SEPTEMBER 12, 2013 after The X Factor
THIS WEEK ON SUNDAY NIGHT
WANDERING SOULS
War hero and Father of the Year Ben
Roberts-Smith has a new assignment: a series of special reports for Sunday
Night. Big Ben is one of only four living Australians to have earned the
Victoria Cross, awarded to him for his extraordinary bravery in Afghanistan. In
his first story this Sunday, Ben pays his first visit to Vietnam accompanying a
group of Aussie vets on a remarkable and emotional mission. He’s with them as they
return to the battleground of Long Tan, where they lost so many of their mates
in one of the greatest battles in our military history. Now, 40 years after the
end of the Vietnam War, these old diggers have gone back to return treasured
keepsakes and photographs to the families of fallen Viet Cong soldiers. Diggers
always kept notes, photos and trinkets to remember the fallen – even their
enemies. Their journey to return these last remaining items is now bringing
hope and closure to many of families of the 600,000 Vietnamese fighters still
missing in action.
JESSICA MAUBOY
It’s been a wild ride for Jessica Mauboy –
from outback tomboy teen to international pop star and award winning actor.
Childhood singing competitions led to an audition for Australian Idol at the
tender age of 16 and from there, it’s been a steady rise to the top. Through it
all, though, she’s kept her feet on the ground and the love of her long-time
boyfriend at home in Darwin. Sunday Night reporter Melissa Doyle travels to the
Top End with Jess to see where it all began, and hear for the first time an
incredible family revelation:
Jessica’s starring role in The Sapphires
led to the discovery of her long-lost great aunt, a member of the stolen
generation. We also journey with Jess to Yiparinya School in Alice Springs –
she’s the school’s ambassador, and the difference she’s making to these young
Indigenous children’s lives brings tears to her eyes.
GRANDMA ANGEL
She’s the grandma from Gympie who will make
your chest swell with pride to be Australian. Linda Shum and her husband Greg
were both schoolteachers who rewarded themselves upon retirement with a trip to
China.
Once there, though, they discovered the
dark side of the country’s infamous one-child policy: derelict staterun
orphanages packed with unwanted young babies and toddlers. Seeing the lack of
love and the wretched conditions they lived in, Linda vowed to dedicate her
life to saving and transforming theirs. Husband Greg died just before Linda
opened her first orphanage. Today she operates and funds eight of them, working
round the clock despite battling breast cancer and a double mastectomy in the
past year. Reporter Alex Cullen travels to China with Linda to witness first
hand her incredible achievement. He meets Fu Yang, a young boy born with severe
facial deformities who was forced to perform as a monkey in a Chinese touring circus
for the first five years of his life, until his father led him into the woods
one night and instructed him never to return. Now living in Dallas, Texas,
21-year-old Fu Yang is a budding sports photographer living the American dream.
We take Linda to Texas for a remarkable reunion with Fu and three more of the
Chinese children she found new homes for in America. It’s unforgettable
television.
