Ho Chi Minh city, January 2014. A strange group of people were walking up and down on the smaller inside streets and alleys, close to Tan Son Nhat Airport. From any outsiders view, the group seemed very odd and out of place. In front 2 people from BBC TV followed by a Vietnam veteran, 1 Vietnamese man and 1 Danish man, quite a strange small army.
December 2013. An email hit my message inbox. It was from the British Broadcasting Cooperation BBC. They had heard about Father Founded and about the Amerasians still in Vietnam, and wished to do an TV program about it.
After a bit of chit chat, we agree on heading for Vietnam, in January 2014. BBC had the basic idea of making an small tv program about the Vietnam veterans looking for their children in Vietnam, and about those amerasians still in Vietnam.
BBC TV in Vietnam
THE MEDIA
Our work has caught the eye of the media. We hope that what we do inspire others to help in our endeavors.
Headed by the well known British journalist Sue Lloyd Roberts, together with her camera man Ian O'reilly, 2 American Vietnam veterans Dennis Hall and Jerry Quinn, me and our Vietnamese partner Hung. The main plan was to follow the veterans in their search, back to their old areas, back to their old loves, It sounds easy, but hard to do.
Arrived the day before BBC, met up with Hung, together we went to research those areas that we were suppose be in, with BBC. With no suprise, those areas had almost been completed changed, when it comes to human population. Gone were the bars, mamasans and what ever remain from the American time, only the houses left.
Adresses in Vietnam changed after the wars end. Reality hit hard, old numbers didn't exist anymore, or had been changed due to split up of houses into duplexes, so 1 house number ended up being 2 entrances with 2 numbers.
Dennis arrived fresh from the USA and went by the BBC and got a shock when he met the past and heard the news, just as anyone would.
With the film in the box and all done, it was time to say goodbye and see you later. And everyone after 5 days of madness, stress, hot weather and many questions, just went home again to a normal life.
Aftermath. Based on the info Jerry got in Vietnam, he located his son Gary Bui on the internet and they met in 2014. Dennis is still looking for his loved one and the Amerasian couple still live in Vietnam. The impact of the BBC TV was a reminder for many that the amerasians are still in Vietnam today.
We were under pressure, to show some results !! BBC wanted their program, they wanted the smoking gun and we had to find the famous needle in the haystack. After some Q and A in the old area, we left as much empty handed as we arrived. It was really not that easy, not after 40+ years.
BBC arrived in Vietnam the day after, and the big game began. No time to waste !! Since Jerry wasn't suppose to arrive before the day after, then we had an appointment with an Amerasian couple, living outside Ho Chi Minh city.
It was a tense 2 hours driving from Ho Chi Minh city to the Amerasian couple, we could feel that the BBC crew had their mind and heart on their future work, few words were spoken, mostly just related to their work.
Meeting with the Amerasian couple was a very emotional moment, even for an bunch of battle hardened journalist. They interviewed and filmed the little family, for almost a full day, using Hung as translator and me as a doorman.
Jerry had arrived while we were at the interview. He stayed in the same hotel as BBC and was waiting for us. We had our welcome dinner and firmed up the details the plan for his search the next day.
The strange group of people arrived to Jerrys old area, for foreigners a very spooky sign!! Older American man with small hat on together with a BBC journalist and a Vietnamese man, all talking, pointing and asking questions of people living in the houses or knocking on doors, following by a BBC cameraman, with an huge heavy camera, filming from all directions and asking those on his view, to act the way that fit most for the program, and in the end me, acting like security all in all something the local people could talk about for and long time.
Jerry was in shock at seeing his old area again and at the same time confused, since it had changed so much after all those years. Followed by BBC and the rest of us, he kept on going up and down in the small alleys, looking at the houses, again and again wondering what happend to that old housenumbers that used to be. Time was now running, it was burning hot and we all felt the pressure to get something that could move it forward to an happy ending.
The smoking gun came, when some older people sorted out the place where his woman "Brandy" used to live, and with a large noisy crowd of people, then we found he had a child, but no idea what happend to them. But they remembered the friend of Brandy, she helped women deliver their babies during the war. That woman had moved to the USA, but her daugther was actually in Vietnam now, for a visit.
The break came, when we talked to the owner of a small noodle shop who knew that family of the daugther. We gave our contact info and again waited for a response. Finally, we got in touch with a male relative of the daugher, he agreed to meet us.
When he saw the old pics of Brandy and her friend, then things happend fast, phone ringing, everyone talking. The daugther of Brandy's friend, was in the other part of Vietnam for a visit, but agreed to come back and meet us.
Past meeting present, Jerry meeting the woman that helped to give birth to his son, a long awaited meeting. But this didn't give the final evidence of the where abouts of his son.
While Jerry and the BBC crew where stuggling with the past, me and Hung went for another search. We were expecting Dennis Hall, the other Vietnam vet to arrive the day after and preparations had to be done. So we took off for his old area. The area was actually in the same neigborhood as Jerry's, so we felt ok about it.
The area was deserted of people, streets empty, besides a quiet coffee shop on the corner and a few men working on construction. After the usual coffee talk, we headed for the exact spot where Dennis and his woman used to live. The house was still there, but nobody knew anything.
Before almost giving up, we met an old woman that lived next to Dennis old place, and she remembered a few things about Dennis's woman and we had a chat with her about the whole issue.
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