Nostalgia

While I was with our host nation counterparts in Ha Tinh Province for training during the second week of January, I was at a dinner with some guests of one of the Vietnamese team leaders.  All of the team leaders from the Ministry of National Defense come from some background that isn't necessarily related to what they are doing now.  Recently, we have had some military counterparts with a background in the SRV Navy.  One of these navy officers had invited two of his previous leaders to dinner and he introduced them to me.  One of the gentlemen, Tien, came to the table to which I was sitting and started talking about an aircraft that crashed with three crew members. I automatically assumed he was talking about a wartime crash, and I started to fret because I had nothing to take notes with, nor reference materials. Since it was a fairly relaxed atmosphere, I let him continue without interruption.  I realized after a couple of sentences, he was talking about a 1988 ditching of a navy aircraft in the South China Sea. All three of the crew members survived and were picked up by the Vietnamese navy. I remember this incident clearly, because I happened to be flying in a U.S. Air Force aircraft at the time and had a special interest in the downed navy bird.  Anyway, Mr. Tien (I didn't get his rank but assume he was at least a Senior Colonel) described the incident very clearly, and went on to say he was on the Vietnamese vessel that picked up the crew.  The details of the aircraft loss are at this link:  https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-16-mn-6036-story.html .  Interestingly, our relationship with Vietnamese at the time wasn't awesome, but it was clear by the return of the crew that we were warming up to each other.  I am not sure how much of the story was exaggerated since Mr. Tien stated that one of the officers, a pregnant female, had named her child after him... the local moonshine was flowing, and some stretching of the truth could be forgiven.

Mr. Tien was on the Vietnamese ship that picked up three members of a CT-39 crew in in the South China Sea - 1988

It isn't often that I think of my military career before the MIA mission in the U.S. Air Force. I do remember it fondly; the hard work, comrades, and real world mission we had made it an awesome job, but it took a back seat to the high profile job I had that followed at the Detachment in Hanoi.  Anyway, Mr. Tien's story took me back to a time that feels like a previous life. It left me with a great sense of nostalgia and dredged up some memories that had lain dormant for a very long time.