Remembering the Good Shepherd Sisters on 50th Anniversary of Tet Offensive

Sr Mary in front of bullet-riddled orphanage

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Tet offensive, in which the Viet Cong launched a suprise attack against the American and South Vietnamese forces on 30 January 1968 - during the Vietnamese New Year festival.

The Good Shepherd Sisters in Vietnam were obliged to abandon their orphanage and flee, with their children and under the protection of US troops, first to Da Nang base, then ultimately to Thailand. At Da Nang, the fighting over and around the base was so intense they could not be moved to their flight and missed it. They were then taken by boat to a US Navy carrier in some long distance off shore.

Andrew Scadding, former director of the Thai Children's Trust recalls: "With the children and the other Sisters safe, two Irish Sisters, Sr Mary Hayden (whose death was reported on ICN last year) and Sister Joan Gormley, who is still with the GSS 'Fountain of Life' project in Pattaya, Thailand, who were both trained nurses, volunteered to go back to Da Nang to nurse the wounded.

"As they made their way to the helicopter, Sr Joan felt a tug on her arm. 'This is Sr Mary's helicopter' said the sailor, 'Yours is over here.' The US Navy had evidently concluded that it could not afford to lose two Sisters in one helicopter, so was, as we say today, managing its risk.

"I would never have known about this had it not been for a meeting in Dublin a few years ago where a third Good Shepherd Sister, a friend to both Sisters Mary and Joan, who had been with the party, met us and 'spilled the beans'.

"The modesty and good humour of these amazing women left them laughing at the memory of danger, as no doubt they did to its face. Their courage, and their immense confidence in their faith is too little known."

LINKS

ICN 13 August 2017 - Tribute to Sister Mary Hayden - www.indcatholicnews.com/news/33180

Good Shepherd Sisters, Nonghkai - www.goodshepherdnongkhai.com