The war in Vietnam only ended this week for Ho Van Thanh, when officials carried the 82-year old man and his son from the tree house they’ve called home for more than 40 years.
![Ho Van Thanh is tied to his bed because his family fears he'll try to return to the forest of Vietnam.](./../../../files/2013/08/vn_forest_father.jpg)
While fighting for North Vietnam, he ran into the woods with his then-infant son, Ho Van Lang, after a bomb exploded near his home, killing his wife and two other children, the newspaper Dan Tri reported. That was 1973.
He apparently has been there ever since, living in a tree house, with no contact with the “outside world.” His son is now 42 and doesn’t speak any language, never having heard more than a few words.
![The infant who was taken into the woods of Vietnam is now 42 (From Dan Tri newspaper/Vietnam)](./../../../files/2013/08/vn_forest_son.jpg)
(h/t: Mike Reszler)