A tear-filled reunion

Today's crumb was donated by an alert reader in Indiana. It takes us back to 1981, when the USS John Young spotted a fishing boat filled with people adrift on the South China Sea. The people had no water or food, so the sailors saved their lives. Recently, a group of those Vietnamese refugees, now US citizens, joined the Navy veterans in Mobile, Alabama.

On retired sailor, Chip Reichert, recognized a girl they rescued when Thao Nguyen, now an adult, walked to the podium. "I want to say thank you," she told the veterans. You all made a difference, and what you did mattered. Reichert hugged Nguyen. "She looked at me, and all we did was cry," he said. She and several family members -- all rescued by the Navy -- have become nurses in the United States. She explained, "If I can help someone else, I want to, because I know I wouldn't be here if people didn't save me."