Congressional Award for Vietnamese-American Activist After Months in Communist Prison

Went to Vietnam to promote democracy

An Elk Grove father and husband is back home and being honored after spending nine months in a Vietnamese jail.

Mathematician Dr. Nguyen Quoc Quan, who returned home a few weeks ago, received a congressional award Monday for his courage.

Humbled and honored, he described his hardships in his communist home country.

"It's terrible," he said.

Imagine nine months of interrogations in a freezing room, stuck in a cell with stomach turning, the stench of bathrooms that don't work, barely being fed, but Dr. Quan says he still feels like the lucky one.