Scope and Contents

The collection consists of photographs, negatives, slides, documents, correspondence, and electronic media donated by Gary Ferguson. The material documents Gary Ferguson and his family's time spent working in refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia from April 1979 to the spring of 1982. Many of the materials document the camp of Ban Mak Mun located in Cambodia. This camp was the home of Khmer Serei soldiers, who were native anti-communist soldiers fighting against the Khmer Rouge
regime. There are also letters from refugees to the Ferguson family asking for help immigrating to the United States, and material related to Gary Ferguson's service in the U.S. Navy in the 1960's.

Biographical / Historical

Born in 1944 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gary Ferguson volunteered for the United States Navy in 1961 and served for almost four (4) years. After training, he was assigned to the USS Renshaw DD-499 and later to the USS Higbee DD-806 with an MOS of Electrician. He saw combat during the Gulf of Tonkin incident and earned multiple medals, ribbons and commendations while holding the rank of E4. Gary Ferguson was discharged in 1965 and after Vietnam became an electrician in Minnesota. He is a member of the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars).