
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 15, 1994                   TAG: 9401150176
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VIETNAMESE PILOT WHO SAVED 4 GIS FINALLY ALLOWED INTO U.S.

Twenty years ago Monday, four U.S. Army helicopter crewmen faced death in a stump-strewn Laotian meadow when their chopper burst into flames from an artillery round in the fuel tank.

Desperate to land the stricken craft, the airmen thought the end had come. But An Quy Nguyen, a South Vietnamese pilot, braved whizzing sniper shots to guide them to a landing place, then picked them up in his own helicopter and whisked them to safety.

Today, An, 51, a former major in the South Vietnamese army, will step off a military cargo plane at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., hoping to begin a new life in the United States.

He will receive a hero's welcome, greeted by U.S. military dignitaries, former South Vietnamese army colleagues, veterans groups and members of the Northern California Vietnamese community.

Under the terms of a special "humanitarian parole" granted by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, An and his 21-year-old daughter, Ngoc Kim Quy Nguyen, will be allowed to live in the United States for one year. His supporters are hoping to persuade the federal government to let him become a permanent resident.

An lost both his arms during a crash-landing in a 1970 mission. After the war, he was arrested by the Viet Cong and placed in a forced labor camp, but he was released after nine weeks because his disability made it impossible for him to dress or feed himself.

His supporters are looking forward to his long-delayed arrival in the United States.

"It's like a long-lost brother coming home," said John D. Liner, the former Army captain whose crew An rescued.

by CNB