Fifty-one years ago, as Saigon collapsed and the Vietnam War came to an end, thousands of refugees passed through Fort Chaffee carrying little more than what they could hold in their hands. Among them was the Le family.
Today, one of those refugees’ children is leading a rapidly expanding dental company built around a mission shaped by sacrifice, hardship and gratitude to the community that welcomed her family.
Dr. Lan Chi Le, a Fort Smith native and founder of US Dental Professionals, says the lessons her parents passed down still guide every decision she makes.
“Turn your hardships into purpose,” Le said. “And carry that purpose into your future self.”
For Le, that philosophy began long before she was born.
When Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, Le’s father, Do Van Le, was serving as an officer in the South Vietnamese Navy and working alongside American forces during the war. Recognizing the danger immediately, he gathered his wife and four young children and fled the city.
Do Van Le was an Vietnamese Naval officer who escaped the Fall of Saigon with his wife and four young children in 1975 to Fort Chaffee and later settled in Fort Smith, Ark.
“All six of them rode one motorcycle to go to the dock to try to board a ship to leave,” Le said.
The family boarded the tank landing ship HQ-800 alongside thousands of other Vietnamese refugees. After time in refugee camps in Guam, they were eventually transferred to Fort Chaffee in Arkansas.
Fort Chaffee became one of the nation’s largest refugee processing centers during Operation New Life. Refugees began arriving at the base May 2, 1975. More than 25,000 refugees lived temporarily in the barracks for weeks, and by the end of the year, more than 50,000 Vietnamese refugees had been processed through the installation.
Le’s parents arrived with almost nothing.
“My dad is a man of resolve and resilience, and my mother is the ultimate protector and is an extremely resourceful person,” Le said. “My parents shared how they had to ration the sparse food that they had to ensure that they could feed each of the kids, who were all 6 years old and younger.”
Even after arriving at Fort Chaffee, the work continued. Her parents took jobs on the base while trying to build a new life in an unfamiliar country.
The Le family at Fort Chaffe sometime in 1976. The family fled Saigon in 1975 and later arrived in Fort Smith to start a new life.
What changed the family’s trajectory, Le said, was the support they found in Fort Smith. Members of Grand Avenue Baptist Church sponsored the family out of the refugee camp, helping them secure housing, jobs and enroll the children in school.
“We are forever grateful for the support they provided to my family in such a fragile and vulnerable time,” Le said.
Growing up in Fort Smith during the 1980s and 1990s, Le said she was surrounded by opportunities and examples of service.
She attended Albert Pike, Darby and Northside schools, played volleyball and track, and served as drum major at both Darby and Northside. She also grew up at Grand Avenue Baptist Church, singing in the youth choir and playing in the orchestra.
“Fort Smith gave me the perfect childhood and a clear pathway into adulthood,” Le said.
Inside the Le household, education was non-negotiable.
“Straight As were non-negotiable,” Le said. “Beyond that, my parents encouraged us to choose professions where we could help others as much as possible.”
Do Van Le and his wife Bo Le with their six children after they began their life in America. The couple fled Saigon in 1975 with four of their children. All six of the children graduated college at the University of Arkansas.
All six children eventually attended the University of Arkansas. Her siblings pursued careers in fields ranging from surgery and military defense to music education and entrepreneurship. Two became dentists.
Lan Chi Le said dentistry appealed to her because it combined science, problem-solving, and working with her hands.
“I always gravitated toward science and math. My brother was already in medicine, and my sister was in dentistry. I enjoy working with my hands and solving problems, so dentistry felt like a natural fit,” said Lan Chi Le. “I also worked at a hospital during college and at an oral surgeon’s office. Those experiences helped me understand where I felt most at home.”
But over two decades in practice, she repeatedly encountered something personal.
“So many moments stayed with me,” she said. “Patients who left without treatment because they simply could not afford it. Parents who said they would take care of their own needs later because their children came first.”
Those moments reminded her of her own parents.
“That last one hit particularly close to home, because that is exactly what I watched my parents do for us, every single day,” said Lan Chi Le. “I wanted to create change shaped by my own experiences and priorities. I knew what it felt like to watch people sacrifice access to care, and I wanted to be part of the solution.”
In 2016, Le founded US Dental Professionals to make dental care more accessible and affordable. The company places full-service dental offices inside Walmart stores, a decision she said was intentional.
“Access and transparency,” Le said. “We wanted to meet patients where they already shop.”
The company now offers services ranging from cosmetic dentistry and oral surgery to implants and Invisalign using advanced imaging and digital diagnostic technology.
This year, the company is rapidly expanding, opening 10 new locations across Texas and Florida and bringing its total number of offices to 15. Her husband, Joey Trung Le, also comes from Vietnamese refugee parents and shares her vision for service as the company’s CFO and CTO.
Le said growth matters less to her than the mission behind it.
“Every new location is another opportunity to serve families the way I always envisioned,” she said. “By keeping the mission first and letting everything else work in support of it. When the mission is the anchor, the decisions become clearer.”
Despite the expansion, Fort Smith remains home in many ways. Her parents and sister still live in the city, and she returns several times each year.
“It comes full circle,” Le said. “My childhood and every experience from Fort Smith played a huge role in shaping who I am today.”
For Le, the story is ultimately bigger than business or professional success. It is about what can happen when hardship meets opportunity, and when a community chooses to help strangers become neighbors.
“Their biggest hope has always been that through their hardships, we would go on to create a positive impact, generationally,” Le said of her parents. “I believe we are doing our best to honor that.”
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Refugee’s Fort Smith roots shape dentist’s growing mission