U.S. veteran meets his Vietnamese girlfriend after 46 years of separation

My Luong, Jan 27 (EFE). —  At 68 years of age and after a decadelong search, American Jim Reischl has found his old Vietnamese girlfriend, Nguyen Thi Anh, after they were separated 46 years ago when his military service ended and he returned to the US.

“I do not even know how I feel. After I’ve traveled to Vietnam five times over the years without any result, I’m no longer expecting anything. But now I’m very excited,” he told Efe minutes after the encounter in the village of My Luong, in southern Vietnam.

Dozens of former U.S. soldiers have returned to Vietnam in recent years in search of forgotten children or girlfriends, but few have had the same luck as Reischl.

The American came to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) on Jan. 7 and the next day traveled 200 kilometers by bus with two other veterans and a Vietnamese interpreter to find his old love.

When the two met again for the first time since 1970 at a hotel in town, Reischl and Thi Anh, 64, hugged and broke into tears. “I’m very happy to be here,” said Reischl.

The old couple spent their first minutes holding hands, smiling, remembering their courtship, showing old photos and trying to recognize each other after 46 years of separation.

“Now I have no doubt: it’s her same voice, same eyes, same gestures, same gait,” he said.

After a farewell plagued by misunderstandings because of language difficulties (Thi Anh still barely speaks a word of English), both lived their lives separately, married and raised their own families.

“I wrote a letter to the US, but never get a reply. Now I know it didn’t arrive,” she said.

During the encounter in My Luong, Reischl, a native of Minnesota recalled his time in the Air Force in Saigon and his former girlfriend, with whom he shared a rented room near the base of Tan Son Nhut.

Then ten years ago, after his divorce, he began a search on the Internet that eventually led him back to Vietnam in 2012 for the first time.

The only information he could find about his wartime girlfriend was her nickname, Kim Hoa, as well as some photos and ads placed in several local newspapers. But he found no further details.

“I kept coming back to Vietnam because I’ve found that I like it here, and besides, Minnesota is so cold. I kept researching, but I began to think my case was impossible,” he said.

Reischl’s luck changed last September when Thi Anh read an article in the Thanh Nien Vietnamese newspaper about Reischl’s search for her.

She was excited to see the image of Reischl in the paper and recognized him, but it took ten days to contact the writer of the article.

“At first I was angry. He left without saying goodbye and left me alone. The man wearing the uniform of the Air Force broke my heart. But I thought if he has taken so much trouble to find me, I should be grateful,” explained Thi Anh.

Speaking about her anger, she revealed something Reischl suspected, but didn’t know for certain: she was pregnant when he left Vietnam.

“I know it was wrong to leave the country, but at that time I didn’t believe she was pregnant. I was scared. She wanted me to stay in Vietnam and my superiors warned me that Vietnamese women sometimes faked pregnancies,” he said apologetically.

It was a girl, born in December 1970 “with lightcolored hair”, but her mother never saw her after she was born.

“A friend took her to his home to look after her while I was recovering in the hospital. When I went to look for her, he had escaped with the girl. I did not see her again. I do not know if she is in Vietnam or in another country,” said the woman.

Reischl plans to stay in Ho Chi Minh City until May and keep visiting Thi Anh and her family, and now wants to find his lost daughter.

“Maybe she’s in the US or in another country, perhaps we can locate her with DNA testing and will also try to investigate in Vietnam. I do not have much hope, but neither did I hope to find my old girlfriend,” he said.