Fighter pilot befriends Vietnam War foe

What: “Symbol of Freedom” dinner to benefit CDM Caregiving Services.

Who: Dan Cherry, author of “My Friend, My Enemy,” and Nguyen Hong My.

When: 5 p.m. Nov. 5.

Where: Hilton Vancouver Washington, 301 W. Sixth St.

Cost: $100 per person. There also is a VIP reception at Artillery Barracks, 5:30 p.m. Nov. 4; $125 per person.

Contact: CDMcaregiving.org; tickettomato.com; call 360-750-3825

Four decades after they met in jet-to-jet combat, U.S. Air Force veteran Dan Cherry and one-time North Vietnamese fighter pilot Nguyen Hong My will share a stage in Vancouver.

Cherry won their first encounter, shooting down Hong My’s MiG-21.

In the last few years, Cherry’s relationship with Hong My has changed. It’s a transformation he describes in his book, “My Enemy, My Friend.” The book’s subtitle offers a little more detail: “A story of reconciliation from the Vietnam War.”

The two aviators, who were reunited in 2008 by a Vietnamese television show, will tell their story at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in a fundraising event for a local caregiving agency. Cherry is the keynote speaker in the “Symbol of Freedom” dinner at Hilton Vancouver Washington; Hong My will be his special guest.

There also will be a more intimate reception for Cherry and Hong My at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 4, at Fort Vancouver’s Artillery Barracks.

This will be the fourth annual fundraising event for CDM Caregiving Services, a Vancouver nonprofit agency that provides care for the elderly and disabled. Last year’s event included former Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who was part of Jackie Kennedy’s security detail when President John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas in 1963.

In addition to raising money for the agency, CDM’s “Symbol of Freedom” events also have raised its public profile.

“Visibility is a problem,” Eric Erickson, executive director of CDM Caregiving Services, said. “People don’t want to think about care for the elderly or for younger disabled people until they need it.”

First ‘meeting’

On April 16, 1972, then-Major Don Cherry and then-Lt. Nguyen Hong My (pronounced “me”) met in an air engagement about 30 miles southwest of Hanoi. Cherry’s squad of four F-4 Phantoms encountered two silver MiG-21 fighters; the MiGs actually were bait. One of the Phantom pilots noticed a third enemy plane, a camouflaged MiG-21, that had hoped to catch the F-4s by surprise. He was closing fast when Cherry took him on.

After extensive aerial maneuvering through heavy clouds, and a couple of weapons-system failures, Cherry finally was in a position to fire the Sparrow missile that blew off the MiG’s right wing. The North Vietnamese pilot ejected and his parachute opened right in front of Cherry.

That was the last Cherry saw of his adversary until April 5, 2008. The reunion resulted from a couple of unlikely events. Cherry found his old F-4 Phantom and led an effort to restore it for an aviation heritage site.

As friends noticed the red star signifying the MiG-21 he had shot down, they’d ask Cherry if he knew what happened to its pilot.

The link turned out to be a Vietnamese TV show that arranges reunions.

Photographer John Fleck, who documented Cherry’s saga and did most of the photos for “My Enemy, My Friend,” accompanied the retired brigadier general to Vietnam.

“It’s an incredible story,” Fleck said in a recent phone interview.

Fleck photographed the two pilots shaking hands in front of the TV camera in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. He accompanied them to Hong My’s home in Hanoi, where the journey continued. It included a tour of a notorious prison site the Americans called the “Hanoi Hilton.”

“It was very emotional for Dan,” Fleck said. “He got approval from his friends who had been imprisoned there. He wanted to make sure everybody was on board. He didn’t want to disrespect his friends.”

In his book, Cherry described how Hong My whispered to him: “Did you have any friends in here?”

“Yes, I did,” Cherry replied.

“We were all pretty drained,” Fleck said.

When they were back on the street, Hong My put his arm around Cherry’s shoulder — an image Fleck captured for Cherry’s book.

And in the book, Cherry recalled that moment: “That day, on the streets of Hanoi, my enemy had truly become my friend.”