Story of a brave man

While a member of FIUTS (Foundation International Understanding Through students) I met a young lady from Saigon, who when she learned I was going to Vietnam asked me to visit her parents. My wife and I sponsored two students at the University of Washington under the program. One was from Thailand and the other from Hong Kong.

While in the program we met dozens of students who had been sponsored by others in the area.

The young Vietnamese lady asked me to look her parents up and convey her greetings if I had the time.

I took down their address not knowing if I would have the time to look them up. When I got to Saigon I met up with a correspondent for a Japanese television network that I had met in a previous trip to Vietnam. He said he would loan me his car and driver so I could visit the girl’s parents.

They lived on the edge of the city so it took us some time to find their place.

I went through the usual greetings and the parents introduced me to a doctor friend who told me one of the strangest stories I ever heard. He said, “No names.” He had escaped from the Viet Cong and was afraid that they would try to take him again.

The doctor had a small medical clinic and after he locked up one evening two gunmen took him. He said they drove all night and he ended up a captive in a jungle location where they had a makeshift hospital where he would treat Viet Cong soldiers who had been wounded.

He was told he would stay there during the war. The doctor stated that they moved him around to various places and he had a guard who stayed with him.

This went on for four years. He said he didn’t try to escape and eventually they pulled the guard.

The doctor said that eventually they let him move around while unguarded. On one such occasion he said he just walked off and found his way back to Saigon. He was staying with the couple that I was seeing.

He gave me two gifts. One was a three-foot long alligator he had caught and stuffed; the other was a collection of butterflies he had caught. I packed the two gifts all the way back home. I placed the gator in a place at home where I saw it every day in respect for his story. The butterflies were in pretty bad shape but I salvaged a good number and had a frame made for them. My grandson now has the gator, and the butterflies hang in my office at home.

The doctor worked deep in the jungle under difficult conditions and without proper tools and medicine. He said he was well treated as long as he did what they wanted.

He didn’t want his name used because he would be taken again.