Sinh’s Journey: A 2,500-Mile Walk Across America
Photos by Will Parson
In his gym shorts and Army shirt, Sinh Tho Nguyen appeared out of place in the front row of a veteran’s memorial ceremony. But, sitting among dozens of servicemen and veterans in uniform, with various buttons pinned neatly to their caps, Sinh was the guest of honor for the unveiling of a memorial plaque for the late astronaut Wally Schirra at the top of Mt. Soledad in San Diego. Eventually one of the speakers briefly introduced Sinh and explained how the next day he was going to finish walking across the country in honor of America and its veterans.
As shuttles whisked away droves of aging veterans after the ceremony, I got a sense of Sinh’s purely selfless character.
A woman approached and told him bluntly, “You’re amazing.”
Sinh’s arresting reply, as lines formed on his brow, was, “No, I’m not.”
His answer left him and the woman in tears.
The next day, Sinh was on the corner of Newport Avenue and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard in San Diego’s Ocean Beach, waiting to finish the last three blocks of his 2,500-mile journey. He was surrounded by members of the local chapter of the VFW and a middle-aged group holding banners saying “Vietnamese War Babies. Amerasian. To Honor Our Hero Fathers.”
Sinh, born in 1969 in Vietnam, calls himself a war baby as well. His father, whom he never knew, was an American soldier serving in Vietnam. A veteran himself, Sinh served eight years in the Army and Texas National Guard. He lives in Forth Worth, Texas and works as a water meter reader.
With bagpipes playing, a small impromptu parade with Sinh at the front walked down Newport Avenue to the Pacific Ocean. Shops and restaurants gave up their denizens to a growing crowd that occasionally erupted in spontaneous applause. Tears marked some faces as Sinh moved to the sidewalk for hugs and handshakes.
On the boardwalk, Sinh stopped at a temporary memorial to stick his business card – the same one he’s been handing out to everyone he’s met since he started walking in Florida on June 10 – in the boot of a firefighter’s uniform arranged with those of other servicemen. With eyes welling, he gestured to a POW/MIA flag.
The bagpipes stopped to let Sinh be heard. He collected his emotions and shouted his mission one last time in hoarse, stilted English: “Lest we forget. I walk across America to honor those who serve.”
Sinh waded into the tide with his sign and an American flag, which he soaked in the water before draping some seaweed around his neck. With his back to friends and strangers watching from the sand, a woman commented, “Look at him, he’s so happy. He doesn’t want it to end.”
He did eventually leave, not on foot, but in an SUV. Even then, his hand was raised high outside the car’s window in the well-practiced gesture of friendship that he has enjoyed thousands of times during his five-month trek.
Sinh Tho Nguyen, a veteran of the Army National Guard, completes his "Shore to Shore" journey on foot in San Diego's Ocean Beach on November 8.
