Today, I received a surprise package in the mail from Australia. I had no idea what it could be, but was sentimentally taken aback when I discovered that it was an official Certificate of Honor for my dear old friend, Dr. John Levinson (b. 1927-2009). It was bestowed on him by the Vietnam Ministry of Health in 1964 in recognition of the many years of performing volunteer surgery at the Tu Du Hospital in Saigon before and during the Vietnam War.
While this certificate was presented to him many years before I was born, it holds a very special place in my own story. It was very serendipitous that upon my first year living in New York, I met Dr. Levinson as a collector while selling him a couple antique maps. While he shared stories about his travels and work in S.E. Asia, we ended up discovering that he had worked at the hospital where I had been born.
Dr. Levinson was a close friend of Senator Edward Kennedy and through his efforts, letters and articles, they were able to bring the US to action on helping to rescue the babies out of the deplorable, war torn country.
In the letter that was enclosed from Dr. Levinson's son, Mark, he writes "When I looked at this last week, I knew it was destined to you. This hung in my Dad's office since he got it. While I am sure you were born after he received it, it still means the most to you I think, as it's your place of birth! [...] I, as well as my brother and sister really hope you get a kick out of it! It is your home of sorts."
Dr. Levinson's son went on to write, "I hope you enjoy it as I can't see why it should hang in my house when it has so much context to you. Funnily enough, I always had the feeling that this certificate was special to him, as some he had over the years, got pushed out to the garage. But this piece didn't!"
I honestly cant express how touched I am to have received Dr. Levinson's very historic certificate of honor.
It goes without saying how special it is and what it means to me that Dr. Levinson's family has continued to reach out to me and share so much of their father's legacy with me.
All that being said, I couldn't imagine a more perfect place for the certificate to hang in my home, than just above my desk. Thank you Levinson family, for once again, for filling in and sharing more history to my story.
