Seeking Redemption in Vietnam

In Search of Their Fathers: Seeking Redemption in Vietnam

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — DEC. 24, 2015 - For nearly half a century, Margot Carlson Delogne had grieved over her father’s death. She battled alcoholism, wore a missing-in-action bracelet and deeply resented the Vietnamese who shot down his plane in 1966.

Now she stood at the end of a long table in a conference room here, facing six Vietnamese men and women who had lost parents in the same war, fighting for the other side. It was her fourth such meeting in eight days, and the emotional toll was catching up with her.

“We wondered if our coming together would open old wounds, or if any of us would be angry or sad all over again,” she started. Then she began to cry. “We have been sad,” she said, “but we have found no anger.”

The encounter here last week was part of an odyssey of hope and redemption for Ms. Carlson Delogne, 51, who was born on a military base in Texas and now lives in Walpole, Mass.

She had traveled to Vietnam with five other grown children of American fathers who died or disappeared during the war. Their mission was to find the places where their fathers fought and died, and to speak with the children of fallen North Vietnamese and Viet Cong veterans. read more>>>