I hope one day he’ll send me a picture, no matter how old, because I’ll still remember his face. And I would know he didn’t die, that he was still alive.”

Award-winning actress Kara Hui said in an interview last year that she’s still trying to find her first love, an American soldier deployed in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War. This reminds me of the story of actor Anthony Wong, who was able to find his Australian half-brothers online earlier this year thanks to a BBC report. Hey BBC, time to step up again.

“From ages 3 to 11, this girl ( you see here) lived in the red light district. I’ve seen every tragedy and joy of life. He was the first one to ask me how to say I love you in Cantonese. For a young girl, I think it was like a first love. It’s a bit tragic because he left Hong Kong the next day to Vietnam, maybe he got killed the day he arrived.” Hui said.

Kara Hui’s family had immigrated to Hong Kong from Shandong when she was 3, and she lived in the shantytown of Rennie’s mill selling gum in the nearby red district of Wan Chai for years. In other interviews, she said this sailor had been extra nice to her for a while and on the last day there, asked her how to say “I love you” in Cantonese and then said it to her.

Kara Hui said that when she went to America earlier last year for an award ceremony, she was still asking around for him.

“Last month I was in New York… I asked if any of the veterans had been to Wan Chai , I asked them to ask if any veteran they knew had been to Wan Chai and if they remember a girl in braids.

I hope one day he’ll send me a picture, no matter how old, because I’ll still remember his face. And I would know he didn’t die, and he might send me a letter.”

Full video of interview here.

I couldn’t find a picture of her in braids, but here’s her in an old Shaw Brothers calendar.