(Copyright by Vincent A Wuwert)

During my  hitch with the USAF I was assigned to a Security Service unit in North East Thailand, twenty miles south of the Laotian-Thai border.

My friend Glenn Rogers, who was stationed with me at Ramasun Station, a radio intercept listening post,  had similar interests as me. He liked  Thai culture, food and the people.

One  day we decided to investigate a Buddhist  Wat near the village of Bon Dot. It was only a mile taxi ride off the main road, so we picked up our cameras and off we went.

After our visit to the Wat and conversations with some farang monks, we made our way on foot to the main road. We came upon a few Thai's who were using nung chuks to thrash rice kernels from their stalks. .We were fascinated by the work they were doing and we asked a young Thai girl if we could photograph them working.

Her response was in broken English, but informative. She  informed us that her father owned  the rice paddies from which the crop was being harvested. She informed us that the  harvested kernels were bagged and taken to her village where her family ran a milling facility.

She asked us if we would like to walk to her village to meet her family. She introduced herself to us as Newunpun Nisyant, and that her father was a retired Thai Army Colonel.

We got the tour of the village.  We  were shown the Kom Kring  train station, where the main line between Nong Khai and Krung Themp passed.

Newunpun was a mere school girl then about age sixteen. I visited numerous times with her family, and was always treated politely. We would often sit for a few hours, and  talk about Thai culture, and she would practice her English language skills with me. Newunpun, or Dow, as her friends refereed to  her,  usually focused her questions about America upon movie stars, or what it was like to live in a big city like Los Angeles.  I found her fascinating and anxious to learn about the States.

Newunpun once asked me if I had a Thai name, and I informed her that one of the house girls from our base near the village of Nong Soong, had named me Nippon.  From then on, whenever we met, she greeted me with her Thai Wai, and, "Sawadee Nippon."

I remember my last meeting with Dow. It was in front of her home on stilts, next to the  dirt road  in her  village. I told her I would be leaving the Air Force and returning to my home town of Toledo in the United States. We chatted a bit  longer, and then I waied, and said, "Sawadee Newunpun, choke dee, loch kong."  She smiled and waied and said, "Sawadee Nippon."  She never showed any facial expression. Tears gently streamed  down her face.  I said, " you will always be remembered by me as my little sister in Kom Kring.  Sawadee Newunpun."

She stood there expressionless.  I turned and walked  towards the main road to find a ride back to the village of Nong Soong.  I don't know why, but I turned around one more time and she was standing in the middle of the dirt road, wearing her blue jeans and a white blouse, and was in the posture of the Thai Wai...hands together in a prayerful manner and her head bowed...

She looked up...and I heard her say, "Sawadee Nippon. You come Thailand again."  I never returned.  And I regret it to this day.