Tulsa family keeps US Marine's dream alive, while he is fighting in Kuwait

As war with Iraq looms closer, more citizen soldiers are called to duty. That leaves more families here at home holding things together until their loved ones get home. <br><br>News on 6 reporter Rick

Tuesday, March 11th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

As war with Iraq looms closer, more citizen soldiers are called to duty. That leaves more families here at home holding things together until their loved ones get home.

News on 6 reporter Rick Wells watched two women work extra hard to keep a young Marine's dream alive while he is in Kuwait.

"We got one order of Imperial Roll and one order of Citrus chicken. This is to go OK." Minh Nguyen is holding down the fort so to speak, until her son gets home. He is US Marine Cpl John Nguyen. He's one of many Broken Arrow Marine reservists now on active duty. He's in Kuwait, but they haven't heard from him.

Johnâ€™s fiancÃ©e, Shiau Ching Low: "When he was in Camp Pendleton he called a lot. But he left February 21st, until now we haven't heard anything from him." John Nguyen and Shiau Ching Low graduated from OSU in December. They planned to marry before he left but there wasn't time. So she's working in the restaurant too and her career as a Mechanical Engineer is on hold like everything else.

This is a classic American tale. The Nguyen's left Viet Nam in 1975, looking for a new life. "We have absolutely nothing. We have worked very very hard." The family opened a restaurant in south Tulsa about 13 years ago and this one was to be John's. He had just begun to make some changes when his call up came. â€œBefore he left he said mom, make sure it works. I want to have a home to come back to, he said."

Minh Nguyen knows what war is like perhaps more than most of us, she lived thru the Tet offensive in Hua, Viet Nam in 1968, and she's worried about her son. "He said this country has done a lot for us and he said he wanted to do something to contribute to that."

So they figure the least they can do is keep his restaurant dream alive until he gets home.

The Two Palms Island Bistro features Polynesian food and is on the east side of the Lighthouse Shopping Center. Thatâ€™s at 71st and Yale.

It's open every day.