Dear the Sailors of the USS Cochrane,
On this website, there are pictures of a Vietnamese refugee boat, named Tourane 3, that the USS Cochrane gave aid to, on May 2, 1975, just outside the Vietnamese water. Â I was one of the refugees on that boat at that time, and was watching the USS Cochrane approaching our boat like angels appearing on the open sea. I was a 14 years old boy then. There were about 500 of us on that boat; about 100, mostly men, on deck as shown in the pictures, and 400 more, mostly women and children squeezed up under the deck. We had taken off from Saigon River several days earlier, right after the South Vietnamese government collapsed and surrendered to the North Vietnamese Army. After we reached the international water, we were running out of food and water. The boat engine was breaking down. Disagreements broke out between different factions of the ARVN soldiers on which direction we should go; each wanted to commandeer the boat. We were in a very dangerous and desparate situation when the USS Cochrane came to our aid. You saved our life that day. You gave us food and water, and diffused the tense and explosive situation. Â You gave us hope and lifted our spirit. We were eventually picked up by an ARVN navy ship, the HQ-16, and taken to the Phillipines. There, we were transfered to the SS Green Forest and taken to Guam, and eventually settled down in the US. My family and I are now US citizens and scattered over several states. I would like to thank the sailors of the USS Cochrane; you are indeed our angels. Â I would like to thank especially the sailor who took the pictures and made them available for all of us. Loc Nguyen
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