Amid the sharp-suited diplomats and gleaming white Chevrolet limousines at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport for the arrival of Mr Peterson, war veteran Mai Van On ensured history was not swept aside.
In revolutionary tunic and cap, 80-year-old Mr On flung his arms around Mr Peterson to welcome him to Vietnam - a bright spot in a day subdued by diplomatic protocol.
'Welcome . . . It's good to see you . . . You still look so strong,' Mr On said before Mr Peterson was whisked away by aides.
'You're looking strong too. I'll say hello to Mr McCain for you,' Mr Peterson replied.
Mr On is well known by American war veterans resident in Vietnam as the ageing revolutionary who dived into Hanoi's Truc Bac lake to rescue John McCain, now a leading Republican senator, after his plane was shot down during the Christmas bombing at the height of the war.
Senator McCain and Mr Peterson both spent time as prisoners of war in Hanoi's vast network of jails for captured American pilots. Both men have worked in recent years to forge new ties with their former enemy, providing crucial support to controversial calls for normalisation with Hanoi.