Dan Cherry, Retired Brigadier General for the United States Air Force, presented Dr. Mike Binder, Dean of WKU Libraries, with several copies of his book, My Enemy My Friend: a story of reconciliation from the Vietnam War as a donation to each of Western’s six library locations. Mr Cherry is President of Aviation Heritage Park, an educational aviation museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Dan served for twenty nine years as a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force. His military credentials include flying 295 combat missions during the Vietnam War and serving as Commander and Leader of the Air Force Thunderbirds. Dan currently resides in Bowling Green, Kentucky and is a member of the Kentucky Aviation Hall of Fame.
Book Description: On April 16, 1972 at 15,000 feet in the skies near Hanoi, North Vietnam, Major Dan Cherry first met Lieutenant Nguyen Hong My. In an intense aerial battle Dan shot down the MiG-21 piloted by Hong My. Thirty six years later Dan and Hong My met face to face in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for the first time since that fateful day. This book describes that meeting, Hong My’s subsequent trip to the United States and the strong friendship that has evolved between these two men. The book’s universal message of reconciliation and friendship has appeal to all ages.
