in 1995 – it was a very difficult visit. I met my brothers Binh, the pediatrician and a doctor whose name I don’t remember.  We cried together and comforted each other. I met many of you in Freiburg in 1991, almost 20 years ago, and kept in touch with Hua. Hua works in the spirit of Vati, dedicating his free time to the service of the disadvantaged children of Vietnam. I have tried to keep in touch with Mrs. Discher but have not been able to maintain the connection with her. I regularly speak with Pere Ai, the priest from Da Nghi, and hope to visit Vietnam with him one more time next year. He is now retired from the priesthood and lives in Missouri in a home for retired Vietnamese priest. He is the one that put me in touch with Dung Le from Houston who could unfortunately not be with us for this reunion.
I am delighted that you included my son Mark and his lovely wife Sarah in this celebration and that they have the opportunity today to gain a better understanding of their grandfather’s work and his life. I hope that my son John will meet you soon.
I have been deeply moved by the warm welcome and hospitality that has been extended to me ever since I was met by Hua and Thuong at the airport this morning.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight and to share my parents memory with you.
Come on
Orange County, 7th of August 2010

Almuth Riggs Krainick