The parents of their son Ahn gave my father a Vietnamese crossbow (I’ve seen) and a letter written by them in both English and Vietnamese that thanked him profusely for working to recover. He taught the boy how to feed himself by unpleasant means when the initial effort was thwarted by infection. This involved a lot of visits. Visits were dangerous. The Viet Cong were still prevalent then. They might kill you for your gun. My father (Dr. Richard W. Hungerford Sr. – US25) never took his gun for that reason he told me. His replacement did die trying to do civilian outreach like this when his plane was either shot down or had mechanical issues. See Dr. Hungerford's Vietnam photo collection for a picture of Ahn and Dr. Hungerford together. This is the translated from Vietnamese to English version.
Submitted by Richard Hungerford at 2:40 PM on May 1, 2026.