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When a producer at CBS News / 60 Minutes II read about a BE GOOD, SMILE PRETTY screening, he was inspired to do a segment on Tracy’s story. As part of their story, he traveled with Tracy and her mother, Judy Droz Keyes, to Vietnam to visit the place where father and husband Lt. Donald Glenn Droz had been killed.
Chris Tragos, Tracy’s husband and the co-producer of BE GOOD, SMILE PRETTY, took photos and kept a diary of their trip. Read excerpts from that diary starting in Saigon, September 13, 2003.
Vietnamese boys and their water buffalo |
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A Vietnamese girl |
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City yesterday morning — actually everyone still calls it Saigon. There are two seasons in Saigon, hot and hotter.
Tracy and I took a guided tour of Saigon yesterday and went to the reunification palace, which was the president's palace when the Americans were here. They said that they liked the Americans, who they believe, were here for ethical reasons. They also understand that we were here for political reasons but they still have very fond memories of our relationship. Strange. The translation for American in Vietnamese is “beautiful.”
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Tracy and I went walking around Saigon this morning and met Mr. Hai. Mr. Hai had a nice gentle manner so we started talking with him. It turns out his father had fought for South Vietnam and was killed in 1969, same year as Tracy's dad. He offered his services as a tour guide and we took him up on it. We drove to a 17th century Buddhist temple where the monks invited us to sit in a prayer service. They were praying for the future, which was definitely something we could get behind. At the end of our morning with Mr. Hai, he asked us to write in his little diary in which visitors praise Mr. Hai's services. We were of course more than happy to comply.
We had an early dinner and packed our bags in preparation for our trip to the Mekong Delta the next day.
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Tracy with Mr. Hai on his motorbike in
Ho Chi Minh City |
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We started off around 7:30 am and loaded into a huge bus. There were eight of us: Me, Tracy, Judy, Draggan and Wendy (the 60 Minutes II producers), Mr. Dy (our guide), Mr. Linh, an official from the information ministry, and another provincial official. There was a smaller follow van with the camera guy and sound guy and all of their gear.
It took another 11 hours to get down to Ca Mau, the last big town in the Mekong Delta. We went out for dinner to the only restaurant in town, had a couple Tiger beers and got to sleep early in preparation for our boat trip to the bottom of the Delta the next day. more >>
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Judy and Tracy with 60 Minutes II producers Draggan and Wendy |
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