They were once enemies, now they are friends.

When Maj. Dan Cherry, grandson of former Western President Henry Hardin Cherry, shot down a Vietnamese MiG-21 fighter jet during the Vietnam War, the thought of someday meeting up with the pilot of that jet didn’t cross his mind, Cherry said.

Now, 37 years later, Cherry and Lieutenant Nguyen Hong My, the pilot of the Vietnamese fighter jet, are friends.

Cherry and Hong My spoke to a large audience at Mass Media Auditorium last night about the “dogfight” that led to their friendship.

Julia Roberts, director of The Center for Gifted Studies, said it was a wonderful story of reconciliation.

The dogfight occurred when Cherry and his American comrades spotted two Vietnamese MiG-21s, one containing Hong My. Cherry shot more than five missiles at Hong My’s jet before finally making contact with it, blowing off the right wing of the MiG-21, according to a History Channel documentary on the battle.

Hong My parachuted out of the plane to safety, but suffered broken bones and a severely injured back during the ejection from the plane, according to the documentary.

Cherry said Hong My was very fortunate to survive the fall, which was from nearly 15,000 feet in the air.

A few years after the battle, Cherry said he began to wonder what happened to the pilot of the jet that he shot down.

“I wondered if he was dead, alive, healthy, things like that,” Cherry said. “I wondered if he had a family.”

The questions led to Cherry contacting a television show in Vietnam that was based on helping people meet up with either long lost family members, friends or, in this case, two former enemies in war.

Cherry received an e-mail from the show’s host within two weeks saying she had found who he was looking for. She invited Cherry to come to Vietnam and appear on the show, he said.

Cherry said he was skeptical at first because it seemed too good to be true. He contacted several veterans groups, and they urged him to go on to the show because the opportunity was so rare.

Hong My said through a translator that when the two met on the show in 2008, he told Cherry, “I’m so glad to meet you, and welcome to my country. I hope we can be friends”

Both Cherry and Hong My said they hope their friendship will be an inspiration to both countries, and that it will convince people to move on, not to hold grudges.

Tim Nelson, an Air Force veteran from Franklin, said the story shows that it’s time to move on, and what’s in the past is in the past.

President Gary Ransdell said some of the most dangerous and most fierce moments can turn into one of life’s treasures.

“No matter how high the stakes or importance of the moment, future moments can take on an entirely different context,” he said. “If these two men can embrace, then there’s hope for us all.”