Hoainhan "Paul" Truong is running as a candidate for election to the
Executive Board of the United States Chess Federation. He has made all
kinds of fantastic claims about himself and his business background.
He claims that he has been hired by billion dollar companies to save
them, and he has done so. However, he has never provided any
verifiable information about these claims, such as the names of the
companies that he saved or the people that he worked with or was
associated with during his business experience, or even what kind of
business he was in.

He also makes a lot of claims about his prior life in Vietnam before
he came to America. None of these claims can be verified either. For
example he says that he won the chess championship of Vietnam when he
was eight years old, that he won the chess championship of Vietnam
five times and that in 1971 he represented Vietnam in an international
chess tournament in Manila, Philippines. He says that he later escaped
as a boat person out of Vietnam.

However, today Paul Truong has made a new, even more fantastic claim.
He claims that he was inside the US Embassy Compound and he could have
taken the last helicopter out of Vietnam, but declined a seat on the
helicopter out of loyalty to his family.

The Fall of Saigon and the Last Helicopter out of Vietnam is one of
the most documented events in history, with newsreel coverage. Is
there no way that we can verify whether this latest story is true or
not? Here is what Paul Truong wrote about this today:


"I was at the US Embassy at the time of the last helicopter. Even
though my father worked for the US Embassy, we could not get in due to
the chaos. I finally made it through the gates but my mother, father
and less than 2 year old brother were stuck outside. They shouted at
me to get on the helicopter. But I decided not to abandon my family.
If we die, we would die as a family.

"I was stuck under the Communist regime for 4 years. My father was
hiding for those 4 years. If they caught him, they would have executed
him on the spot. I was the oldest son at 9 and I had to do what I can
for my family.

"My father and I finally escaped on the 4th anniversary of the fall of
Saigon. We left at 2 AM and they came to arrest my father and to take
me to the military at 6 AM due to a tip from an informant. They missed
us by 4 hours. I was 13. My classmates were not so lucky. They were
either drafted and died in the war or died trying to escape.

"During our escape as boat people, I had to witness women and young
girls being raped by Thai pirates over and over again. They killed
anyone who resisted. They raped and killed them in front of their
families.

"I have agreed to be interviewed for a major project about Vietnam. It
should take place in the next few months."