The tumultuous life of a boy who survived the My Lai massacre.

In March, the sun casts a peaceful golden glow across the rice fields of Son My village. Mr. Do Ba (residing in Tinh Khe commune, Quang Ngai city) and his neighbors temporarily set aside their farming work, cleaning their houses and preparing for the "communal memorial" day to commemorate the 504 people who perished in the Son My massacre.

With trembling hands, holding an incense stick to light on the altar, and silently gazing at the photograph of the two American veterans placed respectfully next to his mother's portrait, Mr. Ba confided: "Those pilots gave me a second life. Every March, the family holds a joint memorial service for my mother, my siblings, and my saviors."

Turning the pages of his painful memories, he recalled that on the early morning of March 16, 1968, helicopters roared and circled over the golden fields ready for harvest. American troops landed in the village, capturing a mother and her four children along with many other villagers, herding them into a ditch at the edge of the hamlet, and then continuously firing their weapons.

In an instant, American soldiers killed Do Ba's mother and two siblings, along with many villagers. Caught between life and death, American veterans arriving by helicopter unexpectedly intervened, stopping the massacre and saving nine innocent civilians.

"Hugh Thompson and Lawrence Colburn discovered my tiny body moving amidst the piles of villagers' corpses. They lifted me onto a helicopter and took me to the emergency hospital…," Mr. Ba recalled.

After the My Lai massacre, he continued to suffer further hardship. His father was imprisoned on Con Dao Island, returning home after 1975, but died just a few months later due to the consequences of torture and beatings. Out of compassion for his orphaned state, the villagers took him in throughout his childhood.

After finishing 9th grade, Do Ba dropped out of school and wandered all the way to Saigon to make a living, from washing dishes to carrying goods for hire. He drifted from place to place, doing whatever work he could find, working tirelessly day and night.

Seeing his naivety, a group of street thugs, after stealing electrical wires, "asked" him to carry them away to sell for money. As a consequence, Do Ba received an 8-year prison sentence for being caught red-handed selling stolen electrical wires.

Life seemed to have fallen into utter misery and despair... but luckily, Mr. Ba received help from a business that extended a helping hand. After coincidentally reading an article about a boy rescued by American pilots during the My Lai massacre, Mr. Kieu Xuan Long, Director of Thai Vi Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering Company in Ho Chi Minh City, vouched for the boy and adopted him.

Ba was given the opportunity by Mr. Long to learn refrigeration and air conditioning and work at his company's branch in Long An province. Sympathizing with Do Ba's unfortunate circumstances, Mr. Long organized a wedding ceremony for him.

Out of gratitude to Mr. Long, Do Ba and his wife gave their firstborn son, Do Kieu Quang Huy, the middle name Kieu. After becoming pregnant, Dang Thi Cu (Do Ba's wife) returned to Son My (Quang Ngai) to give birth and stayed in her hometown.

Business was tough, the Long An branch closed, and Do Ba returned to the city to continue working as a factory worker, then as a security guard for Mr. Long's company. Outside of work hours, to earn extra income, he roamed all over Saigon selling scrap metal.

Nearly 30 years after the My Lai massacre, through the mediation of Madison Quakers Inc. (USA), veterans Thompson and Colburn returned to Vietnam to find the boy they saved all those years ago.

Mr. Phan Van Do, the organization's representative in Vietnam, recalled how it took five long months to find Do Ba, who was making a living in Saigon. In March 1998, Do Ba and two other veterans, Hugh Thompson and Colburn, arrived in Da Nang on two different flights but shared the same bus from Da Nang airport to Quang Ngai.

Mr. Do still vividly remembers that "special journey." "As soon as the bus started moving, I introduced him as the boy they had saved during the My Lai massacre. Hearing this, Hugh Thompson and Colburn jumped up and embraced Mr. Do Ba, bursting into tears in this historic and emotional reunion," recounted a representative from Madison Quakers Inc. (USA).

He added that during their return to My Lai that day, they presented the Son My Memorial Site with two Hero Medals (awarded by the US Government) for their selfless acts of saving innocent people during the war in Vietnam.

In March 2009, Colburn returned to Son My alone; providing financial support to help Do Ba improve his family's economic situation.

After many years of wandering and making a living, he returned to reunite with his wife and children in Son My village, Tinh Khe commune. With support from Colburn, Do Ba and his wife renovated their small house, built a barn, and bought two cows to raise. His dream of living in a simple family home was only realized after decades.

Busy carrying a bundle of grass to the corner of the garden, Do Ba placed his calloused hands on the cow's head and shared that Colburn had saved him from death years ago, and later even sent money back to help him buy cows to raise and escape poverty.

"Last year, the Women's Association of Tinh Khe commune also helped me get a preferential loan to buy this cow to improve my income and develop my family's economy," he added.

Mr. Nguyen Tan Giang, from Tu Cung village (Tinh Khe commune), emotionally shared that after many years of wandering, more than half his life, he was finally able to return to his hometown to live. Although his married life is still full of difficulties, he and his wife always maintain their affection and determination to overcome challenges in life.

While putting a scarf on his son, Do Ba happily chatted with his 11-year-old son, Quang Huy, who is in 5th grade. Looking into the boy's clear eyes, he felt his heart overflow with happiness.

"Although there are still many hardships and challenges ahead, my life will change from here. My son and I will have a brighter future," he said optimistically.

As for Ms. Dang Thi Cu, she shyly recalled the time she fell in love with Mr. Ba, when her family strongly opposed it, fearing that her life would be miserable. "It was his sincerity, honesty, and harsh circumstances that made me love him without hesitation," she shared.

Fifty years after the My Lai massacre, Do Ba hopes that the pain of the past will gradually fade away so that the lives of the people here can open up to a new dawn of peace, prosperity, and happiness.

Amidst the ups and downs of life, Do Ba still vividly remembers the image of Ronald Haeberle (an American photojournalist), the author of more than 60 photos of the My Lai massacre, sharing his family's grief.

"When Ronald met my father and me seven years ago, he wept profusely and said that the My Lai massacre would haunt him for the rest of his life. He hoped that time would heal the wounds in me and the villagers; he prayed that this land would be reborn and prosperous in the future," he recounted.

Within four hours on the morning of March 16, 1968, the American army killed 504 innocent civilians in the rural village of Son My, most of them women and children.

Following an artillery and machine-gun assault from helicopters, Charlie Company landed in Son My village. The unit's soldiers found no Viet Cong troops in the village; instead, most were women and children seeking shelter from the American sweep. Many villagers were still cooking their morning meals.

The entire company used guns and bayonets to kill, "slaughtering anything that moved," both people and livestock... American soldiers threw grenades into the homes of innocent civilians without caring what was inside. An officer grabbed a woman by the hair and shot her directly with a pistol. A woman carrying a small child was shot dead instantly as she stepped out of her house. Even more horrifying, one of them used an M16 automatic rifle to blast the body of a newborn baby to pieces as it fell to the ground...