Improbable New Friends Finally Meet : Family Ties Span 5 Years and an Ocean

Whittier attorney John Henry Peckham strode from one knot of reporters to another at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, speaking of the four Vietnamese refugees he was awaiting as though they were part of his family.

His wife, Dorothy, freshened her lipstick as Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 26 taxied to the gate. No winners of a super jackpot on Las Vegas’ slot machines had ever beaten bigger odds.

Their improbable adventure began when Dorothy Peckham threw a wine bottle, with her name and address inside, overboard during a 1979 Christmas cruise to Hawaii. Hoa Van Nguyen, 31, found that bottle at sea--9,000 miles from where it had been tossed--as he and 30 other Vietnamese “boat people” made their way to Thailand aboard a rickety ship.

More than five years after the bottle was set adrift, the Peckhams finally met Hoa, his wife, Joang Kim, 27, their 16-month-old son, Thai, and Hoa’s brother, Cuong Van, 17.

‘Big Bundle’

“What a big bundle,” John Peckham, 72, said as he took the baby into his arms after the family stepped through the gate. Grasping Hoa by the hand, Dorothy Peckham told him: “Welcome to the United States.”

At first, Hoa appeared slightly overwhelmed by the phalanx of cameras and lights greeting him, but he was soon telling reporters through an interpreter:

“I feel so lucky because so many people are on the ocean, and I’m the one who got that bottle. I feel really special.

“I made it to the United States 10 years after the fall of Saigon. My family and I represent 17 million Vietnamese people who would like to get out if they could because they don’t want to live under communism.”

Dorothy Peckham had thrown several bottles from cruise ships on other trips, and she was hoping that “something interesting” would come from the one Hoa found.

“It certainly did,” she said. “I absolutely feel this was fate.”

Received Letter

The Peckhams first learned that the bottle had been found when they received a letter two years ago from Hoa, who was by then in a refugee camp in Thailand. That letter began the exchange that ultimately led to the Peckhams sponsoring the family to come to this country.

Hoa was single and traveling with his young brother when he found the bottle. He met his wife in the refugee camp, and he named his son Thai after the country that had given him refuge.

After hearing from Hoa, the Peckhams contacted the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and were referred to the Catholic Welfare Bureau of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which resettled about 1,800 Vietnamese refugees here last year.

Hoa’s family was granted refugee status in February, and the welfare bureau is now seeking work for Hoa as an auto mechanic.

“They will be taken to their apartment in Echo Park, and we’ll begin a job search on Monday,” said Susan Kelly, who coordinates volunteer resources for the archdiocese’s refugee resettlement program.

Time to Rest

The weekend, though will be for rest.

“I think they’ll be very comfortable in the apartment,” Dorothy Peckham said. “They’ll be near the park and a market. All the conveniences are right there. It’s a Vietnamese community, and they will have neighbors they can talk to.”

After several minutes in the terminal, Hoa felt confident enough to use the English he learned in the refugee camp.

“I feel it very important for my life and my future when I arrive in the country,” he told reporters. “I try to learn more and more the English.”

Fifteen minutes after the family’s arrival, Peckham was still carrying the baby in his arms. Tears began to well up in his eyes, and he tried vainly to hold them back.

“I generally don’t do things like that,” he said, a broad smile spreading across his face. “I’m just happy to see the baby.”

All of the attention focused on his family did not faze the infant at all. He slept through all of the commotion surrounding the arrival.