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Published 12:11 pm PDT Wednesday, June 7, 2006

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Thuy "Ann" Nguyen, 31, is flanked by her parents Them and Thong Nguyen as she looks for her groom - Dale Shimasaki - during their traditional wedding ceremony at her parent's San Jose home on April 8, 2005. Ann was a young child on the boat known as the Peace at Sea, captained by her father that escaped from central Vietnam. Sacramento Bee/Manny Crisostomo

Sea of change

On a dark beach, journey began with a glimmer of freedom

A quarter century ago, 45 people waited on a remote Vietnam beach, yearning to escape. Today, they and the six crew members who piloted the boat called the Peace at Sea are our neighbors. They live and work in Sacramento, Stockton, San Jose and Half Moon Bay, where they have found what they dreamed of in April 1980: freedom.

Read their stories and view their photo albums by clicking on the links at right.

Video story

Ann Nguyen Shimasaki, the boat captain's daughter, tells their story of immigration and assimilation, friendships made and bonds broken - a story that is universal and yet uniquely their own, in this video story by Sacramento Bee photographer Manny Crisostomo.

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Sea of change

On a dark beach, journey began with a glimmer of freedom

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