I try and avoid watching the evening news because it has become so depressing. When this good news story caught my attention the other day I just had to make a video about it! I hope it restores your confidence in other human beings. I hope it gives you hope and and I hope it cheers you up, wherever you are or whatever your situation!
This is the 1979 story of Tyrone, merchant sea Captain Healey Martin, of the SS Sibonga. Last year Captain Martin was reunited with one of the hundreds of Vietnamese refugee children/families he and his crew saved almost 40 years ago! These Vietnamese boat people were plucked from a crammed, sinking boat in the middle of the South China Sea. Captain Martin gave the order to stop and pick up 1003 desperate people crammed into 2 sinking boats.The good samaritan actions, of Captain Healy his wife Mildred and his SS Sibonga crew undoubtably saved 1003 lives that day.
The story doesn't end there. Fast forward to this year 2019 and another larger group of Vietnamese folk travel to Dungannon to say thank you to Captain Martin for saving their lives!
'A family of Vietnamese refugees who settled in the UK have been reunited with the boat captain who rescued them from the South China Sea 40 years ago. Linh Thi Thuy Spearing, her parents and three young brothers were among 1,003 people on two fishing boats picked up by the SS Sibonga in May 1979.
Mrs Spearing, who lives in Somerset, said they were "lost at sea for days" and were "blessed" to be rescued. They have now met Capt Healey Martin to thank him for saving their lives.
Mrs Spearing was seven when she and her family, originally from Ho Chi Minh City, fled Vietnam following the end of the Vietnam War. The refugee crisis escalated when China invaded the country in 1979, and hundreds of thousands of "boat people" risked their lives to escape the conflict. The family were crammed among hundreds of refugees on a flimsy boat without food or water when they were picked up by Mr Martin's cargo ship.Interviewed by the BBC at the time, Mr Martin said: "I reckon a lot of the children would have been dead within about 48 hours.
"Some of them when we brought them on board were unconscious and completely exhausted."
Mr Martin, who is now in his 80s, lives in a care home in Dungannon, Northern Ireland. Mrs Spearing and her family, along with other refugees, flew to Northern Ireland on the 40th anniversary of their rescue to visit him and thank him personally.
She said when she met him, Mr Martin was "very composed" and "remembered a lot of details".
Mrs Spearing's brother, Tuan Le, who was just four months old at the time of the rescue, added: "We wanted to pay back what was given to us - the opportunity."
Mr Martin thanked everyone for visiting him and said: "I'm very very glad that you've been very successful and the amazing distances some of you have travelled.
"You've all done well, we have doctors, surgeons, accountants, chemists, and I think it's a wonderful display of people."
What a gentleman! I love a good news story!
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Tyrone Capt Martin Saves Vietnam Boat People 1979
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Ship's Captain Healy Martin 1979 Good News StoryVietnamese girl thanks Tyrone hero who plucked her from sea in 1979Vietnamese refugees thank rescuer 40 years onSS sibonga saves vietnamese lives in South china seaCaptain Healy Martin of the SS siibonga from dungannonCapt Healey Martin Saves1003 Vietnamese Boat PeopleTyrone's Capt Martin Saves Vietnamese Boat PeopleTyrone Capt Martin Saves Vietnam Boat People 1979