It’s April 1975, and the last American helicopter is about to leave Saigon. As the blades of the aircraft loudly churn, 17-year-old Kim desperately searches for her love, an American G.I.

But he’s forced onto the helicopter. And surrounded by the intense, painful screams of her fellow Vietnamese, Kim crumples to the ground as she sees her love fly away.

To Jacqueline Nguyen, it’s more than just a scene from “Miss Saigon.” Not just because she is playing the lead role of Kim at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. She is believed to be the first Vietnamese-American woman in that part, said David Elzer, publicist for the theater.

But the dramatic story, in some ways, is the story of her mother.

“My mom experienced that. My mom has lived and breathed the war,” Nguyen said.

This weekend, Vietnamese-Americans commemorate the Fall of Saigon, which marked the communist takeover of South Vietnam and the end of the Vietnam War 37 years ago this Monday. They call this month “Black April.”

THE MOTHER

“This is the story. I know it well,” said Jacqueline’s mother, Minh Nguyen, of San Diego.

Minh Nguyen hated the communists from an early age.

When she was 2, she said communist Viet Cong soldiers organizing in South Vietnam killed her father.

“My life story is very bad. My daddy worked for a French (military) company. They want my daddy to join the Vietnamese communists. My daddy refused to do that. They came and took my daddy in the night. And they killed him.

“The next morning, the office where my daddy works, the people found a bag. My daddy’s head was in it. And my daddy’s body was somewhere in the forest.”

It was a warning to the others, she said.

“My mom … couldn’t handle it,” Minh Nguyen said.

Her mother died shortly after.

Nguyen wanted to be a lawyer. Although that didn’t happen, she worked hard, got a job as a telephone operator and learned English.

When she was 17, she met an American G.I., fell in love and married. They had four sons. They weren’t rich, but life was good. When he was ordered to evacuate, he wanted to take them with him. She said no.

“I refused to leave the country. I have a job there and my life was good back then. I thought I could take care of my children,” Nguyen said.

But everyday living soon became a struggle. Food was scarce.

Most of her three-bedroom home was taken over and occupied by strangers. Nguyen said she and the boys had nowhere to sleep but on the kitchen floor. Her sons, as the children of an American father, were discriminated against by Communist members.

“We had no clothes, no shoes,” she said. “All my children, we had one blanket. I had to cut that blanket into four pieces. I was cold and hungry all the time. That’s difficult to believe, but that is how our lives were.”

In retrospect, Minh Nguyen said she wishes she had left earlier. She didn’t know how bad life would get under the new regime. In 1983, she wrote a letter that led to what she calls “a miracle.” Because her children had birth certificates citing an American father, she was able to get help.

Her husband “right away sent all the papers to Hanoi. We left the country in 1984,” she said.

When they arrived in a small city in Florida, they were the only Vietnamese in town, she said. She learned to work as a seamstress. The relationship with her husband lasted a few years until their divorce. And Nguyen, now 63, moved to California, where she still works as a seamstress. She met someone new and had a daughter, Jacqueline.

The first time Nguyen saw a production of “Miss Saigon” was a few years ago in San Diego. Her daughter took her to the show.

THE DAUGHTER

Jacqueline Nguyen, 23, grew up poor in what she calls the ghetto part of San Diego. She didn’t realize she was poor, though.

“I didn’t have that many things but my mom was able to provide me with everything I needed,” she said.

Her oldest half-brother, Wayne Nguyen, helped raise her. The others stayed with their father in Florida.

Nguyen went to Preuss School, a college prep school affiliated with UC San Diego and geared toward lower income students. She went from being an introverted, shy kid who played by herself to an outgoing choir singer and later a cheerleader.

One day, a speaker came to the school who was a member of a “Miss Saigon” company in Germany. The Filipino singer/actress became Nguyen’s mentor.

“She asked me what I wanted to do,” Nguyen said. “I said I really didn’t know. I had a 4.0 (grade-point average,) but I really didn’t know what career I wanted.”

Her mentor, Jackie Maraya-Griffin, encouraged Nguyen to pursue musical theater.

Today, she has the lead role in the “Miss Saigon” production at the La Mirada Theatre, playing through May 6 and continuing at the Fox Performing Arts Center in Riverside May 11 and 12.

“It’s been life changing to me. This has been my dream role,” she said.

“It represents my culture. It represents my mom’s story. And I’m proud that I’m able to do this for myself and for my community,” Nguyen said. “The story is real to a lot of people. It touches close to home. It’s important.”

The better known actresses who had played the role in other productions have been Filipinas.

“They’re talented and well deserved. They’ve been my heroes. But I always feel there’s a disconnect with our culture,” she said. “I feel that I’ve opened doors for the Vietnamese-Americans.”

On Wednesday, Nguyen returned to her alma mater, Cal State Fullerton, to talk to students in a musical theater class. It was part pep talk, part advice. And she told them the story of how she got the part.

She had three callbacks. Then, on her way to New York, where she has been living since January, she got a call during a connecting flight in Chicago. Turn around, she was told.

“I’m poor. I can’t afford that,” Nguyen said, to the students’ chuckles.

But she returned and got the role – her biggest part since graduation.

She told the students not to be discouraged if their families disagree with their career choice. Her mom wasn’t crazy about it either – she wanted her daughter to pursue medicine.

‘MISS SAIGON’

Nguyen remembers the first time she saw “Miss Saigon.” She had just gotten her driver’s license and went to the Starlight Musical Theatre in Balboa Park with a friend. They didn’t realize tickets were so expensive.

“We snuck in,” she said.

“Oh, my God. I just fell in love with it. I couldn’t believe that musical theater could reach people like that. And I couldn’t believe they were portraying Vietnamese people.”

Later, as a student at Cal State Fullerton, she played the role in the school’s production.

On April 13, Minh Nguyen attended the opening night of “Miss Saigon” in La Mirada.

It was an emotional evening, she said, seeing her daughter perform the part of 17-year-old Kim.

Each year, as April 30 rolls around, Minh Nguyen said she feels sad for her country and grateful – once again – for the United States.

“I love this country as much as I love my country before,” she said. “I do anything and I ask my children to do anything for this country to pay back to welcome us here. They opened up their arms and their hearts for us to get here.

“Even now, 37 years have passed,” Minh Nguyen says. “We feel so much hurt for our people there.”

Contact the writer: rkopetman@ocregister.com and 714-796-7829