Before Vietnam-US relations were normalized in 1995, there were already quiet bridges spanning the ocean, built on compassion, goodwill, and the aspiration for reconciliation. Ha Huy Thong, former Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for External Relations, who served as head of the advance team establishing the Liaison Office in Washington, D.C. (United States) in 1994-1995, Vice President of the Vietnam-Netherlands Friendship and Cooperation Association, and Member of the Vietnam Council for Peace and Development, recalls meetings marked by people-to-people diplomacy that contributed to the process of normalizing relations between the two countries.