Incredible reunion of Vietnam soldier and baby he rescued 40 years ago after he carried 'Precious Pearl' from battlefield to the safety of an orphanage

Bao Tran was helping Americans blow up a bridge when he saved baby



Newspaper feature on girl, later adopted by Wisconsin couple, helped reunite pair

A retired soldier living in New Mexico has been reunited with the baby he saved during the Vietnam war, 40 years after carrying her to safety.



Vietnamese soldier Bao Tran was helping Americans blow up a bridge in May 1972 when he first met the baby, who was later adopted by a Wisconsin couple and renamed Kimberley Mitchell.

An old man, the last of a straggle of survivors making their way across the bridge, had handed Bao Tran the child after finding her in the arms of her dead mother.

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Reunited: Kimberley Mitchell and Bao Tran embrace more than 40 years after he saved her during the Vietnam war

With the war raging around him, Bao Tran made the life-saving decision to carry the baby he named Precious Pearl to safety, placing her in an orphanage 60 miles away, People reported.



FINDING PEARL

In May 1972 Bao Tran carried a baby girl he named Precious Pearl to the safety of an orphanage after she was found in the arms of her dead mother.

Seven years later, after being freed from a 're-education camp' at the end of the war, Bao Tran tried to find Pearl but the orphanage had moved.

The girl had also already been adopted by U.S. Airmen James Mitchell, who renamed her Kimberley and raised her in Wisconsin. Kimberley enlisted in the U.S. Navy before starting a non-profit group for veterans.

In 2011, keen to trace her roots, Kimberley returned to Vietnam and mets the nuns who cared for her at the orphanage.

When a U.S.-based Vietnamese newspaper featured her story, Bao Tran spotted it and realized he has found his Precious Pearl. The pair were reunited in New Mexico in March of this year.

The young soldier spent seven years as a prisoner in a 're-education camp' but, when he tried to return and adopt Pearl, the orphanage had moved.



Bao Tran, now 65, moved to the U.S., married and had a family of his own, but his thoughts were never far from the tiny girl he had saved.



Unbeknown to him she had been adopted by American airman James Mitchell, who renamed her Kimberley and raised her on a Wisconsin dairy farm.



Although she had a happy childhood, Miss Mitchell told People: 'I'd always wondered was it out of love I was put in an orphanage.'

Her questions were finally answered after she was featured in a U.S.-based Vietnamese newspaper.

By chance, Bao Tran saw the newspaper and, when he spotted her name, knew he had found his Precious Pearl.



'I called my wife right away and said "Am I dreaming?",' he said.



'In the article, it said that she was abandoned at the orphanage but I wanted her to know she was not abandoned,' he told CBS.



The pair had an emotional reunion in New Mexico in March, where Miss Mitchell was finally able to thank the former soldier for taking the time to save a baby's life.



Miss Mitchell said: 'I was thinking, "Why would he want to save me?" He must have love and compassion beyond any comprehension.'

Rescue: Kimberley Mitchell's Vietnamese passport, bearing the name Precious Pearl given to her by Bao Tan

Mystery: Bao Tran, who fought alongside Americans during the war, says he never stopped thinking about the girl he saved

The young woman, who was a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy before starting a nonprofit veterans group in Washington DC, hadn't thought much about her adoption until she was an adult.



'I had a happy childhood so I never wondered much about my past when I was growing up,' she said.



But, after celebrating her 40th birthday Miss Mitchell returned to Da Nang to search for her roots.

She knew little about how she came to be at an orphanage and didn't even know the translation of the name Bao Tran had given her until she met the nuns who looked after her in 2011.



Roots: Kimberley with the nuns who run the orphanage Bao Tran left her at

Servicewoman: Kimberley, who was raised by a U.S. airman in Wisconsin, joined the Navy

After being reunited with Bao Tran, and learning that her biological mother had cradled her as she died, Miss Mitchell realized: 'I was obviously very important to her.'

For Bao Tran, saving Pearl and learning that she has lived a full and loved life, has given his war experience meaning.

