Metal military compass measuring 7" in height, 6.6" in width, and weighing 5 lbs. The compass belonged to Ngo Van Thu, a former Major of the 2nd Infantry Division, who had been interned in a re-education prison camp from 1975 to 1984. After a failed escape attempt in 1986, he was able to flee Vietnam in 1989 on a boat with 149 other passengers, using his compass to sail over 500 miles to Malaysia, where he became the director of the Pulau Bidong refugee camp. Compasses were a rare and sought-after commodity as more and more people attempted to escape from Vietnam, and were regularly confiscated when refugees were stopped by the local police. Ngo Van Thu buried his compass after reaching Malaysia to safeguard it, and secretly sent it to America with the help of a priest. In 2023, he retrieved the compass and donated it to VHM.
