Bob Andron walks his daughter down the aisle, even though he just met her.
This heartwarming story of a father and a daughter meeting for the first time after 50 years began when Bob, who is a Vietnam veteran, had to leave Vietnam and his wife, Lin, in the early 1970s. Bob was a sergeant in the United States Air Force but was forced to leave the country without being able to stay in contact with her. Lin was pregnant with their daughter Linda Throng at the time.
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In today's world, it is way too easy to find and talk to anyone. It was a different story 50 years ago. Over the years, Bob wondered what happened to Lin and the baby. He then received a call from a genealogist, Kristee Mays, who specializes in reuniting veterans with their lost biological family members.
"Linda was born after I left Vietnam. I had been married to her mother," Bob shares. "And her mother was six months pregnant when I was forced to leave and come to the United States. And she wondered all of her life where I was.
As soon as the genealogist matched them as father and daughter, they arranged to meet right away.
When they finally meet, Linda approaches Bob as he walks out of his house, covering his eyes. "I can open 'em?" he asks, and then he does, with the biggest smile on his face. The two give each other the biggest hug.
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"When I see him for the first time. I was, I don't have any, no other question. I knew right away. That's my dad," Linda says about meeting Bob.
"It's taken a long time, hasn't it?" Bob tells her.
"It was so special. It was amazing. She told me something that really tugged my heart, and that was that she just wanted to take care of me," Bob shared. "And that's an amazing thing to hear from someone that didn't even know me."
Linda told Bob that she would call him almost every day to make up for those 50 missing years. A few months after the meeting, Linda asked Bob if he would walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. Although they did not have this particular tradition in Vietnam, where she grew up, she had seen it in movies and wanted to ask her dad to do so if she ever got married again and found him.
On Linda's wedding day, Bob got to walk his daughter down the aisle. "That brings tears to my eyes because it is so, so unbelievable. There's no way to even describe it except to say it has made me so happy from the first moment that I found out about it," Bob says.
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The two had a special moment before walking down the aisle together. What a beautiful and touching moment it was for both of them.
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." - 1 Corinthians 13:4
h/t: Happily
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Happily