David sat down with his daughter, Sunni, during StoryCorps’ mobile tour stop in Ogden to reflect on those months — and about the healing power of an unexpected connection.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sunni Wilkinson: What brought you to joining the military? And how much did you know about the Vietnam War when that happened?
David Brown: I guess I was eager to find out what the situation was and I wanted to experience it.
SW: You experienced a lot of combat. How did that transition work for you, and can you describe it?
DB: I think in the first 40 days we were in-country, we had 36 firefights. And there was one, I guess, I'd been in-country for probably about two and a half months, it started about nine o'clock in the morning. We fought all day long. The next day, when we were walking around, looking at the dead and taking inventory, I noticed that there was one young man from the North Vietnamese that was lying there, and I thought, “wow, he looks my age or even younger.”So, I looked through his jacket and I found a letter. It just sounded like a letter that I had written or received from my parents, and it had his picture of his family. And it just struck me, so strong, that it was like I was looking down and seeing myself. And that became a real reality of the human factor.
SW: Then you went back, but it was after a long time. So how did it come about that you even returned to Vietnam? What were the circumstances?
DB: There was a Vietnamese who came over to the United States as an exchange student. He ended up staying here going to school and met my niece. They got married and they went back to Ho Chi Minh City.
SW: You found out something about his family that was also really revealing. And, I guess, cast a different light on your time as well.
DB: We had dinner at their house, and he invited his parents over. And, I thought, “well, his dad looks about my age.” So I said, “ask your dad if he fought in the war (and) what he did during the war.”
His dad said, “I fought for the North Vietnamese.” And I told him that we had fought at the same time and the same place. He didn't say anything. And then we got through at dinner, he rolled up his pant leg and showed me some scars and wounds on his legs.
And, I mean, I didn't know whether to start crying or what. It floored me. After a while, we got up, we shook hands, we gave each other a hug and had our pictures taken. It was such a healing experience for both of us. We found a common friendship. As once we were enemies, we're now kind of friends, and that was extremely powerful to me.
SW: I've been so profoundly affected by the way that you've been able to show love and return to a place of heartache and find goodness.
DB: I feel like I've come full circle from going and fighting to someone, years later, embracing and loving the people, too.
SW: Thank you, Dad. Thank you for your story.
