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Vietnam Reporting Project's photostream |
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In Bien Hoa, Heather Morris Bowser met with a family that illustrated the typical randomness of disabilities in Bien Hoa. The oldest and youngest daughters are mentally retarded, while the 20-year-old middle daughter, left, was born healthy.
Aaron and Heather Bowser in Hanoi. "I wanted to see if I'd find any connection to the place where my father's demons came from," she said.
Bill Morris worried that no man worth marrying his daughter would see the remarkable woman behind her physical disabilities. "My wedding day was one of the happiest days of his life," Heather Bowser said
Heather Morris Bowser, around age 2. Her parents taught her early how to use her prosthesis. If she wanted a toy, they'd put it across the room and tell her, "Go get it."
Heather and father Bill Morris on Christmas Day, 1973. After she was grown, her father made it clear he blamed his war-time exposure to Agent Orange for physical disabilities.
Heather and Sharon Morris on a trip to Sharon's hometown of Conneaut, Ohio. "I want our government to at least acknowledge that Heather, and other children like her in this country, suffered because of Agent Orange," Sharon said.
Bill and Sharon Morris made a promise to their daughter, Heather, after she was born with physical deformities. "We vowed that we would not raise her to be more handicapped than she was," Sharon said. "We would do everything we could to make her strong."
Six-month-old Heather Morris Bowser, in a carrier on her mother's back, is oblivious to the wonders of Sea World - and strangers' stares. "I wasn't raised to hide who I was," Heather said. "I was raised to force everyone to deal with the reality of me."
William (Bill) Morris was drafted for the Vietnam War in 1967. He sent this photograph to his wife Sharon in 1968. "He went to Vietnam thinking of it as an adventure," Sharon said. "Then reality set in. All he wanted to do was stay alive and get home."
Heather Bowser
9 photos
19 views
The Tan Family, Da Nang
22 photos
5 views
The Friendship Village
16 photos
3 views
The Mushroom Farm
18 photos
13 views
Nguyen Thi Ly's Family
23 photos
19 views
The Leaves Keep Falling
11 photos
10 views
Healing a Wounded Heart
17 photos
5 views
Agent Orange – Message from...
34 photos
29 views
Da Nang, Jan. 2010
21 photos
15 views
