Paging ‘Doc’ Reed of the USS Tarawa - Military Community, Spouse and Family Resources - Military Times

Paging ‘Doc’ Reed of the USS Tarawa

Thirty years ago, a Vietnamese woman who escaped her war-torn country gave birth to a baby girl aboard the amphibious assault ship Tarawa.

Grace Tarawa Tran weighed 6 pounds, 11 ounces when she was born at 3:20 a.m. on May 10, 1979, to Hoan Vinh Tran and Phung Kieu Huynh.

Now Grace Tran and Tarawa veterans — reuniting Oct. 21-23 in Scottsdale, Ariz. — are searching for one of the medical personnel from Marine Battalion Landing Team 2/3 who delivered her during the humanitarian mission to safely transport 442 Vietnamese refugees to Thailand.

Tran — now a U.S. citizen living in the Philadelphia area — plans to attend BLT 2/3’s first reunion with her mother, two brothers and uncle. She hopes to find then-Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Richard A. Reed Jr.

Reed assisted during Tran’s delivery, according to the Tarawa’s command history of that deployment. The history lists the attending physician at Tran’s birth as Lt. James M. Stansbury, who has died, according to retired Capt. David T. Pittelkow, who contacted Military Times with Tran’s story.

Tran’s birth certificate also bears the authenticating signature of Lt. Thomas E. Daniel Jr., Pittelkow said. The reunion committee has been unable to locate Reed or Daniel.

“Grace has expressed her desire to see HM2 Reed in particular,” he said. “We are hopeful that Doc Reed will get word of the reunion and attend the event.”

— Matthew Cox