Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month - Airman 1st Class Luke L. Hoang Published May 21, 2013 By Airman 1st Class Luke L. Hoang ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Airman 1st Class Luke L. Hoang Network Infrastructure Technician 78 ABW/SCON Hometown: Fremont, Calif. Where are you from? Hue, Vietnam What does your heritage mean to you? Heritage means tradition. I never understood why my parents do certain things or why I am forced to act in certain ways. My parents and I are first-generation Vietnamese who came to America around 1991. My parents, having no prior experience with other cultures, heavily enforced Vietnamese cultures and tradition on me. The ideology of honoring one's parents and ancestor, do well in school, work hard make a good name of myself, and respect other people, including other elders. I tried my best to follow these traditions while growing up. I have always been an honor student, even though I struggle with English a lot. I have worked hard to take care of my seven siblings and contributed financially to my family at a very young age. I have graduated from a four year university and enlisted in the Air Force to make a good name of myself. These actions honor my parents and ancestors. I have also learned to be nice and courteous to other people along the way. This is who I am, Vietnamese-American: Born in Vietnam, live in America. What makes you most proud about being Vietnamese-American? I am proud to be a Vietnamese-American for my ability to care for other people. My parent's parents had many children and they too have many children. I grew up in a family of 10 people and I am the second oldest child. My parents taught me to care for my younger siblings which in turns taught me to care for people other than myself. I love surprising others with gifts or do some act of kindness. I think I have inherited this trait of caring for other people from my parents. I have seen my parents done great works to take care of people while I was growing up.