Coffee and a Croissant : Chance Meeting Reunites Ex-General, Viet Friend

When Eugene Hudson, a retired Air Force major general, decided to step into a newly opened bakery in San Clemente two months ago, he had no idea he would walk out with an old friend--one he met 13 years and 9,000 miles ago.

It was over coffee and a croissant that Hudson renewed his friendship with Duc Si Luc, 54, a South Vietnamese intelligence officer he had made friends with during the last years of the Vietnam War.

When Hudson first walked into the bakery, he had no idea that Luc, his old friend, owned it. However, as Hudson, 64, began to talk to Luc’s wife, Cuc Kim, he realized that she might be related to his old friend, Luc.

Asked About Husband

“I asked her if her husband had been in the (South Vietnamese) army and if he had been an intelligence officer. Then I asked her if his name was Luc.”

Hudson decided to wait in the bakery for Luc to return from a delivery. When Luc came in the door, Hudson said, he shouted in surprise: “Gen. Hudson!”

The two men had lost contact in recent years. The chance meeting re-established the friendship and they now enjoy an occasional dinner or fishing trip together.

The two met in Saigon in early 1972, when the North Vietnamese army violated the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between north and south. Luc was a major in the South Vietnamese army intelligence, and, as a foreign liaison for the South Vietnamese Joint Chiefs of Staff, was required to brief the U.S. military on the situation in the DMZ.

Hudson, as director of intelligence for the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, attended Luc’s briefings. He said he was impressed with Luc, calling him a “brilliant briefer” who knew “everything.” Hudson said he would often tell Luc after a briefing what a good job he had done.

At first, Luc said he was hesitant to approach the general because of the difference in ranks. However, he said he admired the general for the questions he asked during the briefings, and soon the two began to go out for coffee.

Luc said the admiration the men had for each other turned into friendship.

Hudson left Vietnam in 1973, and after the country fell to the North Vietnamese in 1975, he didn’t think he would ever see his friend again.

But he did hear from Luc two years later. Luc had escaped from Vietnam with 16 members of his family and called the general, who was stationed in the Pentagon, from Camp Pendleton, where Luc and his family were waiting for U.S. sponsorship. Luc said he asked Hudson for advice and that the general responded with some names and guidance on what to do.

Luc and his family went to San Bernardino and lived there for 10 years. He went to California State University, San Bernardino, to study accounting and French. He found a job with a construction company and was studying for his CPA, until five years ago when a relative persuaded him to go into the bakery business.

As a young man in Vietnam, Luc was tutored as a chef by his cousin, who had studied at the noted Cordon Bleu school in Paris. She taught him the secret of making bread and other French pastries. Luc decided to turn his hobby into a business and opened a bakery in San Bernardino.

He operated that bakery for five years until he decided to move to San Clemente because the smoggy conditions in San Bernardino were affecting his health. He found a location at the shopping center where his sister-in-law had a video rental shop and settled in with the rest of his family in San Clemente. He had been in business for almost a month when Hudson wandered into his downtown bakery.

While Luc was settling in this country, Hudson retired from the Air Force and became an engineering consultant for various aircraft companies. He worked in Iran until Shah Reza Pahlavi’s government fell in 1979, then went to Saudi Arabia. He returned to Southern California in 1981 and now lives in San Clemente, consulting for General Dynamics on a part-time basis.

Meeting Hudson again was a great surprise, Luc said, marveling at “What a small world we live in.”