"Vietnamese boat people rescued by a ship named Akuna" Facebook Page

Vincent Leduc (Paris, France) Facebook Page

"Nam, I was a young free lance reporter at that time, based in bangkok. I spent the whole year 79 reporting on refugees from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. I came down to Singapore with an American friend, Gary Ferguson from Phoenix, he was financially supporting Food for the hungry. We were supposed to go with the Akuna, but Gary changed his mind, that was in early may 79. The ship had just sent groups of Vietnamese rescued at sea, to the Riau Indonesian islands. In Pulau Buton. They were left alone without help. So we went there Gary and me, we stayed a week, building a school and other facilities to help the community. Then Gary had the idea to try to go to Singapore with one of the small boat from Vietnam. He believed that being American, he could convince the American ambassador to accept the people he would brought. 62 people came along. We were two days at sea, stopped by the Singapore navy. Gary could not succeed. We came back to Pulau Buton. Then both of us were arrested by the Indonesian police and expelled from Indonesia. I will start scanning photos tomorrow and post them on FB."

Vincent Leduc

Via Facebook Page: Vietnamese boat people rescued by a ship named Akuna | September 23, 2013 at 11:15am

"OMG! Vincent, I was too on that boat with Gary that the Singaporean navy ship pulled us out back to sea. I even wrote a post on my Facebook. When I get home from work tonight, I'll look for it to show you. I bet you have many great photos of Akuna and the Vietnamese refugees/boat people, maybe I'll be in one of your photographs. Can't wait to see them. Thanks for sharing your story so far!"

– Nam Nguyen

Via Facebook Page: Vietnamese boat people rescued by a ship named Akuna | September 23, 2013 at 1:46pm

"Vincent Leduc: here is a scanned copy of my high school essay from 1984, telling my unforgettable and short runaway boat journey to Singapore with Gary Ferguson, and you:"

– Nam Nguyen

Via Facebook Page: Vietnamese boat people rescued by a ship named Akuna |

September 23, 2013 at 8:11pm

Photojournalist Vincent Leduc on the Akuna ship with Food for Hungry International team in the South China Sea, June 1979.

Buton Camp, Indonesia, 1979. Only one month before the boat journey to Singapore with Gary, I arrived on this remote island in late April with a group of 68 people on another boat. We were the first settlers. Several months later, the camp's population swelled to more than a thousand refugees.

My 1984 high school English journal, describing the runaway boat trip to Singapore with Gary Ferguson in May 1979. (click on above image to see detailed journal)

Waiting with uncertainty for several days just off shore of Buton, many of the people on this newly arrived boat were women and young children. They were denied entry to the refugee camp in Buton. Contrary to Leduc's account, my understanding, at the time, was that the local Indonesian Government had just imposed a new law not to accept new Vietnamese boat people, partly due to the already overcrowded refugee population.

Even with Gary Ferguson's effort to negotiate on our behalf, we were not allowed to enter Singapore. Our only option was to return to the shallow water of the Buton refugee camp.

Cruising with the boat people in the Singapore Strait, May 1979: I am wearing the striped tee shirt and sitting only inches from Gary Ferguson, (left).

Gary Ferguson, the man referred to as “Cowboy” by the Vietnamese refugees, attracted a large crowd of mostly children (including me) during his short visit to the Buton Refugee Camp, Indonesia, in the summer of 1979.

To this day, I still have my paper address book from 1979-80 that contained Gary Ferguson's home phone and address in Arizona. I wrote numerous letters to this address in early 1980s without any response. I also called the phone number provided back then, and again in 2010, without any result, and the number still remains inactive.