“Back then, Vietnam was embargoed, and the people suffered a lot from poverty. Who could’ve thought that it was possible, to launch a flight from Vietnam to anywhere? After all, only true patriots took what it takes to complete that mission.”, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen recalled the time of 35 years ago, when he was given an “impossible mission” from the country. 

BACK TO VIETNAM FOR THE MISSION FROM THE PRIME MINISTER

By the end of 1984, while being a respected finance inspectorate of Boeing Airline, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen took a surprising call from the Vietnam Representative Office at the United Nations, invited him to pay a visit to Vietnam. With so much thrill, he said yes, and brought his wife and children back to Vietnam right away for the trip. Then, he had a meeting with the Minister Pham Van Dong in Ha Noi City, to talk about launching an international flight for Vietnam. Having worked in the airline industry for a long time, Mr. Hanh fully understood how complex this task was, in the context of being embargoed by the US government at that time. Still, he took the job and said: “I’ll try my best.”

From the left to right: Mr. Rudy Martel, Marcos’s brother-in-law, Minister Pham Van Dong, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen and the Minister’s assistant.

Unfortunately, during this trip in Vietnam, two of his children has a severe VHF (Viral Hermorrhagic Fever) with the risk of death. Lack of medical equipment as hospital were, the doctors in Nha Trang city has put all of their efforts to fight for his children’s lives. This incident came to his realization that this was the common situation in Vietnam at that time, where millions of Vietnamese children all at his child’s age are at danger of the disease threat. Without the medical equipment to supply for the hospital, they might not survive. But how can the hospital could get that medical supplies if there is no international flight to import them to Vietnam? At that moment, Mr. Hanh finally understand the weight of the given mission by the Prime Minister.

When back to Philippines, Mr. Hanh talked with his wife’s family (his wife is a cousin of the First Lady). The proposal he made was not taken easily, as the President Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines President from 1965 to 1986) told to never mention about launching the flight.

This kept Mr. Hanh up for many nights, with the obsession from the CNN news where they reported thousands and thousands of Vietnamese was robbed and attacked by the pirates on the way of crossing oversea. He set his determination to make this task happen and seeked for the advices from the lawyers and US Associations. They told him it was more likely possible to apply for launching the humanitarian flight, instead of commercial flight. And that advice was a great idea.

On May 22 1985, Mr. Hanh has registered and founded PHL Company to hire airplanes from Vietnam Airline to prepare for the international flight launch. Still, when he proposed this to the Philippines Department of Foreign Affair and Department of Aviation, once again they warned him that “this is a dangerous and impossible mission because the president will not approve it”. After thinking it through, Mr. Hanh insisted: “I’ll take the responsibility for this task by myself. All I need is your approval, and I will hire the airplane to do it.”

THE MOMENT OF FACING WITH PRESIDENT MARCOS

On August 27 1985, Mr. Hanh completed his files and talked to Rita, his sister-in-law and also the president’s assistant. “Whenever you see him in a good mood, let me know. I need to talk to him”. Mr. Hanh told. After that is a long time of waiting and staying nervous, to receive the call from Rita. At 7:00 PM, on September 4 1985, Rita finally told him “Come over! He’s in a good mood this evening”. Knowing this is the moment he’s been waiting for, Mr. Hanh called Mr. Tran Vinh Tien, the Vietnam Representative in Philippines to see the President together. By then, his mind’s already prepared for the worst scenario. “In case I was arrested for proposing this, ask for help from the Vietnam Government.”, he told his wife, briefly.

At 8:00 PM, on Sep 4 1985, President office was oddly quiet. Mr. Hanh drove the car of Vietnam Embassy straight to the office. Inside the place, Rita has been waiting. He came and asked her to submit the files to the president, but she shook her head. He proceeded to ask the Colonel and received the second head shaking. By this time, he knew he has to take the risk and do it all by himself. President office was almost empty. Only him sat at the desk, signed documents under the light of a blue lamps. Mr. Hanh stood on the left to submit the files and convinced the president to sign. “He was indeed in a good mood. The meeting was quick and somehow magical. I got his signature that night.”

“The feeling back then was strange. The steps I took inside was so heavy. But when I got out, they were light as the air. I tried to walk as quickly as I could without making any noise. Cause I was so afraid that he could change his mind at anytime.”

“A minutes ago, I came to the room with 2 questions. The first one was “what to ask him for”. If I said I ask him to approve for the international flight with Vietnam, I would be a dead man as he already said “no” to that many times. The second one was “How can I enter here without the informing from the colonel and assistant.” If he found out, we’d be doomed.”, Mr. Hanh told. I ran out to the hall and saw Rita. Trying to keep it down, I screamed to her “Yes, I did it” and ran to Mr. Vinh to announce him the good news. We were hugging and crying after that – Mr. Hanh recalled. It took a while for Mr. Hanh to find out at that time, the opposed side in Philippines had risen up a coup, while the US were trying to put pressure on Marcos’s government. That’s why  president wasn’t contented with the US. Maybe because of that, when one member of the family asked for the idea of an international flight with Vietnam, he approved right away.

That night, when the news got to Vietnam, the government was jubilant. Then, Mr. Hanh continued to receive another task, where he had to make the international flight happen in two days, in the context of every legal procedure in aviation at that time must take two weeks. So he rushed to see Rita and asked her to submit the files to the related offices in the night. It was a stressful moment, so much that every sound came from Rita’s typing machine became a terrifying noise as he was so afraid to miss the deadline. In the meantime, the admin of the President office was waiting outside to sign all the documents and prepared the rest.

When having the official archives, on the next day, Mr. Hanh directly brought them to submit at the offices of related departments, and the Aviation Department. Within 5 days, on Sep 9, 1985, with the supports of many departments, Vietnam has its first international flight from Tan Son Nhat Airport to Manila and backward. This marked a new era in the international partnership between Vietnam Airline and foreign countries.

Mr. Phan Tuong – Director of Tan Son Nhat Airport was thrilled to meet Embassy Luu Dinh Ve at the Flight launching event between Ho Chi Minh – Manila on 9/9/1985.

The first international flight was the flight B-707, with the attendance of 31 leaders from many Vietnam departments and aviation company, alongside with the press. The crew leader was Mr. Phan Tuong, director of SASCO, and his crew, including 11 members, landed on Manila Airport by 9:30 AM on 9/9/1985. On the way back to Vietnam, the plane brought 30 tons of gifts from the oversea Vietnamese. On that day, Mr. Luu Dinh Ve, the Vietnam Embassy at Philippines asked Mr. Hanh in tears: “The Russian had asked for a flight for 20 years but never succeeded. How did you do it in weeks?”. Mr. Hanh couldn’t decide where to begin his long challenging story, so he smiled for the answer.

Flight Crew B-707 of Vietnam National Airline visited the Vietnam Embassy in Manila on 09/09/1985.

The people in Vietnam received the gifts at Tan Son Nhat Airport in 1985.

Mr. Tran Tien Vinh, the man who was with Mr. Hanh the whole time, on the way to President Office that night has confirmed every detail has been told in this story.

MISSION COMPLETE

After the first flight to bring gifts from oversea Vietnamese, Mr. Hanh arranged the next trips to prioritize transporting the medical equipment. As the flight route was opened, the medicals were sent more frequently so the children and the patients were finally taken a good care. However, the image of the people who was attacked and found dead on the way of crossing oversea still haunted the mind of Hanh Nguyen.

He then sought for Soeur Pascale Le Thi Triu, the woman who participated many humanitarian projects in Philippines and Vietnam. She took him to see the oversea Vietnamese at the refugee camp in Philippines’s islands. They were all in traumatic conditions, after witnessing so many violence and accidents happening to their love ones on the way here. They took it so bad that they thought Mr. Hanh was a threat and planned to attacked him. But nothing happened when he came, and raised his hand with the flight permission, told them: “I got the permission to get a flight. Please tell your family stop crossing oversea. It is dangerous. Give me time to make this happen. Each flight can contain 148 people. I am fighting to get you a humanitarian flight. All you need to do is to tell your family to fill in the registration form and I will make this flight happen. Don’t risk your life by crossing over the sea anymore.”

They were so thrilled, some even kneel down to say thanks.

And he made it happen. The humanitarian flight from programs “Obstacles Departure Procedures” (ODP - to take the people from former regime to USA) and program “Humanitarian Operation” (HO) was respectively taken place. These humanitarian actions were praised by the global news, but still, Mr. Hanh had a goal on his mind he needed to complete. That goal was to transform the humanitarian flights into commercial flights. But he has to wait for the right day. And it finally came. On 28/11/1988, he contributed to happenings of the Aviation Pact. With this pact, Vietnam is no longer put under the Embargo by the US and started to operate the commercial flight with other countries. Only then, the mission, from Prime Minister Pham Van Dong to Mr. Hanh, was complete. He handed over the rest for the Vietnam Airline and Philippines Airline.

REWARD AND 2 THINGS TO REMEMBER

By the time Vietnam has its first international flight with Philippines, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen was only 35 years old. What makes a young man risk his stable life to conduct a dangerous flight despite many challenges? “The answer is the love for country.” – He said.

After completing his mission, Mr. Hanh and President’s brother-in-law was invited by Minister Pham Van Dong to a meeting. He said to Hanh Nguyen: “Thank you. This country owns you.”. Then he rewarded his family 8 visas to go from Philippines to USA. After visiting Minister Pham Van Dong, Mr. Hanh met Mr. Tran Quynh, the Vice President of the Ministry Council. He held Mr. Hanh’s hands, told him: “There’s 2 things I want you to remember. First, when establish business in Vietnam, you need patience. Second, when operate business, you need to obey the laws of Vietnam, the regulation of the Party. Then you will get all the support and protection from Vietnam Government & people.” It took a while to figure out the true meaning of these words, he said. When Vietnam opened the gate to the world, there’d be conflicts, obstacles that needed the patience to run the business for the flight route.

"That time, in order to keep the flight route open, I had lost 5 million USD. But if I shut down the flight route to stop the loss, then all the efforts have been made would become nothing. After that, I found out that there are many regulations and laws was in the way of the business I ran and invested in Vietnam. Things that if I hadn’t tried my best to obey, I would have lost in the wrong track in the later years. So that was the 2 most precious things that I have been advised and still keep to myself till this day, after 35 years of my business establishment in Vietnam." – Mr. Hanh told.

Source: Báo Giao Thông