The Dissilusioned

The Disillusioned.... Is available on  Amazon, Barns and Noble, Books a Million and Ingram

It’s Edward Winslow’s first time back in Viet Nam since his departure shortly after the Fall of Da Nang in 1975.  He’s in Hanoi looking up an old friend from that time who is now the US Ambassador to Viet Nam.  His wife Lien has died and he’s looking for her sister.

Near the end of the war Captain Edward Winslow was captured by forces from the North.  At that time he was an advisor to the forces from the South.  He had developed a relationship with the leader of his captures, a Sgt. Chanh and his ability to speak Vietnamese was perhaps what saved him.

As the NVA neared Da Nang in 1975 the city began collapsing and the great exodus began.  By air from the airports and by sea from the Han river in downtown Da Nang and the beaches of My Khe the civilian and military population that worked with the Americans  began the journey south to the final disappearance of a country.

John W. Conroy has covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an embedded journalist as well as present day Viet Nam and Cambodia.  He is the author of the novels, The Girl from Tam Hiep and The Dissilusoned.

The Girl from Tam Hiep

The Girl from Tam Hiep.... Is available on  Amazon, Barns and Noble, Books a Million and Ingram;

It's part love story, part war story…a growing up story…with the US Army in the mid Sixties during the American war in Viet Nam. Pvt. Bill Collins lives on the fringe of Long Binh, the worlds largest base camp that's 20 miles or so north of Saigon. He's a participant in the 'Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll' war of legend. Sex is everywhere, booze is everywhere, and danger is everywhere. However, Tam Hiep , the supposed VC town, the Off-Limits town, is accommodating to most everyone who ventures within. It is also a place where love might flourish. Collins and his fellow soldiers meander through their life with the Green Machine, patrolling the surrounding countryside when not on the road to Saigon, or whoreing and drinking in the dives and fleshpots of Bien Hoa. Whether it's flying to Da Nang and Hue or over the road to Phnom Penh with the girl Kim Lon, Pvt. Collins continues on his journey towards love and survival.

The Disillusioned: Synopsis for the Novel and Screenplay

An old American soldier from the Viet Nam War is flying into Hanoi.  His Vietnamese wife has recently died and he is returning in search of her sister.  As the plane begins its approach, he scans the countryside of endless green from the window.  His mind drifts into memories as the stories begin.

Shacks on the Han River in Da Nang 

As the war in Vietnam draws down in 1975, the lives of an American GI, CAPT. EDWARD WINSLOW, and a troubled North Vietnamese soldier, CHANH, converge during the evacuation and fall of Da Nang.  The soldier from the North has endured immeasurable hardship during the previous ten years, many described in flashbacks, much of it through a beautiful countryside before the destruction caused by US bombing.  There have been horrendous battles.  His girl back home, HOA, is probably gone. 

The GI is ‘stuck’ in Viet Nam.  It’s become his home, and he’s involved with a girl from the North, LIEN, who works the bars.  At this point he is an adviser to the South Vietnamese military.  They all still fight, but the cause is fading….looking bleak.  Refugees from cities north of Da Nang fill the highways leading into the city.  Chaos reigns, as no one seems to be in charge.  The Americans begin an evacuation to the south of all who can board the last aircraft, ship, or road vehicle.  World Airways flies in for a last flight south to Saigon and barely makes it off the ramp. The last attempts from the air are made from the Marble Mountain airfield.  The overflowing barges from the river in town have left for ships in the South China Sea.   The last stragglers are swimming toward the ships from My Khe Beach.

Fields in the vicinity of the A Shau Valley

Amid the confusion the American soldier tries to arrange transport out for his ‘Vietnamese family.  He is abandoned and captured by the North Vietnamese Army.  A younger officer, his superior MAJOR BARNS, a helicopter pilot, fills in arranging what he can.  Most Vietnamese personnel of the Americans are left to their own devices.  There’s no other choice.   The Major doesn’t leave.  He manages to crank up his old Huey after Da Nang has fallen.  He’ll fly to Saigon, but scours the countryside to the south looking for his friend Winslow, and finds him.

USO and Red Cross Viet Nam volunteers

In present day Hanoi, Edward Winslow ties up with a friend from the US State Dept. who now works at the US Embassy.  He eventually finds the sister and they begin to talk of the past, each so differently.   They meet a few times in the countryside, then in Hanoi and gradually develop a friendship while digging into their pasts during the war.  They discover things unknown.

Viet Nam is peaceful and happiness appears to be a distant possibility.

The Embedded Ones: Synopsis for the Novel & Screenplay

Private Bill Collins, the protagonist of the book 'The Girl from Tam Hiep’ is old now.  The Viet Nam war is a distant memory.  As the main character in ‘The Embedded Ones’  he’s back in the field with the US Army for a few tours as an embedded reporter in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Survivors from  night raid...Yaka China, Afghanistan

He befriends a number of younger reporters most of whom are more experienced on the job than he but have only the faintest knowledge of the war in Viet Nam which is always in the back of his mind.  The comparison between then and now often surfaces in his articles.

Iraqi girl...Medical outreach

First and foremost, it’s  the story of reporters covering what passes for war in the first part of the 21^st century.  Many of these reporters are interesting young women who more than hold their own with the men. 

Loading up after a hard night raid

Reporter Collins roams the whole of both Iraq and Afghanistan with various military units, sometimes on helicopters, sometimes across the landscape in Humvees or MR APs usually in the company of his young reporter friends.

Morning break in the Hindi Kush

Between embeds he makes a number of trips back to Viet Nam where he is no stranger having returned many times over the previous twenty years.  On a number of these trips he is accompanied by one or all of his young friends.

On the fringe of Ho Chi Minh City

This is after all the story of an era of US history in countries it never understands and never will if history proves correct.

Old Soldiers on parade - Ho Chi Minh City

From Baghdad to Kirkuk and Yusufiyah , from Kabul  and Kandahar to the high peaks of the Hindu Kush above the Pech Valley, from Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang to Hue and Ke Sanh we travel with Bill Collins and his friends through the minefields of current wars and the memories of a past one.

The Girl from Tam Hiep: Synopsis for the Novel & Screenplay

This book is meant to be a ‘slice of life’ in that time during the American war in Viet Nam in the late Sixties.  It is not a memoir.  I think of it as ‘living’ in a particular time. The protagonist, Private Bill Collins, is something like me but not really….maybe a fantasized version of myself…and other people too.

Red Beach in Da Nang where the Marines landed in 1965

 The original title, ‘My Friend Me’ is an expression used frequently by locals when speaking with GIs during that era but 'The Girl from Tam Hiep' took over. 

With an old VC in the fields outside of Da Nang 1993

It’s the story of a farm kid from the States out in the world for the first time and a young girl from Cambodia who lives in Viet Nam and works for the American GIs. 

A girl from Tam Hiep

It’s the story of the beginnings of their stumbling relationship and where it goes; ultimately to present day Viet Nam.

Downtown Tam Hiep

It’s also the story of other American boys from varied  backgrounds and their relationship with the powers that be that control army life, the Green Machine, the US Army.  And  their relationships with other GIs and the Vietnamese ….especially the girls.

Another girl from Tam Hiep

In many ways it explores the relationship of two peoples who have great differences in background  but are very much alike at the human level. 

The author 

There is a larger story of a rich and powerful country enveloping a small, poor and distant one that is very unlike itself.

The boys from the Company

From the Long Binh Ammo Dump to the village of Tam Hiep, from Bien Hoa to Saigon, from Da Nang and Hue to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. the narrative follows US Army Private Bill Collins on his treck through the many and the quiet complexities of the Viet Nam War

Four Soldiers from the Great War

It was April 6, 2017, one hundred years to the day since President Wilson and the US Congress declared war on Germany.  We had driven from Paris into Northern France to the site of the infamous Hindenburg Line.  On that beautiful early morning we stood on a knoll overlooking the landscape once occupied by soldiers and trenches from opposing armies.  All evidence of the ‘Great War’ had disappeared, as we were surrounded by vast fields of wheat and mustard seed.  We had begun our journey into the past.

Dave Glaser and Pete Conroy with our 'Beautiful French Girl'

We, are Dr. David Glaser who has taught history at many of the US military instillations around the world, including Viet Nam during the war there, for the University of Maryland.  Neal Tallon whose father Daniel Tallon was a WWI veteran.  Pete Conroy and myself for our grandfather Winslow B. Watson and his brother Mark S. Watson who were also WWI veterans.  Our mission was to, as near as possible locate the areas where they had served in this conflict.  There was one more WWI veteran whose path we were tracing, our old family friend Mr. William Shemin who just last year had the Silver Star that he was awarded for bravery under fire during his time in the trenches here, up graded to the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Obama.  Neal, Pete and myself are Viet Nam War army vets from northern New York State and with the help of David, the historian and US Marine veteran are attempting to walk in the footsteps of these WWI soldiers.

Pete, Neal and myself...the Viet Nam Vets...Paris, 2017.

The Watson boys grew up in Plattsburgh, NY and were educated at Union College; Winslow in engineering and Mark in journalism.  Daniel Tallon grew up on a farm in Beekmantown, a short distance north of Plattsburgh and left for the war when drafted in 1917.  William Shemin enlisted in 1917.  He lived at that time in New York City, however his later years were spent just north of Plattsburgh at Chazy Landings on the shores of Lake Champlain.

Capt. Winslow B. Watson, 106th Inf. American 27th Division

Driving north from Paris through areas of large farm fields we finally arrived in the town of Peronne which having been destroyed by shell fire during the war, had been rebuilt and is the present location of an excellent WWI museum.  The Somme American Cemetery is located outside the nearby town of Bony where Americans who fell in battle over this large area are buried.

Capt. Winslow B. Watson fought with his company in the second Battle of the Somme with the 106^th Infantry, American 27^th Division.  This battle continued from the fall of 1917 till the end of the war on November 11, 1918.  Our group was standing on the knoll between Guillemont Farm and the former site of Quennemont Farm.  A very striking French farm girl was out this early morning planting potatoes with a large piece of machinery.  She was kind enough to make a call to verify the farm locations.  During that battle, Capt. Winslow Watson led his troops on the attack of the nearly impregnable, Hindenburg Line which had to be breached to defeat the Germans who had been on the run since the Battle of St. Quenten Canal during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.  These operations were difficult to envision while looking over these wide open well-kept fields today. 

Neal Tallon on the Sgt. York Trail

A direct order quoted here from the history of the 27^th Division shows the seriousness of the operation.“Those were desperate days.  It was truly victory or death.  ‘If a gun team cannot remain here alive it will remain here dead, but in any case, it will remain here’ reads a paragraph of the order.  ‘Should any man, through shell shock or other cause attempt to surrender, he will remain here dead’ reads another paragraph.   Inferentially, he was to die by the hands of his sterner, stronger comrades, rather than be permitted to surrender’.  Machine gun companies were aptly named ‘suicide squads’.

Winslow Watson the grandfather whom I never met drowned in Lake Champlain three years after he returned home.  I never felt closer to him than on the knoll by Guillelmont Farm 100 years after this ferocious battle.

Sgt. William Shemin joined the U.S. Army on Oct. 2, 1917.  His unit, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry, 4th Division of the American Expeditionary Forces fought here during the Second Battle of the Marne during the Spring & Summer of 1918.  As near as we could determine, the actions that he undertook to be awarded the DSC took place near the spot where we now stood along the Vesle River just outside of the village of Bazoches.

Sgt. Shemin was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in France during early August of 1918. His citation reads as follows:

"The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress ... takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Sergeant William Shemin (ASN: 558173), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism ... on the Vesle River, near Bazoches, France, 7, 8, and 9 August 1918. 

Sgt. William Shemin's 4th Inf. Div. moument, Varennes, France

"Sergeant Shemin, upon three different occasions, left cover and crossed an open space (of) 150 yards, exposed to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, to rescue wounded. 

"After officers and senior non-commissioned officers had become casualties, Sergeant Shemin took command of the platoon and displayed great initiative under fire until wounded on 9 August."

According to Capt. Rupert Purdon, a superior officer who recommended Sgt. Shemin for the Medal of Honor at that time, "he sprang from his position in the trench and dashed out in full sight of the Germans, who opened and maintained a furious burst of machine-gun and rifle fire all the while Sgt. Shemin was rescuing the wounded.”

Trench system entry point, Varennes, France

He took over the command of his platoon for the next three days, leading it until shrapnel wounds and a bullet to the back of his head forced him from the field.  After a hospital stay of three months, he was discharged, partially deaf and lame.

It was determined by the US Army in 2016 that Sgt William Shemin had been denied the Medal of Honor because of his Jewish religion.  Through the efforts of his daughter Elsie Shemin Roth President Obama upgraded the Distinguished Service Cross that Sgt. Shemin had been awarded in 1918 to the Congressional Medal of Honor.

 

Sgt. William Shemin, 4^th Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Forces received his award for his actions along the Velse River where today we saw swans swimming peacefully on the placid waters.  During the WWI battle here in 1918, the Germans were on one side of the river and the Americans on the other. 

Pete Conroy and Dave Glaser along the Vesle River, France

On the present modern highway along the river was a monument dedicated to the 4^th inf. Div. Sgt. Shemin’s unit, was in Varennes.  The 2^nd Battle of the Marne.  The nearby Argonne American Cemetery, very well kept.  The Star of David is on the crosses of the Jewish dead.  There were pics of black soldiers, male and female, in the museum of this cemetery.  Again, as with Mr. Shemin, minority and Jewish soldiers were not afforded the recognition they deserved for acts of bravery because of their ethnicity.

Left to Right...Sgt. William Shemin, in the field w/the boys, WWI

Cpl. Daniel Tallon served in the 82^nd Division, 327 Regiment, the unit of Sgt. Alvin York, the most recognized veteran of WWI who received the Medal of Honor and was portrayed in the famous movie by Gary Cooper.  The Sgt. York Trail which traces the location of York’s activity the day he was commended for bravery is well marked by a Boy Scout Troop from the US and is outside the town Chatel- Chehery.  The trail was a couple of miles along the exact location of the actions that won York the Medal of Honor during the Meuse-Aragón Offensive. 

Pete Conroy and Dave Glaser at the Chateau of Chaumont-Bois.

It was on October 8, 1918 that Corporal York and sixteen other soldiers were dispatched to take command of the Deconville Railroad behind Hill 223 in the Chatel-Chehery sector.  These seventeen men mistakenly wound up behind enemy lines and after a brief but confusing firefight took the surrender of a superior German force.  The Germans eventually realized the limitations of the American Force and turned their machine guns on them killing nine Americans.  York was then ordered to silence the machine guns and was successful.  In the end, the nine remaining American soldiers had captured 132 Germans.   Cpl. Tallon was supplying the trenches and the front lines during the push against the Hindenburg Line while the Sgt. York episode was taking place.  He returned to the US and the home farm in Beekmantown in the spring in 1919.

Maj. Mark S. Watson graduated from Plattsburgh High School in 1906, joined the army on the leadup to the American entry in the war in 1917, then trained with the US Calvary at Fr. Riley Kansas. He was stationed at General ‘Blackjack’ Pershing Headquarters in Chaumont France for his WWI Tour of Duty.  The Gen. Pershing headquarters building today is a police academy.  During his time in Chaumont, Mark Watson was billeted in the Couillard family home, the Chateau of Chaumont-le-Bois.  He established a close friendship with that family, especially with the daughter, Marcelle Parde who worked with the French Resistance during World War II, was eventually arrested by the Gestapo in August of 1944 and shipped to the Ravensbruck concentration camp.  On his return to Chaumont on September 30, 1944 as a reporter with the US Army, Maj. Watson indeed found that Marcelle Parde had been arrested by the Gestapo.  It was later determined that she chose to remain with her secretary, also arrested and with the resistance, rather than take an offer to escape alone.  Both disappeared during deportation in 1945 and were presumed dead.

Cpl. Danial Tallon at war's end.

As the war ended Mark Watson was appointed Officer in Charge in the Paris office of the Stars and Stripes, the soldier’s newspaper.  He was with the Baltimore Sun for most of his professional life and became the assistant managing editor in 1920 eventually becoming the Sunday editor. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 for reporting from Europe during WWII and President Kennedy made him one of the first recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. His first job in journalism was reporting for the Plattsburgh Press.

Maj. Mark S. Watson at Pershing's Headqurters, Chaumont, France, 1918.

We had a sense of completion upon leaving the battlefields of the Somme coming so close to the footsteps of our friend and ancestors.  Perhaps too a sense of sadness as we left that hallowed ground knowing that after one hundred years their sacrifices have led only to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.

A version of this article appeared in the Press Republican on 12/6/17.

Chuck Feeney's work in Viet Nam

The end of 2016, marked billionaire philanthropist Mr. Chuck Feeney’s lifetime achievement goal of giving away all of his money before his death through Atlantic Philanthropies (AP), an organization he founded in 1982.  A recent $7 million bequest to Cornell University has brought the total to just over $8 billion in grants, “to advance opportunity and promote equity and dignity around the world.”  Mr. Feeney’s philosophy of ‘Giving while Living’ has been realized.  While his generosity towards Ireland and Cornell University is well known, his relationship with the people of Vietnam has flown relatively under the radar.

Mr. Feeney’s philanthropic relationship with that country began with an article in the San Francisco Chronicle (1997) concerning the lack of funding for East Meets West Foundation (EMWF), an NGO working for the poor Vietnamese with headquarters in the central city of Da Nang.  Included with the article was a picture of Mark Conroy, EMWF country director who was documenting a few of the foundation’s completed projects and expressing the necessity of project continuation and expansion.  EMWF’s grants were running out with no cash left in the box to keep the operation running.  During a recent trip to San Francisco to meet with Mr. Feeney, Mr. Conroy disclosed, “I was having to use my own savings, which were very limited, to keep busy on some small projects.”

Writer and humanitarian, Le Ly Hayslip, founded East Meets West Foundation in 1987.  Ms. Hayslip grew up in Da Nang during the war with the Americans, which left her country in complete devastation. Mr. Conroy had been hired by Ms. Hayslip to run the EMWF Vietnam headquarters following his Peace Corp tour in Guatemala. Mr. Conroy was already acquainted with Ms. Hayslip, having met previously during past trips to Ho Chi Minh City. In May 1994, Mr. Conroy and then wife, Joanne Ives, began work in Da Nang.

Chuck and Helga at the Village of Hope orphanage in Da Nang/

Mr. Feeney had his office investigate EMWF. Intrigued by AP’s findings, he called the EMWF US office in Oakland, CA. After speaking with Director Mark Stewart, Mr. Feeney offered to send $100,000 to Da Nang headquarters to see what they could do with it.

 “When it’s gone, get back to me and explain how it was spent,” said Mr. Feeney.  EMWF used the money to build and renovate schools and fresh water systems in poor villages.

In early 1998, Bob Matousek, Mr. Feeney’s long-time friend and associate, visited EMWF headquarters in Da Nang.  Alongside Mr. Conroy, Mr. Matousek spent a few days checking out various projects in the Vietnamese countryside and in Da Nang. A number of schools and compassion homes had been built.  The Village of Hope orphanage, which housed 200 kids and was managed by EMWF, was being effectively maintained.  Several other grass root projects in Quan Nam Province had also been completed by the foundation. In light of his trip, Mr. Matousek approved EMWF for a visit from Mr. Feeney.

Mr. Feeney’s first personal contact with EMWF in Vietnam was on Oct. 18 1998, in the original office on Tran Phu Street, Da Nang.  This office was a thinly staffed, ‘nuts and bolts’ operation where the occasional snake or rat that passed through did not interfere.  Mr. Conroy had no idea who Mr. Feeney was at the time and asked him why he was interested in a small organization like EMWF that worked primarily in Vietnam. Mr. Feeney answered that he didn’t like or trust large institutions.  He chose to support the people of Vietnam, believing that the Vietnamese had been dealt a raw deal by the US government.

Vietnam also happened to be on Mr. Feeney’s route from San Francisco to Australia where he was funding medical research and education projects and trying to persuade wealthy Australians to follow suit.  Ordinarily, Mr. Feeney focused on top down development in education and public health to help facilitate a country’s ability to take care of its own.  In Ireland, this approach by Mr. Feeney had been operating successfully for years.  In contrast, his support for EMWF was more from the bottom up due to their sufficiency with small financing.  It appeared that both Chuck and Mark were ‘brick and mortar’ guys, similar to the Irish that to the extent of their capabilities, settled America to lend a helping hand to their people in need.

In those days, Da Nang General Hospital had next to nothing.  Today, that facility has been completely rebuilt by EMWF with funding from AP and treats over 2,000 patients a day. Its capacity has grown from 800 to 1,250 beds. In addition, three more hospitals have been added to the health system in Da Nang: The Eye Hospital with 400 beds, the Woman and Children’s Hospital with 600 beds and the 500 bed Oncology Hospital.

Dr. Tran Ngoc Thanh, the hospital director of the last 14 years, recently remarked, “Da Nang General Hospital’s capacity today is a dream come true for the Vietnamese people.  Without the input of AP and EMWF it would have taken 30 years to be where we are now.  Mr. Chuck Feeney has been the savior of our people and we will never forget that, and we always make a point of expressing our gratitude in meetings with other officials.  Da Nang General is one of the top hospitals in Viet Nam and its presence has stimulated more medical training out of Viet Nam.  I hope Mr. Chuck’s health improves. May God bless him.”

Through EMWF and AP, Da Nang University has built two Learning Resource Centers (LRCs), the modern equivalent of a library that specializes in Internet connections with other worldwide educational facilities.   The LRCs’ textbook supply must be available for thousands of students in a semester and currently serve 10,000 in the Da Nang system.   The Da Nang University facilities massive success has led to the construction of LRC s at Universities in Hue, Can Tho and Thai Nguyen.

The Conroys and  the Feeneys, Hanoi, VN

 In 1999, EMWF began building two Da Nang University of Education dormitories financed by Mr. Feeney.  In large, these dormitories are used by poor students and minorities from the distant, rural mountain regions.  These students would otherwise be homeless while pursuing their education.  Post graduation, they will return home to teach and help with the advancement their people.

Modern dining halls and The Da Nang University Sports center, another joint AP and EMWF project, was completed in 2004. Today, 800 students use this facility daily throughout the school year. Students can train in basketball, volleyball, tennis, table tennis, variations of football and aerobic exercise. 

Mr. ‘Teddy’ Thiet, the Da Nang Sports Center director, traveled with Mr. Feeney to Australia to research building design for the facility’s construction.  Mr. Thiet remembered Mr. Chuck Feeney, “as a man with a great heart, deserving of much respect; one who understands the position of the poor, a man who wouldn’t waste money on a tie for himself.  I am very sad to hear that he is in ill health and hope it improves enough so that he can come back here for a visit sometime.  I thank him from the bottom of my heart and extend those thanks also to the staff of EMWF.”

The University Games and biannual National Sports Championships are hosted by the Da Nang University Sports center with over 1,000 student participants.  The Da Nang Sports Center’s reputation as a premier venue for athletic competition has inspired the development of more sporting event facilities in Vietnam. 

Thai Nguyen is a rapidly developing city northwest of the Hanoi No Bai Airport with historical claims of Ho Chi Minh residing there during the French Indo-China War.  On the city’s outskirts lies the largest Samsung plant in the world, encompassing at least 400 acres.  EMWF projects at Thai Nguyen University (TNU), funded by Chuck Feeney and AP, include several dormitories, an LRC, site development and landscaping. After five years of work, these projects were completed (2007) and in 2013, the dormitory project won the most prestigious architecture award in Vietnam.

Ten years later, an on-site visit and meeting with Mark Conroy, TNU director, Dr. Nguyen Van Tao, and his board was set up to assess the present use and maintenance of projects completed there. Behind the board of directors, three flags were lined up beginning with the Vietnamese, followed by the US, and finally the French. 

In addition to 11 dormitory buildings and required site work, landscaping for the sports facility was prepared for basketball, football, tennis, etc.  The dorms, originally built for the medical school, had expanded their occupancy to the entire university population and now housed predominately poorer students from the countryside and ethnic minorities (50 %).  57 Laotian foreign exchange students lived in the dormitories and couldn’t attend TNU without them. At $6.00 USD per month, student rent is much cheaper than private housing and has enabled TNU to upgrade its standards elsewhere.

University enrollment has increased 20% since the completion of the dormitory project and TNU now offers 17 majors, including medicine, pharmacy, education, information technology, communication, foreign languages and most scientific disciplines. There are students enrolled here from Korea, Germany, The Philippines and China. TNU officials express deep gratitude to Chuck Feeney for his generosity toward their university.

In the central Vietnamese city of Hue, the EMFW Heart Program and Hue Hospital director Dr.Bui Duc Phu also peaked Mr. Feeney’s interests. Dr. Phu happens to be one of the best heart surgeons in the country.  He and his team perform over 1,500 open-heart surgeries and 2,000 interventions or heart cauterizations a year.  

Financed by Mr. Feeney, the EMFW Heart Program was able to provide the medical facilities with equipment to establish a pediatric open-heart surgery unit at Hue Hospital in 2006. These facilities have enabled postgraduate doctors to stay in Vietnam and work in their field by meeting the standards of their education.   Upon Dr. Phu’s recent return from San Francisco, where he attended a brief meeting with Mr. Feeney, he also expressed heartfelt gratitude towards Chuck’s generosity to the Hue health care system.

Children from the country who were helped by Chuck Feeney

Mr. Feeney’s affiliation with Hue Hospital introduced him to Hue University and led to the construction of university dormitories, a food center and LRC, as well as pediatric and cardiovascular hospitals.

In total, the EMWF projects funded by AP and Chuck Feeney amount to $100 Million Dollars. Mr. Feeney and AP funding enabled EMWF to build 10 hospitals and 11 university building projects of varying magnitude, to repair damages from Typhoon Xang, and various other community infrastructure projects.

The present director of Atlantic Philanthropies, Mr. Chris Oechsli, along with Mr. Matousek and Mr. Feeney have made numerous trips to Vietnam to consult with Mark Conroy and EMWF personnel during the course of these projects.  Chuck Feeney’s last visit to Vietnam was for the AP meeting held at the Hanoi Metropole Hotel in 2008.