The first time Y Hin Nie nearly died was on the night of 30 January 1968, when the Vietcong, fighting for the Communist North in Vietnam, launched a massive attack, firing barrages of rockets on US-held areas under the cover of Tet - or New Year - celebrations.
Hin Nie, who grew up in Vietnam, was living with American Christian missionaries in Buon Ma Thuot, the largest city in Vietnam's Central Highlands. His own mother and father had left him with the missionaries when he was eight because they were poor and wanted him to have a better life, he says.
His adopted "godmother", Carolyn Griswold, was sleeping when the rockets hit. Separate reports from missionaries say Communist troops also detonated explosives inside the home.
Carolyn's father, Leon, died immediately. Hin Nie - who happened to be staying at a friend's that night - rushed home and helped to dig Carolyn out of the rubble. She died soon after.
"My godmother died with suffering," he says. "God saved my life."
Despite his losses he picked himself up and carried on, throwing himself into Bible school and working at a church.
He did not join the war until a decisive battle in March 1975, when the US-backed South's troops were destroyed and forced to retreat from Buon Ma Thuot.
As bombs rained down, Hin Nie and 32 bible school students escaped, walking for miles.
This was when Hin Nie was approached by fighters of the United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races (Fulro), an armed insurgent movement that advocated autonomy for ethnic minorities called Montagnards. These highland people have long faced persecution in Vietnam for reasons including their Christian faith.
They hoped Hin Nie's close links with American missionaries and his spoken English could help reconnect them with US troops, who had recruited tens of thousands of highlanders as frontline fighters before withdrawing from the war in 1973.