When Michel Peltz was stationed in Vietnam, he saw how other American soldiers exposed to the horrors of combat had come to view all Vietnamese people as enemies.

He, too, had became hardened. But that changed after he met Sister Theresa, a Vietnamese nun. It’s a change he’s carried with him for the past 34 years. She softened him.

Peltz, 60, a Windham resident, will soon travel to Vietnam again to see the friend he became reacquainted with only a few years ago.

Peltz was in his early 20s while serving in Vietnam as a member of the Army’s 101st Airborne Rangers and doing reconnaissance work. He later worked in civil affairs, work that included resettling Vietnamese refugees.

Since serving in the military, he has made four trips back to Vietnam in recent years.

“Vietnam is more than just a memory – and I had good and bad experiences - but it’s the future for me,” Peltz said.

“It’s really life. It’s great opportunities. You can’t make much money, but I can teach. I can coach. I’ve got great friends and they’re just very appreciative of my little efforts to help out and give back to the country we raped, we tried to destroy.”

Peltz is leaving Dec. 7 and will spend six months in Vietnam, a place he calls an exciting, beautiful country.

He will live in Nhatrang, a coastal city about 500 kilometers north of Saigon. He will coach tennis and soccer, and teach English – the second most common language in Vietnam, Peltz said – to private students.

The country, he said, is a wonderful society where the people welcome Americans.

“They’re very appreciative of veterans like me who come back and start making a life, giving a little back to their country,” Peltz said.

Fortunate meeting

Peltz struck up a friendship with Sister Theresa in the city of Quang-Tri in 1969. The compound where Peltz was doing civil affairs work was located next to a Catholic high school where the nun served as principal.

The friendship between the young American soldier and the Vietnamese nun was a special one. He joined her on trips to beaches with her students. They enjoyed lunches together. He helped her improve her English. And she humanized him.

“When you’re a soldier, the only way you can survive in a war kind of environment, you really have to get tough and hard and get calloused. Just to survive the emotional turmoil and the loss of body parts, the loss of your buddies getting wounded, killed,” Peltz said.

“She softened me up. She got me ready to be a civilian again, and get back to my regular self. I was no barbarian, I was no killer, but I wasn’t the same person I was when I went over there.”

When he left the country in 1969, he told Sister Theresa he would return some day and help her.

“When I left, I left with mixed feelings,” Peltz recalled. “I felt guilty leaving because there was so much work to be done.”

They exchanged letters for a while but lost touch. Peltz feared she might be dead after the North Vietnamese seized Quang-Tri.

In 2003, Peltz and his two adult sons, Josh and Chris, traveled to Vietnam. They provided money Peltz had raised to Vietnamese charities. They donated sporting equipment and school supplies to children.

An important mission for Peltz was to find Sister Theresa.

A person involved in Peace Trees Vietnam, a charitable organization, had contacts with the authorities. Through him, Peltz was reunited with the friend he hadn’t seen in 34 years.

“It was the greatest experience of my life,” Peltz said.

When he’s in the United States, Peltz works as a tennis camp pro and as a soccer official. When he goes to Vietnam, he will take along gifts, school supplies, books, dictionaries, and money to Sister Theresa and other Catholic nuns in Hue.

“I got in touch with myself, my real self, my loving, Christian self,” he recalled of the effect Sister Theresa had on him. “I really appreciated that and always thought of her as such a wonderful person. It’s so great to go back ... and help them out.”

Peltz plans to spend more time in Vietnam during future trips. He has a fiancee, Dang Ha, a retired teacher and grandmother there whom he met last year.

“I feel very lucky that I got out of Vietnam the way I did,” Peltz said. “Pretty healthy and psychologically, physically OK. I feel very lucky to be able to go back and help out, and meet these wonderful people who really appreciate my presence, my humble skills as a teacher and coach and are very happy to have me there.”

“I’m very excited about going back,” he added. “I’ve got some lovely people waiting for me. And I do my little bit to help out and enjoy a much more peaceful, relaxing lifestyle.”

Peltz has spent time talking to students at schools in the United States about Vietnam today. It’s a place he recommends people see.

“Vietnam is a wonderful country to visit. I recommend (it to) any tourist,” Peltz said.

“I’ve had a lot of friends who have gone. Especially a veteran. It would be a wonderful experience for you to see how the country has become such a much better place to live.”