Just after this picture was taken, these boys were evacuated from their village. Nearly half a century later, would American veterans be able to find them? Photo: Bob Shirley

 Larry Johns’ brother Jeff was killed in Vietnam in 1969. It was Johns who, nearly 50 years on, tracked down the boys from Bob Shirley’s original photographs: ‘I wondered, “Where are they now? Did they survive?” I didn’t know if there was some kind of connection there to my brother. Maybe that’s why I wanted to know if those children were still alive.’

The process of tracking down the children took a couple of years.

Photograph: Reed Young 

In this picture, the boy named Truong is third from the left, Thanh is fourth from the left and Cuong  is next to him. Photograph: Bob Shirley

When Truong was a child, he and his friends would collect things they found outside the US military base near his home. One day he found a green metal box used to hold the ammunition for a machine gun, and his father thought it would work well for cooking. The first time he used it to make corn, it exploded and burned him badly all over his body. His father survived after being treated at the same US base where Truong found the box. Today, Truong and his wife have six grown-up children and live on their farm near Phan Thiet.

Photograph: Reed Young

Thanh and Cuong are from North Vietnam, but in 1954 decided to move to the south in the hope of escaping poverty. 

Thanh has a wife and child, and hopes to provide a good life for them. Cuong has a wife and four children and works hard to provide them with an education. Both families live in Vung Tau.

Photograph: Reed Young

The boy named Diem. When Diem was nine, his older sisters would set up a small stand to sell Coca-Cola near a US military base. It was Diem’s job to bring them lunch every day, and he’d often play with friends on the way home.

Photograph: Bob Shirley

Today, Diem lives with his family in Vung Tau and they own a pho restaurant. Here he stands in the front room of his home, where they used to run a hair salon. Photograph: Reed Young

Three years after this picture was taken, Hai (left, sitting on bench in white shirt and shorts) lost his father. Photograph: Bob Shirley

Hai and his wife live in Vung Tau, where they farm chickens and pigs. His two children go to school in Ho Chi Minh City. Photograph: Reed Young

The (seated on the right) was eight when this picture was taken. Photograph: Bob Shirley

The is a farmer and labourer; he has on his wall Larry Johns’ flyer asking for help to find the boys in Bob Shirley’s original photographs. Photograph: Reed Young

Sa and her brother Loc were looked after by American soldiers, but an explosion at their military base left Sa disabled for life. Photograph: Bob Shirley

Sa lives on a dragon fruit farm with her husband. ‘Life is still difficult,’ she says, ‘but I feel touched that the soldiers remember us.’ Photograph: Reed Young

Tuan (on the right) had gone to get medicine and food from American soldiers when this image was taken. Photograph: Bob Shirley

Tuan, a cancer survivor, lives with his wife (left) and children. ‘I didn’t know the pictures were taken,’ he says of Bob Shirley’s photographs. ‘After more than 40 years, I suddenly have them. I’m very happy.’ Photograph: Reed Young