Richard Sterling Flying Carpet Articles

The Tale of Kieu: The Last News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Stering receives a poignant gift from Crawling Lady. [Read on]
Added on July 18, 2006

Not Running on Empty: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Sterling hears news of Heidi and provides a lesson in the importance of custom. [Read on]
Added on June 02, 2006

Copyrights and Courtesans: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Sterling encounters cats, crumpets, and pirates. [Read on]
Added on June 02, 2006

Love and Loss: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Sterling discovers the pain of separation, from a child. [Read on]
Added on June 02, 2006

It’s All Good: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
our man in Saigon, Richard Sterling, explains some of the quirks, and pleasures, of Vietnamese culture. [Read on]
Added on May 16, 2006

8 Ball in the Corner Pocket: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Sterling explores the unintended consequences of altruism. [Read on]
Added on May 09, 2006

Ministry of Correctness: More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
our man in Saigon, Richard Sterling, simplifies the origin of his Panama Hat. [Read on]
Added on May 04, 2006

Love in the Time of Communism: More News from Pagoda Alley
Richard Sterling explores what makes the heart spin. [Read on]
Added on April 28, 2006

More News from Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
our Vietnam expat Richard Sterling takes us on another tour of his Saigon world. [Read on]
Added on April 24, 2006

The News from Pagoda Alley
Richard Sterling introduces us to more characters in his Saigon neighborhood. [Read on]
Added on February 17, 2006

Mr. Hat’s Neighborhood
Richard Sterling explores his own little corner of Saigon. [Read on]
Added on February 01, 2006

The Richest Gift
Richard Sterling recalls wartime events of thirty years ago, and the surprising result of his actions. [Read on]
Added on May 03, 2005

The Richest Gift

I was still quite a young GI, but I had had a full combat tour in Vietnam, and that was more than enough, when in April of 1975 I was sent back in as a member of the expeditionary force tasked with extracting the South Vietnamese government, their dependents, and many thousands of fleeing civilians. All was disorder, and our efforts were reduced to ad lib and impromptu, and I just didn’t want to be the last to die in a useless war. In the chaos of bringing people to boats to be sent down river to safety I saw a young boy of about six. He had been separated from his family and was crying, rather softly in the noise and tumult, as war children will do. I scooped the boy up as we hurried to the docks, hoisted him to my shoulder and he clung to my neck instictively. His name was Duk. I kept him close to me throughout the day and into the night as the North Vietnamese army prepared its final assault on the city of Saigon, and we made our way to a ship of the US 7th fleet lying offshore. There the boy and I stayed together, eating and sleeping and recuperating on the weather decks until late the next day when his family was located on another ship. I carried Duk down the accomodation ladder to a whaleboat. And I felt the need to give him something, a gift of some kind, something of me. I had nothing else, so I took off my cap and placed it on his head. He gave me a little soldier’s salute, and I sent him reluctantly off to his future.

[Read on]
Added on April 05, 2003