Veteran who lost hope of meeting longlost son finally reunites with him after 50 years

Throughout history, wars have been an emotional rollercoaster where the bonds of families and love were severed. They not only displaced soldiers but also the relationships that tied them to their loved ones. Veterans returning from the battlefield were faced with tragic situations like partners who have moved on or families torn apart. For Vietnam veteran, Jim Langdon, life took one such melancholic twist when he lost any little hope he had of meeting his son. But earlier this year, Langdon, in his 70s, finally got to know his son for the first time after 51 years and it was an emotional moment, as reported by ABC affiliate, WEAR News. 

Hailing from East Milton, Florida, Langdon was deployed in the Air Force in Thailand during the Vietnam War in the early 70s. It was then the young soldier fell in love with a woman from Thailand but their love didn't stand the test of time. "I was stationed in Thailand in 1971-72. I hooked up with a young lady there. Was with her for most of my tour there. We actually had plans to marry, but we waited too late," Langdon told the news channel. Even before the couple could get married, Langdon's Thai girlfriend became pregnant. But fate played its game and Langdon had to leave the country when his deployment was up without even getting a glimpse of his son's face. "She was pregnant when I left in October. He was born in January of ‘73," the veteran said. 

Over half a century later, fortune favored the father-son duo. Turns out, John Hermann, Langdon's long-lost son, had moved to the US when he was 4 with his Thai mother and American stepfather. While the veteran had been thinking that he had a son somewhere in Thailand, Herrmann was in the same country as his father for decades. Thanks to Ancestry.com, Herrmann's matched with Langdon's niece. "When I called him, he thought I was still in Thailand. He didn’t know I spoke English," the son told the news channel. On 6 February, Herrman flew from San Diego to the Pensacola airport in Florida to meet his biological dad for the first time ever. 

"Something I never thought would happen. After so many years, I just thought that there was no way to find my son, let alone find out he’s here in the States and that his mother was still alive," Langdon stated. As the excited father welcomed his son at the airport, a heartwarming reunion unfolded. The duo hugged each other and broke into tears. "Being around him, it feels like a sense of belonging," Herrmann added. He then tagged along with his dad and his wife Cathy Langdon to their home in East Milton for a pizza night. 

Speaking of wholesome reunion stories of veterans, a Korean War veteran from Iowa reunited with his first love from Japan after 70 years. As a 22-year-old, Duane Mann was admitted by Peggy Yamaguchi's dance moves which soon turned into a young love, as per the Washington Post. When Mann tried to gather enough money to get married to his love and start a new life after the war, he found that his father had spent all his savings and his mother meddled with his relationship with the Japanese girl. The couple gradually started parting away, but in his 90s, Mann wanted to reassure Yamaguchi that he never abandoned her. In 2022, the power of social media reunited the pair and it became a heartening moment for both.