A 30-foot boat sculpture honoring Vietnamese refugees who fled by sea after the fall of Saigon suffered severe interior fire damage overnight in Oklahoma City's Military Park, community leaders said. The blaze left the exterior of the blue-and-red painted vessel largely intact but gutted much of the inside, according to officials with the Asian District Cultural Association.
The damage was discovered during a daily walkthrough of Military Park, according to The Oklahoman. Authorities believe the fire broke out just before midnight on September 3, per Thuan Nguyen, founder of the Asian District Cultural Association, though the exact cause remains unclear and the Oklahoma City Fire Department is investigating, Nguyen said. Fire officials told the paper the boat is not a complete loss, even as the sculpture's interior sustained the worst of the damage.
Known as We Have Arrived, the installation was created by local artists Denise Duong and Gabriel Friedman and provided to the city as a temporary loan from the Asian District Cultural Association following a unanimous Oklahoma City Council vote on July 30, 2024, according to Oklahoma City Free Press. Duong, who operates Lil D Gallery in the Paseo District, drew from her own family's escape from Vietnam by boat when designing the sculpture with Friedman, according to KGOU.
A Memorial Built From Personal History
The sculpture was officially unveiled in late April 2025 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon and the 1975 conclusion of the Vietnam War, according to PBS. Designed as an interactive installation, the boat included built-in central benches beneath a small overhang and painted Vietnamese folklore symbols — a lotus for good fortune, a turtle for longevity, and a guiding crane on the bow — per the same account. A pre-1975 South Vietnamese flag flew above the boat, and exterior artwork depicted different groups of Vietnamese people who traveled by boat to freedom, according to the Oklahoma City Asian District.
Asian District officials described the installation as a loving tribute to refugees seeking safety and a new beginning. Blue rocks surrounding the boat were meant to symbolize the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people who died during escape by boat, and yellow footprints inside represented the many passengers those boats carried away from communist rule. Information about the installation is posted near the piece in both Vietnamese and English.
A Painful History of Vandalism
This is not the first time the memorial has been targeted. Asian District officials reported that the installation had several instances of graffiti and other damage in the time since its April 2025 dedication. But the overnight fire marks a far more severe blow, and Nguyen called it the last straw, saying the community can no longer enjoy or appreciate the installation as it was originally intended.
Still, Nguyen struck a note of resolve, saying there are ways forward and that the boat may yet have a future because of the community's resilience. Military Park sits at North Classen Boulevard and NW 24th Street, serving as the physical and cultural center of Oklahoma City's Asian District, which spans Classen Boulevard from NW 23rd to NW 34th Street, according to Visit Oklahoma City. The corridor developed into a refugee hub following South Vietnamese resettlement in the mid-1970s.
A Park Already Rich With Memory
Military Park was also the proposed site of a Vietnam War Memorial Monument that had received approvals by 2016, featuring the Brothers in Arms statue honoring the joint sacrifices of American and South Vietnamese soldiers, according to the Oklahoma Gazette. The project was led by local South Vietnamese military veteran Vinh Nguyen.
Nearly two million Vietnamese refugees fled their homeland by sea in what became known as the Boat People exodus, according to 405 Magazine. Asian Americans make up roughly 4.6% of Oklahoma City's population today, the largest concentration of Asian residents anywhere in the state, per Visit Oklahoma City.
An Economic Anchor Alongside Cultural Weight
An Economic Anchor Alongside Cultural Weight The Asian District's significance extends beyond memory and memorial. Asian-owned businesses are associated with approximately $1.25 billion in sales or economic activity, according to Asian District Cultural Association leadership cited by FOX 25. The district has also seen approval of a 49-unit apartment design.
For now, the cause of the fire that damaged We Have Arrived remains under investigation by the Oklahoma City Fire Department, and it is not yet known whether the blaze will be classified as accidental, deliberate, or something else. Community leaders have not said what insurance or municipal funding might cover repairs to a sculpture that remains, technically, on loan to the city rather than owned by it.
