Around noon on May 15, 1975, I received a phone call from Barbara Tremitiere with the Tressler Lutheran Social Services of York County. My husband and I had previously adopted our daughter in 1972 and had expressed the possibility of adopting an older boy. Barbara said a plane had landed in Alaska from Saigon, Vietnam with MANY children on board. We later learned this was the last plane to leave Saigon under heavy gunfire. Barbara explained that they were looking for families to adopt these children, immediately, especially families willing to adopt siblings, so children would not be separated. She asked that we make our decision and call her back by 4PM that day and pick up the children in Philadelphia the following afternoon. I called my husband and told him he should come home for lunch and we had “some things” to discuss.

Our decision was a positive response and has been a wonderful and challenging experience for our lives ever since. The children we were to adopt were brothers. We went to Philadelphia the next day and met the boys, and made our first stop at a McDonald’s for a snack before coming home.

The boys were now ILLEGAL ALIENS from Vietnam. The following information we had received after 2-7 years of communication with different agencies:

Our oldest son’s Vietnamese name was: To Thanh Dung, born on 7/30/68 in Tam Hiep, Bien Hoa. Mother’s name (not giving this information) Father: unknown (he was obviously in the US Military). We named him Andrew Douglas Spillman.

Younger son’s Vietnamese name was To Thanh Hung, born on 10/21/72. The other information was the same. We named him Mark Richard Spillman.

Their mother had released their records to The Vietnamese Children’s Fund in Saigon and she had signed the papers on April 16, 1975. We have a copy of these papers and the translation. The children went to Catholic Relief Services—who requested help from Lutheran Social Services when the children arrived in Alaska and later traveled to Pennsylvania.

The boys, of course, did not speak or understand English, were malnourished, had never worn shoes and were always wanting food. The older boy had had dental problems and experienced the pulling of his teeth with no novocain— which created a later challenge to get him to go to a dentist. The younger boy had NO eardrums. They had been eaten away by infections.

We did not have Green cards for them.  Being in the US., they were illegal immigrants and we had to take them to Philadelphia to get examined by specially approved physicians by the US government and then were issued alien status on 8/4/1977 and finally in 1980 they became citizens of the US (York County Court House) and were officially adopted.

Some of the first challenges were:

  • whenever a plane would fly overhead..they would run downstairs and hide under the furniture (they had been taught to seek cover as fast as possible)
  • learn to wear shoes (they never had anything on their feet)
  • how to use a bathroom and a commode
  • learn to eat white rice (they did not like any of my rice dishes)
  • learn to sleep in a bed
  • change their clothes each day

They quickly learned to ask for food. We had to be careful that they did not eat too much at one time..their stomachs were very small. We fed them small meals 4-5 times a day. Our daughter, who was 3 at the time, was a wonderful help—showing them different toys and how to move around the yard.

Our pediatrician put them on extra doses of vitamins and started the medical testing. Mark, the youngest, had malnutrition lines in all of his baby teeth..the lines were gone as his second teeth began to form. It is amazing what proper nutrition can do for the children. We did not expect Mark to get very tall—he was SO small when he first arrived and he is now 6’3’’. Mark also underwent 3 reconstructive ear operations and had new eardrums within the next 4 years.

The year after they arrived, we went to register Andrew for 1st grade. The school administration said they could not register him for classes unless we had his birth date (received official birthdate 3 years later), so we had the pediatrician give us an estimate of his age and we just made-up a birth date. The date was within 6 months of his actual birthdate. He started in a class of students who were not fully ready for 1st grade, but he progressed at a good pace.

We had wonderful support from family and friends. The boys made friends with the children in the area and went on to be Boy Scouts and had many adventures with the Scouts. They were baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran Church. Both Andrew and Mark grew to be accomplished athletes (Andrew in soccer and track, Mark volleyball). They were both in the band and school musicals, graduating from Central York School District. Andrew went on to college, graduating from Johnson and Wales University and Mark first working with computers and later the restaurant business.

They have both lived in different parts of the US and have returned to the York area.

There have been many other experiences over the past years…but this is LIFE.

John and Linda Spillman,  York , PA