A Family Man

Mike Little’s legacy is similar to that of most Vietnam veterans: The war is over, but memories of Vietnam are not.

The 51-year-old Coca-Cola sales manager is not fighting demons left over from the war. Instead, the memories of the Montagnard people he befriended, especially the children, have tugged at his heart since he came home in August 1968.

Today, Little and his wife, Marion, are sponsoring 28 descendants of four children whom he grew fond of while in Vietnam and who live in a jungle village near Pleiku.

“All I had was pictures and memories for 26 years--remembrances of the hungry but dignified children who would hang out at our checkpoint, waiting for us to give them leftover C rations at the end of the day,” said Little, who was an MP.

After the central highlands were opened up to Americans, he and his wife traveled to Vietnam in 1994, where they found the children--now adults with families of their own--whom Little and other soldiers from B Company 504th MP Battalion had “adopted” years ago.

Photos of that meeting show an emotional gathering, with 6-foot-3 Little leaning over to embrace the smaller Montagnards, members of the Bahnar tribe. When he pulled out fading wartime photographs that he had taken, several adults recognized themselves as the smiling children in the pictures, Little said.

“The biggest question I had at that point was: ‘What do I do now that I’ve found them?’ I saw how they lived, in dire poverty, but I didn’t exactly know what to do.”

The reunion quickly renewed the ties that were broken in 1968 between Little and his “kids.” It also provided answers to Little’s questions about how to become involved in their lives again now that Vietnam is at peace.

Since that meeting, Little and his wife have raised $15,000 for their extended families 10,000 miles away. The money, raised from various groups and Little’s co-workers, has been used to buy clothes, medicine, food, motorbikes and a cow.

Last week, Little was the guest speaker at a Laguna Niguel Rotary Club luncheon where he solicited about $6,000 to buy four rototillers for his Montagnard families. The slash-and-burn Bahnar farmers use the implements to cultivate the hillsides for their crops.

But Little has learned that the money and goods are a double-edged sword.

“Money is a tough ingredient in their lives,” he said. “They’ve learned to recognize its value, and they’ve become greedy, jealous and distrustful.” The assistance he has given has stirred resentment among other villagers, who are very poor and too many for the Littles to help, he said.

The Littles send the families cash about six times a year through a company that wires the money from Canada to a post office in Qui Nhon, which is a four-hour drive from Pleiku.

Still, said Marion Little, “it’s hard to say ‘no’ when they call up and say they’re hungry or a family member is sick and needs medical attention.”

She said the Montagnard families call collect once a month--a 15-minute call for $60--from a post office in Pleiku. The calls bring the Littles good news, like birth and marriage announcements, but also reports of death and tragedy.

In July 1995, they received word that Prot had died of cancer at 33, leaving a widow and five children. Last August, another call brought news of 35-year-old Kenh’s death. He died in his sleep, leaving seven children and a widow.

Kenh and Prot, who were lifelong friends, were Little’s favorites from among the kids he knew in Vietnam. He had met them as dirty, barefoot children, unable to attend school and too young to work in the fields or fight as soldiers. Little said he was thankful that he got to see them again.

“When I returned to Vietnam to search for them, I was afraid they didn’t remember me anymore,” he said. “When they died, I somehow felt that they would still be alive if I hadn’t found them.”

The Littles had made plans to spend Thanksgiving week in Vietnam with the Bahnar, but the Vietnamese government approved a visa only for Marion Little, and officials refused to explain why Mike Little was not welcome.

Despite the rebuff, Mike Little plans to move to Vietnam when he retires.

“I’m needed there. Kenh’s and Prot’s children and grandchildren need my help,” he said.