This Must Be My Brother
I am writing this while speaking in Iowa today--appropriate since our Authors begin their journey as two Iowa homemakers. No, our two heroines are not self-indulgent "desperate housewives" but two women who thought beyond themselves, beyond the comforts of their home and beyond the safety of U.S. borders in early April 1975.
This Must Be My Brother" by LeAnn Thieman and Carol Dey.....is the true account of a daring rescue of innocent children in the final desperate hours of the Vietnam War and "Operation Babylift"
This book captures the crumbling chaos of falling Saigon, but with a zoom lense on a singular orphanage and the babies that would be left behind if not for a committed core of volunteers.
When you read this book, you will be propelled to take a chance in your life, to get off the couch and do something bold and beyond the safety of your comfort zone. You will be propelled to do something for others and to take an "Adventure in Volunteerism."
"This must be my brother" captures a pivot point in two women's lives and the lives of the 150 children and infants who "would not be left behind" as a result of a brave, volunteer effort. Bravo LeAnn and Carol for not only the work that you did so many years ago, but for sharing and motivating the spirit of volunteerism with your account in this incredible story.
On a personal note, I was teaching in Vietnam last year, and fell in love with the Vietnamese people. Signs of war are still very much evident in the physcial handicaps that you see amidst the people of old Saigon. Yet there is a smile that Le Ann and Carol speak of in a baby they called "personality".
I saw this smile in many of the faces of the people of Vietnam-----a people who despite tremendous loss and ongoing daily struggles have not lost their hope and heart.
*This OPeration Babylift story was featured in Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul. LeAnn is also co-author of Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul, The Christain Woman's Soul and the Caregiver's Soul.
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