Once enemies, now friends
Published 12:01 am Friday, March 11, 2011
MUKILTEO — Two men visiting the Historic Flight Foundation on Saturday have quite a story to share.
Dan Cherry, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, and Nguyen Hong My, a former North Vietnamese pilot, will recount their first meeting: In the sky over North Vietnam in April 1972, when Cherry fired a Sparrow missile and shot down Hong My’s MiG-21 in one of the most remembered dogfights of the Vietnam War.
Cherry found Hong My more than 30 years later with the help of a Vietnamese television show. They met as friends this time. Their story has appeared on national news, and now they are coming to share it with people in the Pacific Northwest.
Cherry lives in Bowling Green, Ky., and Hong My lives in Hanoi, Vietnam.
On April 16, 1972, Cherry caught a glimpse of the MiG’s pilot as he parachuted from the wrecked plane.
“I’d always been curious about his fate. I saw him clearly in his parachute when I shot his airplane down,” Cherry said in a phone interview. “I didn’t know for sure if he’d survived, and that was always a question in my mind.”
In 2004, Cherry was visiting the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Ohio and discovered the F4-D Phantom 550 he piloted the day he shot down the Vietnamese MiG. He decided to search for the pilot. Someone suggested a popular Vietnamese television show that reunites long-lost friends and relatives. Cherry contacted the show host.
He heard back two weeks later: The MiG pilot had been found. Cherry was invited to Vietnam to meet his counterpart on the show. Cherry was hoping they could become friends.
“Even if we were on opposite sides of conflict, we at least had the common bond of flying airplanes,” he said.
When the two pilots met in a television studio, Hong My looked exactly the way Cherry imagined a Vietnamese warrior would: Not very tall, but muscular, his head shaved. They grasped hands in a firm handshake as Hong My welcomed Cherry and told him he hoped to become friends.
And so they have. Hong My and Cherry visited each other’s homes and met each other’s families.
Hong My, who trained in the Soviet Union, broke both arms and injured his back in the 1972 dogfight. After recovering, he flew fighters for two more years.
On the 37th anniversary of their dogfight, Hong My came to Kentucky and dedicated Aviation Heritage Park, which Cherry helped found to celebrate the history of aviation. Hong My even sat in the cockpit of Cherry’s retired fighter.
The two men hope their story will help some Vietnam veterans find closure.
“The fact that Hong My and I have reconciled our differences, we hope that it will help veterans on both sides,” Cherry said.
“We also hope that we can be an inspiration to our two countries in the future and that we can demonstrate the power of friendship.”
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com
Hear the tale
Hear the story at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Historic Flight Foundation, 10719 Bernie Webber Drive, Mukilteo. For more information, call 425-348-3200 or go to www.historicflight.org. Admission is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and military members, $8 for youth and free for those under 5. To buy tickets, go to bit.ly/MukilteoFlight.
Learn more about the Aviation Heritage Park at www.aviationheritagepark.com.
