Please help us

The following message was recently handed to me on a flyer by a beautiful young lady. The story is intriguing. The probability of actually finding her missing mother could grow exponentially if each of you would just think back, and be willing to share even the slightest bit of memory you might have that is even remotely related to the quest.

This needs closure, which ever way that goes....

John Rossie

A Plea from a Daughter

Do you remember a USO entertainer named Patricia Ann Perdue?

She was 21 years old, about 5'8", with blond hair and green eyes. Here is a picture of Patricia from the same time period.

She left New York in the summer of 1968 for Vietnam. At the time she left the States, she was two months pregnant with me. Her sister believes she was following a Marine Captain (my biological father).

Patricia traveled from Saigon, with a black female friend, to Nha Trang to have her baby. I was born in Nha Trang at the Eighth Field Army Medical Hospital on October 6, 1968.

Army Chaplain Sale heard about an American USO performer who was pregnant and began searching for her in the village of Nha Trang. The Chaplain found Patricia with the help of a Navy Seal who had seen the pregnant white USO singer and her black friend (also USO??).

After I was born, Patricia nursed me until they could fly milk in from Saigon and then agreed to let Army Lt. Col. Leonard Buell adopt me. It took my dad (Lt. Col. Buell) six weeks to get me out of Vietnam. He had to fight to prove I was a US Citizen. My father (Lt. Col. Buell) remembers seeing a USO advertisement of Patricia in a grass skirt.

In 1993 I found Patricia Perdue's family, which consisted of one sister, two half brothers, and her father. Her family was shocked that I existed because they had never seen or heard anything from Patricia since she left for Vietnam. Patricia's father received one package from her while she was overseas. He believes it came from Thailand, but does not remember precisely.

Patricia's father searched for her for several years after the end of the Vietnam war. He talked to USO headquarters in New York, and was told that all the performers returned to the US. He also made inquiries with the Red Cross, but again without success. Her social Security number (SSN) has never been used. However, the Social Security Administration does not have Patricia Perdue listed as "deceased".

If any of you have any recollection of seeing or hearing of my mother, I would be extremely grateful if you could help me by sharing that information. Please forward any information you might have to jrossie@du.edu from this home page.