About Us

Hello. My name is Phillip Nguyen and thank you for visiting our website.  In July 2022, I went to Việtnam to work with the US Consulate Office and with the Vietnamese government in an effort to preserve the former Vietnamese National Cemetery known as Nghia Trang Quan Doi Bien Hoa is now renamed as Nghia Trang Nhan Dan where over 16,000 former South Vietnamese soldiers rest.  During this trip I learned that there are thousands and thousands of former South Vietnamese soldiers’ remains that still need help to bring home to their families, especially those who died in re-education camps after 1975.  Unlike the American soldiers and the North Vietnamese soldiers whose governments have been actively looking after them, the South Vietnamese soldiers have largely been forgotten.  The reason for this is very simple. The South Vietnamese government no longer exists to advocate for their behalf, many of these soldiers families have been disintegrated after the war or they simply don’t know where to start or who to get help in finding the remains of their loved ones.  Of course, there could be many other reasons.  

But whatever the reason is, they deserve our effort to bring them home to their families and if we can not find their family members, then they deserve a dignified burial place just as the Americans and the North Vietnamese soldiers of that war deserved.  There are cases, where farmers and real estate developers found the remains with tags that indicated they are former RVN soldiers and they don't know what to do with them.  As far as we know, there isn't an organization in Vietnam or overseas that setup to help relocating these remains to their families or to settle them in a dignify place. 

For this very reason, the Viet Benevolence Foundation (VBF) was founded.   Our goal is very simple and that goal is to  advocate on behalf of hundreds of thousands of the former South Vietnamese servicemen who died in that war and thousands of others who died in re-education camps after the war by cooperatively working with the Vietnamese and the U.S. governments to address this issue head on. We believe that the efforts that have been put forth by the Vietnamese and by the United States 

government to deal with the legacy of war in hope to heal the past and reconcile for the future can not be achieved if a party of that war, the South Vietnamese soldiers’ remains, are not taken into consideration.  

Moreover, many of these are grandfathers, fathers, and brothers of many Vietnamese American taxpayers and we have the right to ask our government to fulfill its moral obligation by just advocating on their behalf with the Vietnamese government. These are the very same soldiers who once fought side by side with the Americans but now are stateless and voiceless.  As for the Vietnamese government, if they have been working hard to achieve national unity and reconciliation among the Vietnamese and the Vietnamese diasporas, this would be something that they should be welcoming.  So once again, the mission of this organization is very simple.  We want all the Vietnamese soldiers regardless of what side they were on to be treated with honor and respect by helping us to bring these heroic sons and daughters of the Vietnamese mothers home to their families and we need your help.  

How can you help?  You can help by making a small donation.  If you can’t, that’s okay. Just sign up for our newsletter so that we can update you on what's going on. Your contact information shall be kept private and confidential.  You can also help us by sharing this website with your friends and family.  If you know someone that has their loved ones still missing and would like to see how we can help, have them contact us via this website.  VBF is 100% volunteering based and it’s a federally recognized 501c3 nonprofit organization. This means every dollar you donated is tax deductible.  

Below are the brief bios of our Board of Directors.  Please noted that some of the board members have preferred to be anonymous. However, their behind the scene works are enormous and this organization simply can't survive without their hard work and dedications. 

Thank you and God bless!

Nguyen Xuan Hien Phillip-  VBF Founder and President.

Mr. Coddou received from the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, his  Bachelor of Arts, Plan II Honors, in 1978 and his Bachelor of Business  Administration, Finance, in 1979.  He receive from University of Houston  College of Law, Houston, Texas, his Doctorate of Jurisprudence in 1983.  He is licensed to practice law by the State Bar of Texas and is a  candidate for admission to the State Bar of Florida. 

Currently  Mr. Coddou practices as Wesley S. Coddou PLLC. Previously he practiced  with his firm Coddou & Coddou, from 1994 to 2020 handling State and  Federal trials and appeals. He served as General Attorney for Union  Pacific Railroad Corporation from 1991 to 1994, where he held direct  responsibility for all general law matters in Texas and supervisory  responsibility for all law matters in Oklahoma. Before joining Union  Pacific he was a senior litigation attorney with Hoover, Bax and  Shearer, from 1984 to 1991. He began his legal career as a junior  attorney with the insurance defense firm, Hirsch, Glover, Robinson and  Sheiness.  Mr. Coddou served on the Associate Vestry at the Church of  St. John the Divine in Houston, Texas and now serves as an educator in  the Children's Ministry of Christ Episcopal Church in Ponte Vedra Beach,  Florida. He sits on the board of Protect Guana, Inc., a nonprofit  corporation dedicated to the remediation and recovery of the Guana River  watershed in Ponte Vedra Beach. 

Over the years Mr. Coddou has  represented the Vietnamese community in litigation, immigration and  advisory matters. He held the office of General Counsel for Vietnamese  American Foundation, where he handled affairs with the American and  Vietnamese governments and served as co-project manager of VAF's  expedition into North Vietnam to excavate and recover the remains of  those who died in the Lang Da reeducation camp. 

Currently Mr. Coddou  serves as a member of the board and Secretary of Viet Benevolence  Foundation.

Mr. Nguyen received his B.A. in Business Administration from Western Michigan University in 1992 and his Master in Software Engineering in 2004 from Grand Valley State University.  He is a proud father of three grown up children of his own and 17 foster kids from Guatemala, Honduras, Eritrea, and Afghanistan.  He and his wife Kim and 4 foster kids are currently living in Caledonia, Michigan.  Besides serving as the President and Chairman of the Board for VBF, he is a very active member of his community where he serves on various boards and runs his IT company Digital Marketing Solutions LLC since August 2000.  He is also an author of 22 computer training programs and often served as keynote speaker for many public events.  When asked as to why he has been such a dedicated volunteer for so many causes?  He simply said “The reason that this little orphan boy from Vietnam got to where I am today is because there were so many good people who helped me along the way and what is owed must be returned.” For more information about Mr. Phillip Nguyen and his life story, it can be found at www.phillipnguyen.com.

Current Positions:

• Founder & Chairman of the Board of Viet Benevolence Foundation.
• Owner & President of Digital Marketing Solutions LLC.
• Michigan State Board of Cosmetology appointed by Governor Whitmer for 2023 to 2026 term.
• Owner & Publisher of VietSong Michigan Magazine.

Past Public Services:

• Elected & Served as President of the Vietnamese American Community of Grand Rapids: 2015-2021.
• Executive Publisher of Vietsong Michigan Magazine: 2018 - 2021.
• Community Board Member of Kent County Millennium Park: 2005-2007.
• Member of Board of Directors of Child Discovery School, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 2006-2009.
• Founder & Executive Director of Vietnamese American Community TV, Wyoming MI - 1996 - 1997.
• Founder & Executive Director of the Vietnamese American Community Radio GR MI - 1993-1996.