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Outlook: Looking for Vietnam's Fallen Soldiers

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Veteran Bob Connor (2nd from left) standing on the site where hundreds of Vietcong were buried in 1968 (credit: Martin Strones)

05/09/2018 GMT

Looking for Vietnam's Fallen Soldiers

BBC World Service - Outlook, Looking for Vietnam's Fallen Soldiers

US Veteran Bob Connor is helping find mass graves in Vietnam

Bob Connor served in Vietnam in the 1960s. Now he is going back to help families find the bodies of their sons who were killed in the conflict and buried by the Americans.

In 1967 Bob Connor, a sergeant with the U.S. Air Force, flew out to Vietnam to join the many American soldiers based there. He saw action in some of the most challenging battles of the war. Fifty years later, back in the US, Bob's granddaughter asked him to help her with a school history project. And so began Bob's journey back to Vietnam to help relatives find the graves of their loved ones.

Mohammed Al Masri, or Mo, captains a boat giving guided canal tours in Amsterdam. He treats his passengers to detailed explanations of the city's immigrant history and the current migrant crisis. He is a good fit for this, as is his vessel. Mo is Syrian and made the treacherous journey from Turkey to Greece via a smuggler's boat in 2015. The boat he uses for the tours comes from Lampedusa and once carried migrants across the Mediterranean from north Africa. This is all part of a volunteer project called Rederij Lampedusa. Outlook's Katy Sherriff went to meet Mo on board his boat.

Image: Veteran Bob Connor (second from left) standing on the site where hundreds of Vietcong were buried in 1968 
Credit: Martin Strones

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