Dat Thanh Chau

Dat Thanh Chau, 82 years old, of Lawrenceville died Thursday, March 6, 2025 at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center in Snellville due to a sudden, unexpected cardiac arrest. 

Mr. Chau was born in November 26, 1942 in Vietnam. His parents emigrated from China, a communist country, in searched of freedom, to South Vietnam.

He had served as a General in the South Vietnamese War, an U.S. ally, against the communist country of North Vietnam in 1955. 

When North Vietnam won over South Vietnam, he was imprisoned for nine years and a half by the Viet Cong through forced labor. 

Upon hearing that the U.S. was a free country and a refuge for any South Vietnamese soldiers who had served in the South Vietnam War, he was excited to write a letter to the U.S. Embassy to resettle him and his family in the U.S. 

In between while waiting for the U.S. Embassy’s approval and being released from prison by the Viet Cong, he worked at a plastic factory for sometime. One day, one of the plastics was stuck in between the machine. His left arm reached out to remove it, but the machine crushed his lower arm, with a flab of skin hanging below it. Phuoc, his younger brother, begged the doctor to keep his arm. The doctor took the skin from his left belly and started reconstructing the left arm. 

After recovering from this traumatic event, the U.S. Embassy sent him a letter, letting him know his application to go to America was approved. 

 The U.S. flew him, his wife, and daughter over to Atlanta, Georgia in 1994. 

He can speak Chinese (dialects in Mandarin, and Hokkien), Vietnamese, and French and a little bit of English. 

He was a very smart and handy-man  at home who loved his family: when things around the house needed some fixings and installations: he did it himself using self-help YouTube videos as guidance. He’d installed security camera, replaced electric stove elements, installed shower heads, fixed leaky sink and shower, makes the best fried and crunchy fish, whatever the family needs him to help with. 

 A service will be held on Saturday, March 15 at Fischer Funeral Care in Atlanta from 9:00 am until 11:00 am.  

followed with a burial at 12pm

He is survived by his children: Quy, Quang, Quan, and Oanh. 

He is also survived by his brother, Phuoc; sisters, Khanh and Bich Kinh, an ex-wife from previous marriage, and three grandchildren.

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