jessica
15. A Terrible Time in History
The Vietnam War was one of the most violent and gut-wrenching periods in American history. Not only did the war divide our nation on whether or not we should be sending American troops to fight in the conflict, but it also brought up the moral question on what exactly we were fighting for in Vietnam?
14. American Troops Captured
During the war, American troops were captured and tortured on a routine basis. These violent and horrible acts kept happening up until the war ended in 1975. After the war ended, many of the prisoners of war were released and returned home to the United States. However, thousands of soldiers weren’t accounted for and were presumed dead.
13. MIA for 40 Years
One soldier that was presumed to have been killed in action was Army Sergeant First Class John Hartley Robertson. That is, until he was discovered 40 years later in 2008 alive and well living out a secret life in the Vietnamese jungle. However, some stories are not always what they seem…
12. An Interesting Rumor
It was the spring of 2008 when Christian missionary, Tom Faunce, heard of the rogue American soldier who was living somewhere in Laos after surviving a helicopter crash in 1968. As a humble servant who had spent many springs digging wells for the native people in Cambodia, Faunce found the rumors to be quite intriguing.
11. A Military Man
Tom Faunce had served in the United States military himself and had served two tours overseas. Unfortunately, many of his fellow soldiers did not survive and the weight of their deaths had a profound impact on him. This caused Faunce to self-destruct, end his marriage and move to Cambodia to do God’s work in an effort to cope. Therefore, the thought of another U.S. soldier being close by piqued his interest.
10. The Man Named Robertson
According to the locals, the soldier was John Hartley Robertson who had become injured when his helicopter crashed. He was imprisoned in North Vietnam and fell in love with his nurse. They would eventually marry, and he stole her dead husband’s identity becoming Dang Tan Ngoc. The couple would eventually flee to south Vietnam.
9. A Wild Story
Even though the story could have been right out of a Nicholas Spark’s novel, being a soldier, Faunce knew it could be true. He worried that the soldier having spent so much time in a strange land could be not doing well mentally, so he decided it was time to investigate.
8. Tracking Down Robertson
Faunce was able to track down Robertson and was surprised when he met the man. A tall and lanky fellow with a few wisps of gray hair, Robertson seemed to know why the man had come and received Faunce with open arms. However, his wife was not so welcoming, screaming at the intruders in her home to leave.
7. Fearful for Family
After Robertson calmed his wife, he explained that she was terrified for her family and what could happen to them since she smuggled an American soldier into the country. Faunce assured them that he had no ill intentions, but being a soldier himself he was interested in Robertson’s story.
6. A Career Soldier with the CIA
According to Robertson, he had been a career soldier and enlisted in the army right out high school. He would move on to join the Green Berets soon after and began training as a paratrooper. This was when he was sent on a top secret CIA mission to help bomb North Vietnam. Unfortunately, it was on one of these bombing missions that his helicopter was struck by enemy fire…
5. A Link to the Past
When the helicopter crashed, all but Robertson had ejected from the aircraft. Stuck inside, Robertson was taken to a nearby hospital in the Vietcong where he met his now wife and took on the guise as a Vietnamese farmer. Robertson was curious what had happened to his family in the United States; however, Faunce did not have those answers. He asked Robertson to accompany him to the U.S. where he could be fingerprinted and gain access to his old life.
4. A Family Reunion
It would take four years before an Emmy-winning director would send Hugh Tranh to Vietnam as part of a documentary crew to bring Robertson to Alberta, Canada. There, his entire family was waiting for him. Most excited was Jean, his sister who couldn’t wait to see her favorite brother after all this time. The question was…would Robertson be ready to see her?
3. Mismatched Fingerprints
Due to spending so many years in Vietnam, Robertson only knew how to speak Vietnamese. With the help of a translator, he had a tearful reunion with his sister Jean, her husband and his niece Gail. However, there were suspicions being raised that Robertson wasn’t who he said he was…in fact, the United States Embassy confirmed his prints weren’t a match…so who was this man?
2. Suspicions Arise
Robertson’s family convinced themselves that the man from Vietnam was the real thing, but there were some serious doubts so they requested a DNA test. The documentary continued filming and even set up a reunion with one of Robertson’s old Green Beret pals, Mahoney. The encounter was awkward and it was obvious neither man recognized the other. Afterwards, the DNA test results finally revealed the truth.
1. A Terrible Fraud
Sadly, the man claiming to be Robertson was a fraud. So who was he? No one knew for sure. It was possible he was a senile Vietnamese man who had dementia or was sucked into a lie he couldn’t escape from. However, it was determined the real Robertson had died many years ago. A sad end to what could of been one the greatest stories of this generation.
riannan
