Finding Pete: Rediscovering the Brother I Lost in Vietnam
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Nguyen, Kim, 65–66
Nguyen, Miss, 74–75
Nguyen Cao Ky, 186
Nguyen Van Hoa, 78
Nha Trang: and Jill’s 1991 visit to Vietnam, 150
Pete in, 49, 50, 58, 156, 159
workings of local government, 133
Nhu (Diem’s brother), 26, 57, 61
Nhu, Madame, 59
Ninh Thuan Province, 50, 92, 96, 125, 228
Nixon, Richard, 107
NLF (National Liberation Front), 105. See also Vietcong (VC)
Nongovernmental entity (NGO), IVS as, 22, 29, 31, 114. See also International Voluntary Services (IVS)
NVS (National Voluntary Service), 67, 186–89, 191, 217–18, 238
Office of Rural Affairs, 29, 30, 48, 93, 94, 178–79
Oklahoma City, 7, 22–23, 35–36, 37, 42–43
Operation Desert Storm, 146, 152
Operation Rolling Thunder, 164
Owens, Bill, 19–20
Paddle boating accident, 86
Patterson, Sue: and initial news of Pete’s death, 11
and Jill, 171–72, 199–200
on memorial service, 39–40
Pete’s relationship with, 20, 87, 129, 130, 135, 159, 192
Peace activism, 13–14, 82, 103, 105, 109
Peace Corps, 31, 166, 195
Perfume River, 147–48
Persian Gulf War (1991), 146
Personal effects, return of, 70
Phan Rang: coup effects on, 61
Jill’s visits to, 137, 151–52, 230–33
library project, 79–81
life in, 59–60
Pete’s assignment to, 33, 48
Pete’s departure from, 166
Pete’s travel to, 50, 54–55
Vietcong infiltration of, 125, 129
Vietcong’s attempt to seize, 164–65
Phan Thiet, 151, 152
Phillips, Rufus, 29, 57, 178
Phuong, Mr. (assistant province chief, 1960s), 59–60
Phuong, Mr. (guide for Jill’s 1991 visit), 136, 137, 142, 145, 148, 152
Politics: U.S., 46–47, 97–98, 106–7, 111, 126–27, 132–33
Vietnamese, 27, 96–97, 128, 158
Prisoner abuse in South Vietnam, 107–8
Psychological warfare and Vietnamese traditional beliefs, 221–22
Quakers, 102–3, 108
Quang Ngai, 148, 154–56
Qui Nhon, 50
Rabbit raising project, 92–93
Rach Gia, 220–21
Rankin, Stephen, 20–21
Refugee problem, 191
Relief operation for typhoon victims (1964), 154–56
Retribution for Pete’s death, stories of, 175–76, 177, 215
Rice wine distillery, 191–92
Robinson, Joseph, 243
Robinson, Scott, 168, 169–70
Romance: awkwardness of rejoining “civilization,” 166
Pete’s musings, 87–88
and Vietnamese customs, 49, 174–75
Vietnamese girls’ designs on Pete, 88–89, 91. See also Bradley, Margo
Patterson, Sue
Ronk, Don, 104, 109
Rowan, Carl, 46
Rural Affairs, Office of, 29, 30, 48, 93, 94, 178–79
Rusk, Dean, 57, 96, 106
Russell, William Huntington, 43–44
Saigon, 49, 62, 65–66, 152
Sailboat building project, 63
Scarborough, Jay, 79–81
Schoolhouse construction, 64, 92
Schwarzkopf, Gen. Norman, 146
Scott, Phil, 81
Security challenges: and dangers for American civilians, 13–14, 22, 48, 133–34, 251n7
hamlet bodyguards, 99
increasing instability, 99, 133–34
IVSers’ personal arms, 98
and Jill’s 1991 visit to Vietnam, 144, 149, 150
ongoing Vietcong threat, 39, 98, 99, 124, 125–26, 129, 130
Pete on, 13, 54, 60, 132–33
Pete’s close calls, 128–29, 154, 196–97
Self-immolation protests by Buddhists, 24, 50
Sexuality and IVS’s cultural guidance, 49
Sibling relationships, 9–10
Sister-city proposal, 228, 230, 232–33
Skull and Bones Society, 43
Small, Les, 237–38, 243
Smoking of fish project, 93–95
Social customs. See Culture, Vietnamese
Soc Trang, 239
Sommer, John: biographical sketch, 111–12
and Cham weavers, 91, 234
joining of IVS, 21
making contact with Jill, 112–13, 117
peace activism, 109
on Pete, 112–13
Vietnam analysis, 103–4
Sonoma (Calif.), sister-city relationship in Vietnam, 228, 230, 232–33
South Vietnam: coup d’états in, 61–62, 133
Diem regime, 24, 26, 27, 28, 57, 61
politics of, 27, 96–97, 128, 158
prisoner abuse case, 107–8
U.S. aid to, 24
workings of government, 96–97, 113, 128. See also Vietnam
Stapleton, Vaughn, 59
Stevenson, A. Russell, 25, 59–60.
Stockton, Carl, 14, 207
Stoltzfus, Gene: and IVSers’ discontent, 104–6
making contact with Jill, 115–16, 117
and memorial library project, 77
and memorial service in Saigon, 66
pacifist background of, 114
peace activism, 109
and Pete, 98, 113, 115–16
postwar activities, 114–15
on protest letter to Johnson, 114
Stone, Fred, 219
Strategic Hamlet Program, 28–29, 33, 52, 89–90, 92
Student volunteer movement in Vietnam, 67, 186–89, 191, 217–18, 238
Summer Youth Program, 187–89, 217–18
Sympathy letters, 75–76, 204, 206–7
Tay-Do, 217–18
Taylor, Gen. Maxwell, 57, 127
Tet holiday, 97
Tet Offensive, 176
Thailand, 118–19, 141–42
Theusch, Chuck, 228
Thich Quang Duc, 24
Thien Mu Pagoda, 147–48
Thompson, Hugh, 148
Thuan Tu, 89–90
Tiger Cages, 107–8
Tighe, Ellen, 193
Tilapia fishpond project, 93
Tornadoes in Oklahoma, 35–36
Tran Dinh Song, 1–5, 228, 230, 240, 241, 244
Tran Ngoc Bau, 74
Truffles, 179–80
United States: bombing campaigns, 164
cultural changes (1960s), 97–98, 124, 131
Pete’s 1965 visit, 165–69
politics of, 46–47, 97–98, 106–7, 111, 126–27, 132–33
Vietnamese attitudes toward, 62, 63. See also Military presence, U.S.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID): educational support from, 52, 131, 163
and IVS’s status as independent NGO, 22
loss of personnel to Vietcong, 160–61
Pete’s frustrations with, 195
Pete’s prospects for career with, 158
and Strategic Hamlet Program, 29
U.S. Operations Mission (USOM). See U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Van Phu Quang, 222–23
Vietcong (VC): assassination attempts on IVSers, 14, 48
attempt to seize Phan Rang, 164–65
gains in control (1964), 96–97
as Pete’s killers, 1–2
presence in Ninh Thuan, 125
targeting of USOM personnel, 160–61
threat from civilian aid workers to, 29, 215
threat of, 39, 98, 99, 124, 125–26, 129, 130
Vietminh, 26
Vietnam: Buddhists vs. Catholics in, 28
friends’ reservations about Pete’s going, 20–21
impact on Jill, 207–8
IVSers’
perspective vs. official one, 106–7, 254n4
Jill’s trips to, 136–53, 227–36, 239–42, 243–44
landscape of, 49, 50, 58–59, 94, 98, 159–60, 191–92, 220–21
Laverentz’s impressions of, 173
misdirection of aid to, 194–95
need for modernization, 163
Pete’s analysis, 52, 163, 166, 185–86, 188, 190–91
Pete’s disillusionment after robbery, 135
Pete’s excitement about going, 19
Pete’s love for, 32, 50–51, 95, 99, 122–23, 159–60
Pete’s orientation, 25–26
post-coup climate in, 62–63
slow pace of life in, 121, 124–25, 169
stresses of living in, 118
student volunteer movement, 67, 186–89, 191, 217–18, 238
withdrawal of U.S. dependents from, 160, 179. See also Culture, Vietnamese
Military presence, U.S.
Security
South Vietnam
Vietnamese Voluntary Youth, 131
Viet Nam: The Unheard Voices (Luce and Sommer), 103–4, 117
Vietnam War: father on, 82
and Humphrey, 46–47
IVSers’ opposition to, 13–14, 103, 105, 109
Jill’s opposition to, 82
mother on, 82, 108, 111
Yale debate on, 39
Vinh Long, 190, 238
Washington, D.C., 1966 trip to, 45–46
Well-digging projects, 89–90, 120
Wesleyan University, 15, 18–21, 121–22
Westmoreland, Gen. William, 127–28
Whalen, Chuck, 141, 143, 144, 146
Windmill projects: approval for, 59
long-term survival of, 109
Pete’s involvement in, 96, 124, 166, 172
village celebration, 218, 231–32
Wisner, Frank G. II, 70
Witmer, John, 50
Women, Montagnard, 59. See also Romance
Woodbridge, Connecticut, 12–13, 39–40
Worthington, Linda, 178–79
Worthington, Paul, 178–79
Wu, Mr. (Chinese language professor), 192–93
Yale University, 12–13, 19, 39, 43, 44
Youth programs: NVS, 67, 186–89, 191, 217–18, 238
scouting, 99–100, 155–56
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jill Hunting was on a writing retreat in Umbria, Italy, when she set aside a book about food and wine to take up a more personal story: barely fifteen when her older brother, Pete, was killed in Vietnam, she had wondered for years if reports were true that friends led him to his death.
That afternoon in the Italian countryside, she turned to the story of the brother who died and the family that didn’t talk about it. The writing of Finding Pete became a bridge from the past to the future, leading the author to initiate a sister-city relationship between her home in California’s wine country and her brother’s in Ninh Thuan Province, and to launch a feasibility study of lavender farming in Vietnam. She proposed the Book of Remembrance, a sculpture honoring civilians killed in war, for the new headquarters of the U.S. Institute of Peace, on the War and Peace corner of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
She lives in Sonoma, California.
A READING GROUP GUIDE TO FINDING PETE
Questions for Discussion
According to a 2005 United Nations report, conventional warfare has decreased in recent decades and the nature of violent conflict has changed. Increasingly, civilians are at risk, either deliberately targeted or caught in crossfires. In the “Author’s Note” to her book, Jill Hunting says that some survivors of civilians killed in war go forward with “a chamber deep within sealed up.” What does this description evoke? What benefits can we anticipate from opening up such chambers?
Finding Pete is a researched memoir. Half of the book is about the author’s quest to learn what happened to Pete. The alternating chapters are the story of his life in Vietnam as reconstructed from his letters. The book is structured like a detective story. In your opinion, what was the most important discovery that the author made in the course of her research? How does the author change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes? In Jill’s journey of healing, what was the “tipping point”?
What event in the book was most moving for you? What was the most powerful scene in the book?
After graduating from Wesleyan University, Pete Hunting joined International Voluntary Services (IVS), an NGO on which the Peace Corps was modeled. In college, he had studied Chinese and government. He thought his job in Vietnam would be to teach English. What might have motivated young men and women to join IVS? What were some of the risks for IVSers in Vietnam? How might these have been similar to, or different from risks faced by other Americans there?
If you had been faced, as Pete was, with the decision to extend your IVS contract, join USAID, join the military, or return to the U.S., what would you have done?
The book features Jill Hunting and her family, along with Pete’s co-workers in Vietnam, and his girlfriends in the States. Who in the book do you relate to? Why?
The author’s reserved New England family didn’t talk about Pete’s death. Her mother tells her that all of Pete’s letters have been destroyed in a basement flood. How do you feel about the author’s mother? What would you have done in her shoes? Has she unwittingly closed out the rest of the family, or do you think she has consciously chosen to shut them out? Did you find yourself criticizing her, empathizing with her, or both?
Pete didn’t know it, but his letters were eyewitness accounts of U.S. policy in the making. Reading them, you can feel the war coming closer. Has this book had an impact on your view of the Vietnam War or war in general? Was Pete a “typical” or an “atypical” American? True or false: Pete personifies what the U.S. lost in Vietnam.
The subject of Vietnam touches people deeply, even after all these years. How is this book like other books or movies about the Vietnam War, or war in general? How is it different? What are some ways that war can divide families?
What is the significance of the image that closes the book?