DAVID GUSTAVSEN • VIETNAM WAR
David Gustavsen, 77
Swampscott, MA
Born 12/13/1948
Born/Raised: Swampscott, MA
Service: US Army
Rank: 1st Sergeant
Dates of Service: 1969-1971,
National Guard: 1977-2003
David Gustavsen is a regular at the Cape Ann Veterans Center despite not being from Cape Ann, but Swampscott, the town he was born, raised and still lives in is close enough for his fellow veterans. The son of Ivar and Barbara, David graduated from Swampscott High School in 1966. After high school he secured a job at Champion Lamp where his mother worked until he was drafted in July 1969.
Basic training at Fort Dix led to his posting at Fort Stewart, GA, where he was trained as a plumber. He was never a plumber for the Army. He was then sent to Binh Thuy, Vietnam with the 34th Engineer Group and ended up transporting and supervising Vietnamese civilian workers. His next round of training was to become a carpenter, but he was never a carpenter for the Army. He did however fall in love.
“It was love at first sight.” David met Thuyet Lam who, at the time, was a house girl. “We just struck it up. I’d never had a girlfriend.” The Army discouraged soldiers from marrying, and when he was sent back to the states, Thuyet was seven months pregnant. He stayed in touch though and with the assistance of the Pearl Buck Foundation, he was able to send money. After the peace treaty was signed in 1973, he returned to Vietnam and was met by Thuyet, her mother and his daughter Kieu Oanh. He returned to the states to begin the paperwork trying to get her to the US as a fiancée, but because of family issues in Vietnam, they were unable to complete the paperwork.
It wasn’t until 1974 that the couple had a civil marriage in Vietnam, and he began new paperwork to bring them to the US as American citizens. In April 1975, the fall of Saigon upended their plans and the couple lost touch. David had no idea where his family was or whether they were even alive. He found them again in 1976 living in Can Tho and redoubled his efforts to get them to the US. In 1978 they succeeded in releasing Tuyet, their daughter and her mother, and another “daughter” Tuyet’s niece, Kieu Em, who was a year younger than Kieu Oanh. Senator Edward Kennedy was at the airport to welcome their arrival in Boston. They had a third daughter, Inga, who was born in the US. They now have five grandchildren. They were married for 31 years when Tuyet died in 2005.
David worked for a while at Phillips as a production mechanic making lightbulbs before taking a position at the Swampscott DPW. He retired in 2015. He served in the National Guard from 1977 to 2003. Now he spends his days making the rounds at veterans’ centers in the area and attending Bruins games.