from ho chi minh city, special correspondent mike cerre reports. >> we got one of those calls early oneng from a friend who contacted the embassy. he said, "embassy car is coming, pack the family into the car, only have one bag and get ready to go." >> my mother told me one story of how the vietcong were coming after us and we had to just lie down and feign death basically. she told me that she covered all of us in other people's blood. >> if i look back, that's probably one of the most dangerous parts of my life because we see death every second we're on that boat. my job was just, scoop the water out, all day long. and on the fifth day, i was passing out from not eating for five days. >> reporter: an estimated million and a half vietnamese have migrated to the united states since the end of the war- - often at great personal and professional sacrifice. but for most first generation vietnamese-americans there is little interest in coming back-- save to visit relatives. but for a younger generation of vietnamese-americans who have little reference to either the war or the communist take

special correspondent mike cerre sent us this profile of the u.s.'n in hanoi. ( speaking vietnamese ) >> reporter: breakfast at the u.s. ambassador's residence in hanoi, with a side order of vietnamese language lessons. >> i can speak what is a pretty difficult language, and i speak it pretty well. ( speaking vietnamese ) and so i think more often than not, people like to get out and mix it up, learn, really learn what's going on in the countries where they serve and make a difference. >> reporter: the closest most locals will ever come to an u.s. ambassador abroad is a passing motorcade or a heavily staged official event. but given the tortured relations between the united states and vietnam over the years, u.s. ambassador ted osius is dispensing with traditional protocols to help create a new reference point on u.s.-vietnam relations. his mission in vietnam started with a 1,200 mile bike ride, the length of the country, as a u.s. consular officer in 1995, soon after official relations between the two countries were restored. his bike diplomacy cont

on the turkey/syria border, mike cerre reporting for abc news. >> abc7 has done a lot of work with careinternational, especially reporting on refugee situations around the world, and the heartbreaking images of syrian refugees has been going on for some time, and we want to talk more about this with the new president of care. so joining me right now in the studio is michelle nunn. michelle, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> i have to get right to syria because that is a crisis you're dealing with right now, and the numbers are staggering. >> yeah. the numbers are staggering, and i'm not sure even that the public recognizes -- first of all, you think about there are 12 million people in syria that are in need of humanitarian assistance and support. there are 4 million refugees outside of syria, living primarily in jordan and lebanon and turkey. and so there's an enormous need for international organizations like care and the larger global community to help supply support for shelter, for food, for education, the most basic necessities, to allow people