Tonight I had the pleasure of interviewing the most amazing people. In 1978 on the South China Sea 346 Vietnamese refugees fleeing the communist government were rescued by the British training vessel the Wellpark. On a stormy sea, with a broken rudder, no food and against all odds these people were hauled on board by a mainly young British cadet crew, fed and eventually all landed and settled in England after being refused by other governments. Tonight was their 35th anniversary and I was honored to meet some of those rescued, their families and some of the crew. Telling stories of that night still with emotion and tears in their eyes. All survived, and now live all over the world but many Vietnamese at that time attempting the same perished. Tonights story was of a heroic rescue and giving. It made me wonder, if that was now, how it would be classified as an immigration issue... I prefer to think of it as the former. My deep respect goes out to all those people and my thoughts to the plight of the recent African refugees who died in similar circumstances last week.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 00:11:06 +0000