Man who left VN as orphan connects with family he didn't know he had

Man who left Vietnam as orphan connects with family he didn\'t know he had

If Ty Cope had to write an essay about his summer vacation, he\'d need more than one composition book.

The 42-year-old pastor and schoolteacher returned to his native Vietnam for the first time since he was a young, Dallas-bound boy, in 1975.

Cope – born Thang Duc Nguyen – met the father he\'d never known. He had a separate reunion with his mother, who had placed him in an orphanage for a chance at a better life. He also met an older brother he\'d never heard about.

And back home in College Station last week, Cope had a visit from another previously unknown brother, who had immigrated to the United States a few years ago.

For a guy who\'s had a family tree fall on him, Cope is holding up well.

"Isn\'t it crazy?" he said. "It\'s like – wham! – instant family. But my heart is full. It\'s a huge blessing."

As South Vietnam began to fall to communist North Vietnam in spring 1975, leaders of the Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage decided to take their own children, Cope and 68 other orphans to what they hoped would be safer territory. They dodged bullets, rode a crowded ferry and got to Saigon, only to find it in chaos.

Eventually, they all boarded a leaky fishing vessel and headed out on the South China Sea. They were rescued and taken to Singapore a few days after Saigon fell. Baptist missionaries, including the Rev. Jim Gayle of Plano, helped arrange entry to the United States and refuge at Dallas\' Buckner Children\'s Home.

The remarkable story made front-page news in Dallas and was on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite.

The little boy named Thang was adopted by John Cope, a single man and former U.S. Air Force cook from Oklahoma who had volunteered at the Cam Ranh orphanage.

Thang Cope – who later took the first name "Ty" – would lose his Vietnamese, attend Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, marry his high school sweetheart, have two daughters and pursue a ministry career.

Keeping in touch

But he and his adoptive father kept in touch with the Cam Ranh/Buckner orphans and joined in their reunions, held every five years. The Copes and their families (John eventually married and had two more children) eagerly signed up when the orphans\' group decided to visit Vietnam.

Even before going, Ty Cope had heard via the Internet that a man claiming to be his biological father was trying to get in touch. In the coastal city of Nha Trang, headquarters for the reunion, he called to arrange a private meeting.

But others in the orphans\' group, meaning well, made calls of their own and had the man show up at a banquet for family members. Cope first met Tam Duc Nguyen in front of a large, applauding crowd.

It was too much. At that point, Cope said, he still doubted whether the man was his father. Nguyen clutched him, but Cope held back. "A mess" is how he recalls that night.

The next day, however, Cope went to Nguyen\'s home and was shown photographs and other verifying information. He became convinced. Most important, the father shared with him the location of Cope\'s mother. (The marriage had ended long before.)

\'I started weeping\'

Cope, wife Kayla and their two daughters rearranged the last part of their trip to go to a Catholic center for the poor near the city of Pleiku.

There, Cope found his mother, 67-year-old Kim Qui Bui. She brought out a plastic bag with the sweater and scarf she\'d wrapped him in when taking him to the orphanage.

"I started weeping as soon as the nuns translated for me what those items were," said Cope, who had held on to a few vague memories of her.

Cope learned more about the circumstances of war, poverty and family turmoil that had led his mother to decide the orphanage would be a better place for him. He also met an older brother, Tien Duc Nguyen, as well as aunts and uncles.

Even before leaving Vietnam, Cope began calling back to the United States to yet another brother he\'d learned of during the trip. Dung Duc Nguyen, a print shop worker in the Washington, D.C., area, visited the Copes last week.

That brother has been able to answer many of the Copes\' questions.

"I don\'t know that I\'ve processed everything yet," Kayla Cope said.

Fully endowed with a Vietnamese family now, Ty Cope remains grateful to his adoptive father, who he said has been overwhelmingly supportive in this emotional time.

One more chapter

Cope\'s goals include bringing his mother to the United States for a visit and working with the orphans\' group and Dallas-based Buckner International to help impoverished children and families in Vietnam.

First, Cope and his family are adding one more chapter to their amazing summer.

They leave this weekend for Haiti, where they will join college students and other youth from their church, First Baptist of College Station, for a week of rebuilding houses and churches.