BOUGOURD COLLECTION –

The story takes us back to Major Ly Kim Thien – who had been commissioned as an officer of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1964 and served in several capacities throughout Vietnam up until the fall of Saigon in 1975. It was after this that he was sent to a communist reeducation camp, where he was tortured and forced to denounce his anti-communist beliefs. In 1994 he escaped Vietnam on foot through Cambodia and on to Thailand, which is where British Army and Royal Navy veteran Aaron Bougourd met him in 2006. Bourgourd was there volunteering for the Father Ray Foundation Orphanage. (read article)

Major Thien, living as a refugee in Thialand enlisted Bougourd’s help to try and find his long lost family in Vietnam, which they were able to do. As a show of appreciation, Major Thein’s family gave Bougourd about 50 dog tags they had dug up at Ben Hoa Air Base.

Bougourd, a resident of England, has since reached out to us at Patriot Connections Dog Tag Project to help try and return the dog tags to the veterans they belong to.

Dog Tags Received 2017 – Elmer Amen (returned), Bruce Cady (returned), Clarence Bennett (returned), John Guyer (returned) – returns underway Chester Burrell and Johnny Almer