The reunion began with cordial handshakes and slight head nods, like a meeting between friendly strangers. But within minutes, the trio of former fighter pilots - two Vietnamese and one American - warmed up to each other by rekindling war stories long forgotten, or locked away.

During their recent visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Westminster, Luyen Khac Nguyen and Diem Quang Pham - both former lieutenant colonels in the South Vietnamese air force - shuffled through black- and-white photos with Joe Saueressig, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot and adviser to their squadron in the 1960s.

Recalling old comrades, their smiles grew wider, their laughter louder.

And nearby, Quang X. Pham, no relation to Diem, couldn't help but glow with a near- permanent grin, showing hints of the wide-eyed kid who idolized these pilots 30 years ago as the son of another South Vietnamese pilot.

His father, Hoa Van Pham, flew A-1 Skyraiders with Nguyen and Diem Pham in Fighter Squadron 514, which Saueressig advised.

Quang X. Pham cherishes the reunion at an emotional time for Vietnamese-Americans and veterans: Today is the 29th anniversary of the fall of South Vietnam's capital, Saigon, to communist forces.

"These guys are my heroes," said Pham, 39, of Mission Viejo. "They were the 'Top Guns' of their generation."

The reunion resulted from his years researching and writing a book about his father's military exploits.

THE DECISION

From the age of 7 to 10, Quang X. Pham grew up on Tan Son Nhut Air Base outside Saigon. His highly decorated father became commanding officer of the 425th Transport Squadron and then executive officer of the 437th Transport Squadron, serving at the base from 1972 to 1975.

To Quang, throbbing propellers and screaming jets were music to his ears. The boy loved to ride in his father's Jeep as he inspected his C-130 cargo plane.

But the end of the Vietnam War separated pilot and son.

At 1 in the morning a week before the fall of Saigon, the elder Pham got his wife, son and three daughters onto the cargo hold of an American C-130. A 10-year-old Quang sensed the panic.

"A C-130 carries 100 people," he said. "That night it was carrying 200 people, so something wasn't right."

His father remained at his post while his family was flown to Guam and then the United States. He ended up a prisoner in a postwar communist re-education camp.

"He was my age, right now, when he had to make that decision," Pham said, "and it cost him 12 years of his life."

In 1992, the lieutenant colonel finally reunited with his family, who settled in Oxnard. By then, the younger Pham had graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and earned his wings as a U.S. Marine helicopter pilot - the first Marine aviator of Vietnamese heritage.

He flew missions in the Persian Gulf War and Somalia in the '90s before entering the medical industry. He founded Lathian Systems Inc., served as an executive at QTC Medical Services and remains a consultant.

THE BOOK

Getting to know each other, father and son started to write a book about Hoa Pham's military and postwar experiences. But Hoa's fatal stroke in 2000 stalled the project, before Quang took it up solo two years later.

While proud to serve his country and grateful for the sacrifices made by American troops in Vietnam, the former Marine pilot continued to write because he felt mainstream America relegated the South Vietnamese troops to "sidekicks" and has unfairly compared the war to the current Iraqi conflict.

"There's a whole generation of Vietnamese and American kids growing up right now and ... I want them to see the whole spectrum and offer another angle," he said.

Now negotiating a deal with several New York publishing houses for the rights to his 350-page untitled book, Pham said he hopes the tome will shed some light on the war and its aftermath.

"The book's to reconcile all the good stuff while setting the record straight with what my dad did," Pham said. "I had a good life, but he paid a much bigger price."

THE REUNION

While researching Fighter Squadron 514, which earned the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation in 1965 (see citation), Pham discovered Saueressig, 75, who had advised his father's squadron in 1963 and '64.

After exchanging e-mails and phone calls, Saueressig - now living in Placitas, N.M. - agreed to join the other pilots in Westminster for an afternoon at the monument and later for lunch.

The U.S. Air Force veteran, decked out in tinted aviator glasses, marveled at dozens of black-and-white photos Pham shared. For Nguyen, Diem Pham and "Tiger Joe" - as he was known in Vietnam - the images sparked names of fallen comrades and talk of Quang's father, who they called "Crazy Hoa" because of his heroism and affinity for fighting.

The trio shared stories with the younger Pham for 45 minutes before Saueressig took a good look at the war memorial's centerpiece: bronze statues of a U.S. soldier beside his Asian comrade.

"It's great," Saueressig said, pausing to compose himself. "I feel proud I was a part of it and fortunate to know these guys."

"To meet and see someone who flew in country with my father's fighter squadron and say things like that - it was the best time of my life," Quang said. "It means a whole lot!"

Diem Pham, 67, of Santa Ana, and Nguyen, 70, of Irvine, said the bond they formed with Saueressig and the other pilots four decades ago is unforgettable.

"We fly together, we die together," Nguyen said.