:00:00. > 3:59:59journey back to Saigon to try to find the children they fathered
:00:00. > :00:17.there more than 40 years ago. To form American GIs return to
:00:18. > :00:22.Saigon and on the hour 40 years ago they set up home with their very ``
:00:23. > :00:25.with their Vietnamese girlfriend. The day that I had to go home I knew
:00:26. > :00:33.it. I couldn't tell her that I have ago. I'll live with that for the
:00:34. > :00:36.rest of my life. It's hard to even talk about it. I can't talk about
:00:37. > :00:43.it. Now they want to find the children of those relationships. May
:00:44. > :00:51.I hold your hands? Of course! Because these hands held my baby.
:00:52. > :01:28.And sons want to be reunited with fathers.
:01:29. > :01:41.Saigon, April, 1975. American personnel rushed to get on the last
:01:42. > :01:43.Telecom is that took off. They leave behind girlfriends and tens of
:01:44. > :01:57.thousands of children, fathered by American soldiers. Jerry Quinn was
:01:58. > :02:00.one of those soldiers. 62 years old and currently a missionary in
:02:01. > :02:06.Taiwan, he hasn't been back to Saigon for over 40 years. He is here
:02:07. > :02:12.now to look for his son. It's not the same. It was Jeeps, now there
:02:13. > :02:21.are fancy cars and motorcycles. The bicycles are gone. The real irony
:02:22. > :02:25.for me is that the war was all about bringing communism here and getting
:02:26. > :02:29.rid of capitalism. All those soldiers died and yet, when you look
:02:30. > :02:40.around, when you look everywhere, you see capitalism. Ho Chi Minh was
:02:41. > :02:43.leader during much of the 20`year war during America. He fought to
:02:44. > :02:53.bring about a united Communist Party. Over 500,000 American troops
:02:54. > :03:05.`` tried to stop him until an humiliating peace treaty signed in
:03:06. > :03:12.1973 sent the majority of them home. Jerry served 26`month tours. At the
:03:13. > :03:19.Museum of The American War in Saigon, now renamed Ho Chi Minh
:03:20. > :03:23.City, the guides tell the locals of barbaric acts committed by the
:03:24. > :03:28.Americans during the war. Jerry didn't expect his own people to
:03:29. > :03:33.accuse him of the same when he got home. To brand me as a baby killer
:03:34. > :03:40.when I felt like I was serving my country, ma'am, apple pies, I came
:03:41. > :03:48.back as a baby killer. No wonder many GIs prefer to forget. It took
:03:49. > :03:51.for decades for him to come back. A beautiful daughter, three
:03:52. > :03:58.grandchildren, I would be happy. He has contacted Brian Hjort from
:03:59. > :04:01.Denmark. He came across the children of former GIs when he was a tourist
:04:02. > :04:11.in Vietnam 20 years ago. He was moved by their predicament. With his
:04:12. > :04:15.Vietnamese friend, they have worked voluntarily to put together some 30
:04:16. > :04:22.fathers and children. It could have been many more, says Brian. I want
:04:23. > :04:28.to hear the father say, why are you calling? What do you want? Why do
:04:29. > :04:34.you talk about Vietnam? Stop calling me! I don't want to have anything to
:04:35. > :04:41.do with that. He is not my son, not my daughter. Have you had many
:04:42. > :04:48.fathers react I cut? Way too many. `` react like that. Jerry is
:04:49. > :04:53.desperate to find his son who would now be 40. She was warm and
:04:54. > :04:59.friendly. He has a photo of his former girlfriend, very `` who he
:05:00. > :05:06.only knows of the name Brandy, and of the door `` and of the child that
:05:07. > :05:14.was born. His family back home told him to forget her. Brandy sent this
:05:15. > :05:17.photo to my mother. When my mother saw the photo, she said, you don't
:05:18. > :05:22.want to marry a Vietnamese, you don't want to marry a Gook. They be
:05:23. > :05:28.part of it is the guilt of thinking I could have done something
:05:29. > :05:36.different. Maybe I could have. I don't know. All I know is I am here
:05:37. > :05:51.now and because Brian has been so relentless, he just kept saying,
:05:52. > :05:55.let's go, let's go. And I'm here. Jerry and his friend had for the
:05:56. > :06:01.area where he shared a house with Brandy. Some GIs were allowed to
:06:02. > :06:03.live off base. He has the address and a photo of the house but can't
:06:04. > :06:20.find it. When the Viet Cong entered Saigon 40
:06:21. > :06:28.years ago, he explains, they changed all the street names and even
:06:29. > :06:37.numbers. We cannot find the house with numbers! That's a problem.
:06:38. > :06:43.Another man suggested they go to the police station. They will have
:06:44. > :06:53.records of the old names there, he says. Others suggest they talk to
:06:54. > :06:55.the family of another GI who are visiting Saigon and staying with
:06:56. > :07:08.friends in a house around the corner.
:07:09. > :07:12.Midas is the oldest of five children of an African`American soldier, who
:07:13. > :07:19.was stationed in Saigon for ten years. He now lives in America. You
:07:20. > :07:25.remember any Amerasians children who had red hair? Quite a few of them.
:07:26. > :07:33.Really? Did they go to school with you? Yes. I only went to third grade
:07:34. > :07:40.in Vietnam. Midas doesn't remember Jerry's son but he would like to
:07:41. > :07:43.help him in his search, not least because of what happened when he
:07:44. > :07:49.made contact with his father in America. When I talked to him, he
:07:50. > :07:57.seemed... The conversation was trying to deny the reality. So, I
:07:58. > :08:02.was just like a OK, if that's what he wants, I didn't want to bother
:08:03. > :08:04.him. His mother remembers vividly today David Beer Kong entered
:08:05. > :08:28.Saigon. She told me that when she heard
:08:29. > :08:29.there was an opportunity to take the family to America she grabbed it.
:08:30. > :08:49.She moved them all to New York. In the early 1980s, the children of
:08:50. > :08:54.the American GIs were found to be living in a dreadful state here.
:08:55. > :08:56.Discriminated against and living in poverty. The American government
:08:57. > :08:59.felt compelled to start a programme of immigration. In all, some 30,000
:09:00. > :09:02.children went to live in America with their immediate families. But
:09:03. > :09:09.the programme came to an end after eight years.
:09:10. > :09:16.When Saigon fell, the Viet Cong imprisoned thousands of those who
:09:17. > :09:21.had supported the Americans. Women, who had slept with the enemy, were
:09:22. > :09:23.publicly humiliated and those who couldn't escape were sent to
:09:24. > :09:36.re`education camps. Sam was only a baby when his mother
:09:37. > :09:43.went into hiding and she gave him to her family to look after. But nobody
:09:44. > :09:44.wanted such a child, whose features were an unwelcome reminder of the
:09:45. > :10:14.defeated enemy. Life hasn't got much better. Sam was
:10:15. > :10:20.bullied at school and left without any qualifications. He and his wife
:10:21. > :10:21.lived out an existence with the tiny shop they run from home. `` live
:10:22. > :11:02.out. This is the address we need to find
:11:03. > :11:08.here. I'm sure that if we can find that... Meanwhile, Jerry is still
:11:09. > :11:26.looking and getting increasingly despondent of ever finding his son.
:11:27. > :11:31.If we find somebody that know somebody, they will know somebody.
:11:32. > :11:33.We just need to find somebody that knows somebody. But it all looks so
:11:34. > :11:51.different. It looks so different. Then comes the breakthrough that
:11:52. > :11:58.Jerry has been praying for. The owner of entered Orbach recognises
:11:59. > :12:00.the woman in a white uniform, in a photo standing next to Jerry's
:12:01. > :12:10.girlfriend, Brandy. She says the midwife had a
:12:11. > :12:14.daughter, who now lives in California, but she happens to be in
:12:15. > :12:22.Saigon on a visit. She popped into the noodle bar the day before. They
:12:23. > :12:31.contact the midwife's daughter, who is called Kim, and arranges for her
:12:32. > :12:37.to meet Jerry. This is Brandy and the baby. Oh my goodness! I remember
:12:38. > :12:45.her. You know why? I was very close to her. Oh my goodness! I was
:12:46. > :12:52.holding this baby, changing the diaper. I took care of the baby
:12:53. > :13:00.and... Oh my goodness. I have goosebumps. I remember her. I sat
:13:01. > :13:08.next to her. I talked to her a lot. Did you help deliver my baby? Yes, I
:13:09. > :13:13.did. I did. You help my baby in your hands? Yes. And I remember I talked
:13:14. > :13:19.to her. I came in to sweep the floor. I swept the floor and she
:13:20. > :13:24.asked me questions and I stopped. I sat next to her bed and, you know,
:13:25. > :13:33.we got along very well. We talked a lot. Kim, may I hold your hands? Of
:13:34. > :13:46.course. Because these hand`held my baby. There is just so much emotion
:13:47. > :13:55.in my heart rate now. I may never see him or touch him. This is as
:13:56. > :14:00.close as I will get. Right here. Kim gives Jerry his old address, where
:14:01. > :14:10.his son was born and where Brandy lived for a while. The photos come
:14:11. > :14:14.out again for the neighbours. One woman, who recognises the photo of
:14:15. > :14:21.Brandy, comes up with a vital bit of information. Brandy's Vietnamese
:14:22. > :14:29.name, and then a shattering bit of news. If what she says is correct,
:14:30. > :14:44.Jerry's son could also be in America. Another former G.I. ,
:14:45. > :14:52.Dennis Hall has arrived in Saigon to ask for help. He asked the two
:14:53. > :14:57.volunteers who helped the soldier's bothers buying their children. They
:14:58. > :15:06.have set up a website that is a point of contact for American
:15:07. > :15:10.veterans. `` fathers. They would appear to have little in common.
:15:11. > :15:17.One, a missionary living in Saigon and the other an engineer living in
:15:18. > :15:25.Seattle. But they were and are again on the same mission. Like Jerry,
:15:26. > :15:32.Dennis was not deployed in combat. I was lucky not to get stationed here
:15:33. > :15:43.in Saigon. I had a very easy job flying VIPs around. My job was to
:15:44. > :15:50.take care of aircrafts like these. In my time off, which we had lots
:15:51. > :16:03.of, three days on and two days off, I spent most of my time downtown.
:16:04. > :16:09.Unlike Jerry, Dennis remembers exactly how to get to the house he
:16:10. > :16:16.shared with a girl he called Anna. Used to drop me off every day here
:16:17. > :16:24.and I would walk 20 steps to get to my house. This is it right here. See
:16:25. > :16:32.those circular stairs? I don't know how many times I went up there. It
:16:33. > :16:37.leads to her. We kept our laundry there and ducks in a pond. His
:16:38. > :16:43.girlfriend had told him she was pregnant just before he left
:16:44. > :16:51.Vietnam. We make inquiries of a neighbour. This is the one I took at
:16:52. > :17:08.the market. This woman remembers the mother and the baby. But when the
:17:09. > :17:19.Viet Cong came, like so many girlfriends of GIs, Anna fled and
:17:20. > :17:22.abandoned her son. The woman was surprised when the child, then about
:17:23. > :17:41.eight years old appeared at the door. His name is Vinh. And then a
:17:42. > :18:06.few years later his mother, who now lives in Canada turned up. Neither
:18:07. > :18:15.mother nor son left any contact details with her. If you find
:18:16. > :18:21.anything out or hear anything, my name will be right here in your
:18:22. > :18:31.house. My phone number and everything. If there is anything at
:18:32. > :18:35.all I can do... Dennis is in shock. In one day he has discovered that he
:18:36. > :19:01.has a son and unless he comes knocking at the door again, he may
:19:02. > :19:24.never find him. I know, it is terrible. Thank you so much. That
:19:25. > :19:29.night, Jerry asks Brian to use his expertise to search a website for
:19:30. > :19:36.finding family members. They now have his son's family name and he
:19:37. > :19:48.enters the details. A male born the same month as his son comes up. This
:19:49. > :19:54.one, born 1st of September 1973 in Oklahoma. There is an old phone
:19:55. > :20:14.number. What are the chances of the same last name, born in September
:20:15. > :20:16.73, that was the year. You have reached a number that is
:20:17. > :20:32.disconnected or no longer in service. The trail has gone cold. I
:20:33. > :20:40.think this part of town looks more like I remember when you look at
:20:41. > :20:45.it. The only thing missing are hookers who would come out and try
:20:46. > :20:51.to get us into the house. Yes, they always had them like that. Time is
:20:52. > :20:57.up for Dennis and Gerry. They leave Vietnam tomorrow. They both have
:20:58. > :21:04.information about their sons, that they have not found them. On this,
:21:05. > :21:19.their last night in Saigon, they can only indulge in memory and regret.
:21:20. > :21:24.She said, you are a good G.I., I like you. You should come inside and
:21:25. > :21:28.let me buy you a drink. I knew better but she was so insistent that
:21:29. > :21:35.I went in and she did buy me a drink. How did you meet your lady?
:21:36. > :21:41.My first night in Saigon, this girl picked me out of a crowd. Just
:21:42. > :21:49.grabbed me and by the arm and tells me away from the bunch of guys I was
:21:50. > :21:53.with. I looked back and said, I think I'm OK with this and they
:21:54. > :22:00.shook their head and said, I bet you are. The day I had to go home, I
:22:01. > :22:05.knew it but I could not tell her I had to go. I will live with that for
:22:06. > :22:17.the rest of my life. It is hard to even talk about it. I can't talk
:22:18. > :22:34.about it. Sorry. It is all right, I have been there. The next day, the
:22:35. > :22:37.men leave Saigon. At least Jerry now have the name of his son and using
:22:38. > :22:46.social media puts his son 's name on Facebook although he does not
:22:47. > :22:50.hopeful `` is not hopeful. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, only
:22:51. > :22:56.3% of Amerasian children have made contact with their fathers. Two
:22:57. > :23:01.weeks later, a 41`year`old male in New Mexico recognise is the photos
:23:02. > :23:08.online. These same pictures had been given to him by his mother. We
:23:09. > :23:14.arrange for Jerry to go to Albuquerque. By now he has learned
:23:15. > :23:19.that the Brandy was targeted by the Viet Cong when they took over in
:23:20. > :23:27.Saigon and like so many mothers of Amerasian children, she abandoned
:23:28. > :23:47.her son. There he is. Jumping up and down. Wow. There he is. Grandpa!
:23:48. > :23:59.Hello, how are you guys? A 22nd hug `` 20 second hug. A hug to make up
:24:00. > :24:10.for the last 40 years. Is it real? Willian now it is real for. Now it
:24:11. > :24:16.is real `` Sir. He arrived in America when he was eight Ainslie
:24:17. > :24:20.government programme the 1980s. He explains what it was like for
:24:21. > :24:25.Amerasian children growing up in Vietnam. We were away from Saigon,
:24:26. > :24:37.out in the middle of the jungle to start a new life. We built a house
:24:38. > :24:43.out of clay, it was hot and dry and there was no food. You would eat
:24:44. > :24:49.what ever you had out there. It was pretty tough. Being half white and
:24:50. > :24:56.half Vietnamese is not fun. People make fun of you, your mum is this,
:24:57. > :25:18.your mum is that, you need to go back to your country... Jerry is
:25:19. > :25:21.racked I guilt `` by. I did not know that you were an orphan. I thought
:25:22. > :25:26.you would have been with your mother. The Statue of Liberty to
:25:27. > :25:32.meet men to freedom. I landed in New York and saw the statue and new that
:25:33. > :25:40.I had to go there and climb all the way up to the top so that everyone
:25:41. > :25:54.would know that I am an American now, free. So, I made it. From now
:25:55. > :26:16.on, neither intends to let the other go.
:26:17. > :26:25.With clear skies for many, it will be pretty chilly and there may be a
:26:26. > :26:27.touch of frost first thing in the morning. It will lead to a dry day