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Tim Sawyer

by Merrylyn

Tim Sawyer is a hero because after serving in Vietnam, he came home to Maine and tried to help Vietnamese and Laotian families living in Maine. He did all that he could to assist these families in settlement, adjustment to our society and education.

Tim served as an advisor in a MATV (military advisory team Vietnam). In this role, he and three other advisors lived in a compound in South Vietnam. The compound was supported in cooking, cleaning, etc. by South Vietnamese. However, given the instability of the government at the time, it was well know by Tim and his fellow advisors that his "compound mates" might be South Vietnamese by day and North Vietnamese by night. This was a common scenario in the early 1970's when Tim served in Vietnam.

Therefore, given this dilemna, Tim and his fellow advisors kept watch, one at a time, by night. Each night one of them remained awake to guard the lives of the other three.

One day Tim wrote me a letter saying that he had to go out without any air cover and retrieve the body of one of his fellow advisors. Such activities were not uncommon for this team. Since they were a close-knit group, it made life extremely difficult for these men, just as men in platoons and batallions all became close to their fellow Army mates, this happened on a different level amongst the men of the MATV.

Tim became very ill in Vietnam and realized soon who amongst the compound truly cared for his well being. One man and one woman, both South Vietnamese, cared for him night and day as he became delirious with fever. They made sure he ate and stayed in bed to try to recover from his ills. Tim has never forgotten the care and attention he received from these humble people. Therefore, when he returned home to Maine, he located a family in Lewiston, Maine who had recently immigrated from Vietnam. Working through the public school system and the city, he introduced himself to this family. They soon learned to trust this stranger who had come into their lives. He spent weekly sessions with them teaching them English and the ways of the American culture. He helped them financially when his own finances permitted. Since he was raising four small children at the time it was very difficult to give the time, energy and money, but nevertheless he thought nothing of it. His one true desire when he returned to the US was to help some Vietnamese as they had helped him.

Page created on 7/19/2005 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 7/19/2005 12:00:00 AM

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