The children gathered around him, sharing his excitement. They repeated his new name over and over, commenting on how odd it sounded. Long joined in. He was happy for his friend, but he wished he were the one making the announcement.

In school, Long worked hard at learning English. He mastered words and phrases like hello and thank you, and sentences like "I am hungry" and "I am happy to meet you". In December, the teachers decided the children would put on a Christmas program for all the staff and invited guests. Long learned to do a special dance and to sing carols like "Silent Night." He took the singing very seriously. If Americans sang these songs, then he wanted to learn them.

A Christmas card arrived for the children from Amy. She described her new home, with its swimming pool, fireplace, and playroom. The children were wide-eyed with wonder as they read the card. Why did one family need its own swimming pool? And what was a fireplace? Was it a place where you cooked food?

On a rainy afternoon a few weeks later, Long was called to the office. He left class, his heart beating hard. Maybe his grandmother had come to visit. He had not seen her in many months. Or maybe . . . But he couldn't even hope for that.

A social worker greeted him and offered him a chair. He sat down as she studied some papers on her desk. She looked up. "I have some good news for you, Long."

He held his breath, trying to concentrate on what she was saying. Then he heard the words, "We have a family who would like to adopt you."

Long thought his ears must be playing tricks on him. But she repeated her words, assuring him it was so. "They live in a little town called West Liberty, Ohio, and it's you they want. I think we can have all the paperwork done in time for you to leave next June."

Long's heart was pounding so hard, he could hardly hear his own voice when he asked in a whisper, "Do I have a new name?"

"You do. It's Matthew. They want to call you Matt."

Matt. Another strange American name. He thought for a moment. He had always been Long. Could he become someone else?

Matthew. Matt.

Finally he took a breath. "That will be okay," he said.

And then he smiled.

The family that had chosen Long was the Steiners. Jim Steiner was a doctor. His wife, Mary, was a homemaker. They had three sons: Dan, age seventeen, Doug, fifteen, and Jeff, thirteen.

For two years the Steiners had been working their way through all the application forms and paperwork to adopt a Vietnamese orphan. Back in 1960 the Steiners had lived in South Vietnam for six months. Jim had worked as a missionary doctor with people suffering from Leprosy, a horrible, disfiguring disease. When Mary gave birth to their son Doug at the leprosarium hospital, Jim was the doctor.

The Steiners loved the people and culture of South Vietnam. But they knew life there was especially hard for Amerasian orphans and that as these children grew older, they often suffered increasing discrimination. Sometimes such children were called "half-breed" and treated poorly. Jim and Mary felt they could offer a home to one of them. Because the Steiner boys were in their teens, they decided to request an older child.

The Holt Foundation had sent them a photo of Long. "He looked kind of sad, like a little boy we wanted to help," says Mary Steiner. "Our hearts went out to him. We couldn't choose anyone else."

Through the months of January, February, and March 1975, the Steiners got to know Long through letters and photos. They told him about Ohio, that it was in the middle of the United States and had lots of trees and rolling hills. They said they lived in the country, where there was plenty of space to play. With Miss Anh's help, Long wrote back a few sentences in English and enclosed some drawings.

He often studied the family photo they sent him, memorizing each one of the Steiners. His eyes always went first to the mother. In the photo, she had short, curly brown hair, glasses, and a shy smile. She looked kind. Then he studied Dan, Doug, and Jeff, wondering what it would be like to have three brothers. It could be fun – older boys to play with.

Long had mixed feelings about the father in the photo. He looked nice, but could Long trust that? His own father had left him when he was still a baby. His stepfather had been cruel. Besides, if you had a mother, why would you need a father?

Having a father sounded nice. Maybe, just maybe, this time it would work out.

But as Long dreamed of his new family and the life he would have in America, the Vietnam War suddenly roared to life. In January 1975, the Communist army of North Vietnam began a major offensive against the South. To their surprise, they met little of the resistance that had stopped them in the past. Though some South Vietnamese army units fought back bravely, many others were fearful that they could not win because they no longer had American troops to assist them, so they did not try. Some South Vietnamese soldiers abandoned their military posts and went home to their families.

Suddenly everything was happening swiftly, so swiftly that all of South Vietnam was thrown into a state of panic. Each day came word that another city or province had fallen to the Communists. The North Vietnamese soldiers were ruthless, killing both soldiers and civilians in their path. Within weeks, the North Vietnamese controlled important strategic areas in South Vietnam and continued to push southward.

Instead of taking a stand, the president of South Vietnam ordered his troops to fall back to the Saigon region to defend the city and outlying areas. The retreat turned into a rush for safety. As frantic soldiers fled toward Saigon , so did hundreds of thousands of refugees, jamming roads, disrupting the military, and creating a withdrawal that became known as the Convoy of Tears.

Pursuing them was the army of North Vietnam.