Hong My is a Vietnamese pilot who at 77 has become an international hero. His story of how and why this came to be is as unlikely as it is serendipitous. K and I were fortunate to have been invited into his humble home to hear him tell his story. His apartment is on a dark narrow street in downtown Hanoi.
The outside door is a wrought iron gate followed by a very solid wooden door. We entered into a living room, the floor covered with a clean patterned linoleum, one wall covered with photos of him at various stages in his life and on one corner, taking up a large part of the room are three motorcyles. One in particular looks like it might have been from WWII but I couldn’t make out the manufacturer.
There was a back room and I think it was his kitchen. It was dark. The entire apartment seemed to be windowless. It looked clean and orderly, pots and pans hanging neatly above the sink. It wasn’t what I would have expected of a 77 year old Vietnamese man who lived alone.
He wore a black leather jacket with his flying decal displayed on his chest for all to see. His smile was huge, easy and frequent. Top it off with a very bald head and what do you have? A big happy Buddha. I say big not in the physical sense. He was shorter than me. Rather, his presence and personality were huge. He trained in the Soviet Union for 4 years, one of 120 Vietnamese pilot candidates. The pride in his voice as he told us the story was overflowing. He came close to years a number of times.
We felt privileged that we had this time with him alone. It was a very relaxed, friendly and welcoming experience, Chi, who translated for us seemed to be moved by Hong and his story.
In 1965, he shot down a US figher jet, a MIG piloted by Dan Cherry. Hong described the battles in his own words and his story differs somewhat from the article included here. According to Hong, the battle in the sky above Hanoi was one sided. He was up against 30 US aircraft and managed to use his skill as a pilot to sneak up behind Cherry's MIG and shoot him down. Cherry avoided capture by being rescued by US helicopters. Later in the war, Cherry shot him down.
Regardless of what really happened, it's an incredible story that Hong My continues to share with visitors to his home. His pride feeds him.