This boy’s face has haunted me for forty-five years.  His photo, obviously a school picture, was placed in one of my Vietnam photo albums in 1972 by Lena’s mother, Huong.  The photo albums, familiar to all Vietnam Vets, were covered in brightly coloured leather, red, blue, green, with a map of Vietnam on the cover.  My albums, still intact, are the repository for my memories of a place and time long since gone.  Most of the photos were taken by me or my fellow soldiers.  Some, like Tiên’s, were slipped in by Huong, usually with an accompanying explanation.  Who, what, where.  But not this one.

This boy, Tiên, remained a mystery to me for all these years.  I became accustomed to passing quickly over his photo when glancing through the albums.  Yet there was always a nagging moment, a question.

Recently I came across this photo of Huong’s brother Hung with some other boys.  Hung is the one on the left.  He was well known to me during the war, I would recognise him anywhere.  When in Da Nang, I see him every day, eat meals in his home.  When I looked closely at the photo, there was Tiên, on the far right, smack in the middle of my 1972 Vietnam experience.

Hung told me Tiên’s story and taught me a side of my prospective father-in-law Dat that had alluded me until now,

In the 1970’s, the Americans were embarked on a plan called “Vietnamization”, deserting South Vietnam to an ultimate defeat in their war with the communists from the North.  Years of fighting had left homeless orphans roaming the countryside with no plan, no hope, no future.  Tiên was one of those who had lost his family and was alone.

Huynh Dat, a graceful, vibrant, spiritual man, took Tiên into his home and raised him as his son until 1975.  At the end of the war, Tiên was returned to his village in Quang Nam.

Learning that Huynh Dat had taken in orphans during the war came as no real surprise to me.  His sacrifice and commitment to others was a palpable force.  He enhanced the lives of those around him, not because of what he said, but through the actions he took.  Dat’s legacy grows for me with each new revelation.  I am blessed to have known Huynh Dat.