A grand reception ball was being held in the ECOI Compound in Cholon near Saigon when Pat and Cornelio arrived. Pat said she came to surprise me, but she was instead surprised to find out that I was the only Filipino not dancing and not having a Vietnamese partner! Her plan was to stay with me in Vietnam as long as I stayed there.
When she arrived, we were given quarters in the Compound. I manifested my desire to return to the Philippines to Mr. Bill King, my American boss, and when he could not convince me to stay, he recommended my promotion from Area Supervisor of the Delta Area to Chief Supervisor on Community Development in the entire South Vietnam, which was readily approved with Headquarters in Saigon, or Cholon. I was the first Filipino given the National Supervisory job because of a book I wrote entitled COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH VIETNAM, which Mr. King proudly announced to the visiting U.S. Senators and Congressmen that: “This is the only book of its kind that I know exists in Vietnam.” Each Congressman, twelve of them, received a copy during their Inspection Trip in Cantho, IV Corps, MACV.
When Pat arrived, I intended to take her to Cantho, where my Headquarters was located. I had already arranged a place for us there in the house of another Filipino and his wife. I booked her for a flight from Saigon to Cantho by Air America. When she tried to board the plane, her name was not in the manifest, so she was left behind.
I booked her again but our trip was aborted by a storm that flooded the airport. For the third time we were on our way to the airport when her doctor in the Philippines met her, took her blood pressure, and said: If you board a non-pressurized plane, you will die. So I decided with Pat to return to Manila. It was God’s will that we did not stay in Vietnam, because had I renewed my contract for another year, we could have been there when the North Vietnam overran the South Vietnam during their Tet Offensive in January, 1968. My successor, Mr. Santy Ang, died in a plane crash and many died during this Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Praise the Lord!
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