Vietnamese children watched over Rex Almquist as he slept in the jungles of Vietnam 26 years ago. Today, he watches over them. Fighting back tears at times, Almquist, 51, explained to a recent Sunday night gathering at Trinity United Methodist Church how he tries to help Vietnamese children who were injured by land mines. Mr. Rex, as he is known to the people he helps, is founder of a non-profit agency called South-East Asian Relief, or SEAR. It is at 3500 Fifth Ave. N, with another office in Da Nang, Vietnam. This month, Almquist returns to Vietnam to work with orphaned street children and handicapped youngsters who need surgery and rehabilitation. Almquist considers these children "some of the most needy children in the world." He would not be alive today were it not for the protection and help from small children in Vietnam during the war, Almquist said. As a sergeant with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam in 1970, Almquist befriended several children, some starving, who had fled hot zones and became separated from their families. Almquist's job was scouting villages and hamlets ahead of the troops to get information on North Vietnamese and Viet Cong activity. His little friends became his eyes and ears. "These little kids knew everything," Almquist said. "At night while I slept they found out what was going on. They were just little kids, so they could move around freely. They would warn me." It wasn't easy gaining the trust of the children, Almquist recalled. "I lived with the South Vietnamese military and they were afraid at first. But these kids were super needy. They didn't have anybody and were feeling kind of lonesome themselves." Almquist gave the children extra C-rations and money to wash his uniforms. He also had an English/Vietnamese dictionary and immediately started learning the language. Most of the soldiers had nothing to do with the children, so Almquist was liked for his concern and interest in their well-being. One night a little boy saved Almquist from certain death by warning him away from the path of snipers. After the incident, Almquist promised God that he would dedicate the rest of his life to caring for Vietnamese children and other Southeast Asians. Almquist had been drafted out of graduate school in 1969, and after his discharge from the Army in 1971 he returned to complete his master's degree in social work from the University of Iowa. He worked with World Relief Corp. in the Philippines, Thailand and in Vietnamese refugee camps in Hong Kong until 1980. In 1981, Almquist founded SEAR, an interdenominational, missionary-oriented relief agency supported mainly by churches in Florida as well as individuals and a few churches scattered throughout the country. The Rev. Joseph Teague, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, is one of the supporters of SEAR. "He speaks their language; he holds weekly Bible studies for the kids," Teague said of Almquist, "and he treks all over this town to find them furniture and clothes when they come here to relocate." Debbie King, a Sunday School teacher at Trinity, said Almquist "is a true missionary. His heart is in what he is doing wholeheartedly and that comes from the Lord. His love for God and his love for these children. I think it's just wonderful." In Da Nang, SEAR has three staffers who work with a non-government organization trying to provide for the thousands of children Almquist describes as "having no one to love them, or teach them. Most of them have never heard about the Lord." After the fall of South Vietnam, Almquist started helping Southeast Asians when they arrived in the United States. He spends nine months of the year in St. Petersburg with the refugees living here. Later this month, Almquist will enter Vietnam on a relief worker visa. He plans to stay until September, arranging for surgery and fitting of artificial limbs at the Da Nang Rehabilitation Center. One small Vietnamese boy SEAR is helping lost his hands in a land mine explosion. His picture, along with several others, hangs on the walls of the St. Petersburg office. While in Vietnam, Almquist won't be able to do any missionary work on the streets because it is illegal. He is followed by the police wherever he goes, he said. At times the police prevent him from helping some needy families because they are considered a threat to the communist government. In St. Petersburg, Almquist provides services to Southeast Asian refugees including translations for the parents of the children who come to his Tuesday and Thursday night Bible studies. Almquist started learning the language in 1970. "The children were the ones who helped me learn it," he recalled. "They would take the time to listen to me and help me to say it right. The adults were too busy." He also assists the refugees in finding work, understanding the new culture, and helps the families stay together. The agency's truck has a large metal rack suitable for hauling furniture and household appliances. Almquist's agency also provides bicycles to youngsters so they can more easily get to their jobs or to school. Almquist is lobbying President Clinton to allow some Vietnamese refugees, now housed in camps in Asia, to immigrate to the United States. "There are 30,000 non-commissioned officers and their families, men who fought with U.S. forces, who have been denied entry into this country," Almquist said. For now though, Almquist is committed to helping Vietnam's street children and those who are handicapped. "Going there in a military engagement is nothing like going there to try to bring people to the Lord," Almquist said.