Vietnam War: Meet the pastor who survived 17 years in forgotten jungle army

Pastor Y Hin Nie, 75, preaches the gospel from the comfort of his church in the US state of North Carolina. But as a young man he survived nearly two decades in the jungle, giving sermons to his comrades fighting Vietnamese troops long after the war had ended - his AK-47 never far from his side.

On the run and cut off from the world, Hin Nie and his unit of insurgents foraged for food and hunted for tiger skins to pay the Khmer Rouge. His "forgotten army" did not give up arms until 1992, after Hin Nie negotiated their freedom.

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Vietnam War: The pastor who survived 17 years in forgotten jungle army

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IMAGE SOURCE,MICHAEL HAYES

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Hin Nie was a lieutenant colonel and pastor who fought Communist forces in the Vietnam War

By George Wright

BBC News, London

Pastor Y Hin Nie, 75, preaches the gospel from the comfort of his church in the US state of North Carolina. But as a young man he survived nearly two decades in the jungle, giving sermons to his comrades fighting Vietnamese troops long after the war had ended - his AK-47 never far from his side.

On the run and cut off from the world, Hin Nie and his unit of insurgents foraged for food and hunted for tiger skins to pay the Khmer Rouge. His "forgotten army" did not give up arms until 1992, after Hin Nie negotiated their freedom.

The first time Y Hin Nie nearly died was on the night of 30 January 1968, when the Vietcong, fighting for the Communist North in Vietnam, launched a massive attack, firing barrages of rockets on US-held areas under the cover of Tet - or New Year - celebrations.

Hin Nie, who grew up in Vietnam, was living with American Christian missionaries in Buon Ma Thuot, the largest city in Vietnam's Central Highlands. His own mother and father had left him with the missionaries when he was eight because they were poor and wanted him to have a better life, he says.

His adopted "godmother", Carolyn Griswold, was sleeping when the rockets hit. Separate reports from missionaries say Communist troops also detonated explosives inside the home.

Carolyn's father, Leon, died immediately. Hin Nie - who happened to be staying at a friend's that night - rushed home and helped to dig Carolyn out of the rubble. She died soon after.

"My godmother died with suffering," he says. "God saved my life."

Many other missionaries were killed and captured while Hin Nie hid in a bunker.