Unexpected pairing: New documentary tells a heartwarming story between Vietnam enemies

Troy Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. left Vietnam as a Marine in 1969.

He returned there as chancellor of Troy University in 2002 to build relationships with Vietnamese chancellors to establish cultural exchange programs between the universities.

“It was not at all the Vietnam that I’d left all those years before," Hawkins said.

In 2017, Hawkins received an invitation from Lê Công Cơ, the president of Duy Tan University. Lê Công Cơ was a Viet Cong fighter. “He had a great record of success," Hawkins said. "He just happened to be one of our enemies." But when he met Lê Công Cơ, “I immediately knew his heart was right," Hawkins said.

The former enemies became partners. Each man was trying to bring the world to his respective university. Each man wanted to give back. Each man wanted to graduate globally competitive students.

Today, they're both still fighting to make the world a better place, and Lê Công Cơ's two children decided to tell the men's story through a documentary, "Beyond a War."

Han Lê took the lead in telling her father's story, which aired across Vietnam earlier this year.

“A lot of people in this country continue to fight the war in their minds, and I think this is one of the few depictions of what happens through partnership in terms of reconciliation," Hawkins said about Vietnam War veterans in the United States.

Hawkins said he hopes his story can give his fellow veterans faith in a better tomorrow.

'It's each other'

As a young 23-year-old second lieutenant, Hawkins said being in the Marines offered him an opportunity to experience living and dying with people of different races.

Hawkins went to a small, all-white high school in Alabama. Before college, he had never made acquaintances with people of other races.

The war changed all that.

“You know what you learn, in time, when that first round goes off, it doesn’t matter what race you are," Hawkins said. "You look out for each other."

His platoon was made up of 25% Black men, 15% Latino men and 55-60% white men. They all had to look out for each other to survive.

“We have these rather removed and rather esoteric beliefs, and you can be philosophical, but when, when the shooting starts, but what becomes more important is not the stars and stripes. It’s not democracy. It’s each other," Hawkins said.

Bringing the world home

Hawkins said he brought that mindset to Troy, where he has made diversity a priority. Everyone wants to be safe. Everyone wants to have their loved ones be safe, Hawkins said.

Being outside the country broadens people's minds, Hawkins said. That is why he has funded study-abroad experiences for his students.

For students who cannot study abroad, Hawkins has focused on bringing the world to Troy.

There are students from 75 countries at Troy, Hawkins said. For him, he does this because it is a part of continuing his practice of service that was so important in the military.

“So we set out to bring the world to Troy, and we did," Hawkins said.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's education reporter. She can be reached at agladden@gannett.com or on Twitter @gladlyalex.