The son of Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Tuan, Huan Nguyen was born in 1958 or 1959 in Hue, South Vietnam. During the Tet Offensive of 1968, Nguyen's parents and six siblings were killed at their Saigon-area home by Viet Cong guerrillas. Shot in the arm, thigh, and skull, nine-year-old Nguyen stayed in the house for two hours - while his mother bled to death - and then escaped after dark. One of the men who attacked his family was Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem, whose execution by Nguyen Ngoc Loan was famously photographed by Eddie Adams.
