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Visiting Vietnam as part of a program to connect children of Americans who died in the Vietnam War with the children of Vietnamese who died fighting for the other side, Pensacola filmmaker Jill Hubbs knew the trip would be filled with emotional moments.

What Hubbs didn't expect was to find the military ID of an American pilot shot down and killed in 1965. 

"The average person might not understand how significant it is, but if you have lived your whole life not knowing what happened to your dad in Vietnam, you would give almost anything to have a piece of information like this," Hubbs said.

Hubbs lost her own father, Navy Cmdr. Donald Richard Hubbs, when he flew off the carrier USS Yorktown on March 17, 1968, and disappeared off the coast of North Vietnam. He remains listed as missing in action and she continues to search for information about his disappearance.  

More: Film shares stories of American, Vietnamese children whose fathers died in war

Hubbs, who works for Pensacola-based WSRE public television, volunteers with The 2 Sides Project, an organization that connects children of American Vietnam War dead with the children of North Vietnamese War dead. She was on a trip with the project's founder, Margot Carlson Delonge, late last year when the two women found the ID card that once belonged to Air Force pilot Maj. Chambless Chesnutt.

A long-missing ID found

Hubbs, Delonge and a group of other women who lost their fathers in Vietnam, were visiting the rural Vietnamese province of Y Yen when they were approached by Cu Van Huu, a Vietnamese man who showed them Chesnutt's ID.

"I really don't know how to explain what my emotions were when I saw what he was holding because I immediately realized how much it would mean to that man's family," Hubbs said.

But Huu, who spoke with the women through a translator, was reluctant to part with the identification card that had been in his family's home for 54 years. His late father found Chesnutt's ID.

More: All photos of Escambia County men killed in Vietnam War found for virtual wall

Delonge said there was a lengthy back and forth between herself and Hubbs and Huu via a translator.

Huu wanted to be reassured the ID would be returned to Chesnutt's family because it was something Huu's family had kept for so many years since his father found it during the war. 

"In the end, it was a real act of kindness on this man's part to reach out to us and to part with it," Delonge said. "I think it's just an amazing example of the incredible things that can happen when you reach out to the other side."

Like Hubbs, Delonge knew what it would mean to Chesnutt's family to have the ID card. 

Delonge's father, Air Force Capt. John Carlson, was shot down in Vietnam on Dec. 7, 1966. His remains have never been recovered.

The two women immediately went on to the Vietnam Memorial's Virtual Wall of Faces and found Chesnutt's name and photo. They found an email for a family member. At 2 a.m. the next morning, they received a call. 

More: Marine pilot will share stories of harrowing Vietnam rescues at Heroes Among Us


Finding the family

Unlike Hubbs and Delonge, the Chesnutt family were fortunate to have had Maj. Chesnutt's remains returned to them in the mid-1980s. Villagers found his bones at his crash site and had kept them in a box. 

But the family did not know the ID had survived the crashed. 

His son, retired Air Force Maj. Gary Chesnutt, is a pilot for American Airlines.

"I have been in the industry for a long time and I know that finding things like that is not uncommon, but what really surprised me was that the man turned it over to Jill and Margot," Chesnutt said.  "I am glad they were able to talk with him and convince him to do that."

Chesnutt, who lives in Charleston, South Carolina, has yet to meet with Hubbs to receive the ID. The two are waiting for the right time and place to make the exchange. They hope to do it at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington or at Pensacola's Wall South. 

Chesnutt said the item is important for himself, his brother, his sister and for the seven grandchildren his parents had. 

More: Painful Vietnam memories prompted Pensacola veterans to build Wall South 25 years ago

"My dad has always been a part of our lives, but to have something concrete like this that comes from Vietnam, it says he really was there and he really was shot down and it wasn't just folklore," said Chesnutt, who recalled his dad taking him to Little Rock Air Force Base as a child and sitting him in the cockpit of one of the jets that he flew. 

"I was 6 and he was my hero. He loved the service and he loved his country," he said.

Chesnutt said his biggest feeling about his dad's ID being found is gratitude to The 2 Sides Project and the Vietnamese.

"Jill and her friends went over looking for answers and they came back with answers for me and for my family," he said. 


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