Prominent local doctor and former Vietnamese refugee Hoa Nguyen said Guam and the U.S. should welcome Afghan refugees with open arms.

The good doctor said these people helped our American soldiers, and deserve to be spared from any potential harm when the troops leave their country.

Nguyen was just 14 years old when his family was evacuated to Guam in 1975 as part of Operation New Life. The U.S. was withdrawing from his native Vietnam after a long war that saw the communists gain control of the country. 46 years later he sees the same thing happening with the planned US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

"I was tearing when I hear the news that they possibly going to come here," he said. "It bring back a lot of good memory."

"I would say that Guam should welcome them," Nguyen said. "They helped the US a whole lot and if they're left behind more likely they'll be killed, I'm very, very sure of that."

President Biden's plan is to withdraw all US troops in a few months, leading to what many believe will be the rise of an oppressive Taliban regime. Dr. Nguyen believes thousands of Afghans who supported American military efforts are in peril. He said they deserve help, just like his family received.

"We had a new opportunity in life given to us from the US and people on Guam," he said. "I cannot be who I am now unless in 1975 we find that Guam did not open their arms to us. That why this is part of the family here, Guam is my island."

His family took full advantage of the opportunity. Nguyen and all of his siblings in the mainland are physicians, serving their communities.

"For the people of Afghanistan, I'm very sure they're nice people. And lots of them will contribute a great deal to the united states if they're given the opportunity to start a new life for them," he said. 

"We are the greatest nation on earth," Nguyen said. "Not because of one single individual or one single ethnicity. It's a melting pot. You got the best of the best. And that's why the United States is so great of a country."