14 Jun 2025
Announcements, History
Featured in Our Town Magazine By Kristen Eleveld – Gwinette
A few years ago, Michelle Reed was inspired to find out a little more about her family history. Her ex-husband, who was adopted, wanted to see if he could find his birth parents, and turned to a DNA test and genealogy website to learn more about his past. Michelle, who has over twenty years of experience as a genealogist, decided to join in, thinking she might find out some interesting new facts about her own history. What she didn’t expect was to find another member of her family.
In 2017, she and her younger brother, Kevin Brunell, who had also taken the DNA test, received a message that their DNA profile had matched with someone else on the registry, meaning this person was closely related to them. The message was from someone they had never met, and this person asked if Michelle and Kevin had any close relatives who served in the Vietnam War. Both their father and uncle had served, but it was through Kevin’s connection that he and Michelle discovered they had a half-brother, Peter Pham. While their father had passed away a year earlier, Michelle, Kevin, and Peter decided to meet.
Michelle and Kevin flew down to Georgia to spend time with Peter, where they learned more about their newfound family. When Michelle went back to Michigan, she realized that she wasn’t satisfied to have only met Peter – she wanted the chance to know him. And she felt compelled to give that same opportunity to others facing a similar situation.
“This type of thing is a lot more common than people realize,” said Michelle. “A lot of children born during and after the Vietnam War are missing parts of their family, and we want to help reconnect families.”
Now that she realized how prominent this issue was for so many people across the world, Michelle decided to create Warbabies.org, a website dedicated to helping Amerasians find members of their family. She worked to create a specific focus for War Babies – making connections for children of Vietnam War veterans.
Once the website launched, Michelle was immediately flooded with requests and questions from Vietnamese, Korean, and Filipino people who were seeking their American fathers. Many people were asking the same types of questions, and Michelle quickly created articles on her website to guide people through the process.
“It can be painful to talk about, but people want to know the truth,” said Michelle, who is determined to connect as many families as possible. “This is a chance to know your entire family.”
While Michelle’s reunion with Peter was a joyous one, she recognizes that not every encounter will be the same. That’s why she is adding a new element to her website, where both parents and children can seek support and community for those who are going through similar situations.
Michelle’s brother, Peter, was as surprised as Michelle to learn he had siblings – and just as thrilled to meet them.
“When I was a kid, I would ask my mom about my dad, but she didn’t have an answer for me,” Peter said. “As I got older, I decided to look for a picture of him – I just wanted to see if we looked alike.”
Peter asked a friend to help him set up his DNA profile online, and the rest is history.
Moving forward, Michelle and Peter have a dream of creating reunions like these for all children of war veterans who are looking for their families, especially their fathers who may have never known about these children. That’s where the community can help. War Babies needs support to make their dream a reality. You can go to their website to donate a DNA kit, donate to their general fund, or even become a volunteer to help them spread the word on their mission.
“When I came to the United States, I felt very alone. I had trouble connecting with people,” Peter said. “But the last two years have been totally different. I know my father’s family now.”
If you want to learn more about ways you can make a difference for people like Michelle and Peter, head to warbabies.org to find out how they need your help. You can also check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
More information at warbabies.org.
