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VietNamNet – “History teaches us that Vietnam-US relations include not only the dark pages of war,” General Vo Nguyen Giap once told an American asking about the countries’ ties. The interlocutor was John F. Kennedy Jr, his former foe’s son.
A meeting of two generations
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| The picture of President Ho Chi Minh and General Giap taken by an American officer. |
On August 23, 1998, General Vo Nguyen Giap and his family received a special guest, John F. Kennedy Jr – known more familiarly as “JJ” – the son of former US president JFK. Accompanying JJ, who at the time was publisher of a political magazine in the US, was a photographer whose modern camera seemed never to stop snapping during the meeting.
I accidentally was party to the meeting and was introduced to the guest by General Giap as a journalist. JJ was a handsome and well-mannered man. He bowed to show his respect to General Giap.
“I know that the day after tomorrow is your birthday, but I must return to the US tomorrow. With this bunch of flowers, I wish you the best,” he said.
How polite the guest’s compliment was, so much so that his host could only muster a garbled response: “Oh, I didn’t think that you would be as tall as this, because I still remember the image of a 4-year-old boy who stood at attention to say goodbye to his father’s coffin like an adult.”
“Many politicians have reminded me of that image. I didn’t expect that you too would still remember it and have the similar impression,” the younger Kennedy said.
The conversation between them became easier and easier when Kennedy told General Giap that during his trip to Vietnam, he had visited only two places: Ha Long Bay and the Pac Bo Cave in Cao Bang Province. He stayed one night at the cave then went by boat to visit the surrounding landscape. “But that region is still so poor,” he told the general, asking: “How did the revolution to create a new Vietnam start there?”
General Giap slowly answered each question posed by the American, who was half of a century younger than him. He said that young people in Vietnam and the US know only about the dark side of history between the countries, namely the Vietnam War, and neglect the fight against fascism that connected the two peoples in a common struggle before.
The general pointed a photo of President Ho Chi Minh and himself returning to Hanoi from the northern hills that hangs in his living room. An American officer had taken it. In the photo, President Ho sports a pair of shorts and his face shows the traces of a serious illness.
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| President Ho Chi Minh receives American secret servicemen in a special unit nicknamed "The Deer". |
He also recalled the ties between American secret servicemen in a special unit nicknamed “The Deer” under the OSS, the CIA’s predecessor, and the Viet Minh. The men parachuted into Tan Trao, the northern-most military base, to establish a Vietnamese-American company to fight Japanese fascists alongside the Viet Minh. They were the sole foreign force standing side by side with President Ho Chi Minh during the August Revolution.
General Giap wanted to tell the son of the former US president, who was in part responsible for the expansion of the Vietnam War, that before becoming enemies, the two sides had been allies.
In May 2003, I visited the US with a National Assembly delegation and met with members of a US veteran organisation. The group’s chairman said that the US shares interests in and has a responsibility to its allies. I asked him whether he knows which country was the first ally with the US? He was very astonished when I showed him an old photo in which President Ho is practising throwing a grenade under supervision of an American officer of the above-mentioned “The Deer” unit.
A valuable item
A collection of Independent Vietnamese newspapers, which were published by Viet Minh under the management of President Ho, lie in the treasures of the Vietnam Revolution Museum. The newspapers are full of articles about Vietnam-US cooperation at Tan Trao, including a piece by President Ho, that praises President Roosevelt as a hero who died when World War II was coming to the end with the success of the Allies.
One issue, in particular, has a unique insert – a chain of eight pictures instructing people how to save American pilots, whose aircraft were shot down by Japanese troops. Above the pictures are two flags, the Stars and Stripes and the Viet Minh’s colours. Between the two flags is a line of verse: “US troops are our friends – Rescuing American pilots is the duty of Viet Minh.”
The pictures and words are still believed to have come from President Ho himself.
There is a story behind them, too. In early 1945, an American airplane was shot down. The pilot had time to parachute out and was captured by the Viet Minh guerrillas. President Ho treated the American kindly and helped him return to the Allied troops. US General Chennault then met with President Ho, and the two sides agreed that the Viet Minh would rescue American pilots and cooperate with the Allies to fight fascism. The US, in return, would send a commando group to the Viet Minh base for training.
Under the agreement, President Ho organised a network of resources to serve as a safety net for downed American pilots. The newspaper pictures were one form of propaganda that also appeared on posters and in pamphlets.
In September 1995, when President Bill Clinton announced the end of the US embargo on Vietnam and the establishment of the full diplomatic relations between the two countries, a delegation of American veterans – former members of the OSS – visited Vietnam and met with Vietnamese veterans.
It was surprising to see that many of them still kept similar pro-US propaganda posters and many other souvenirs. Mr Prunier even wore a suit made of white tussore, which was a gift from President Ho. In 1997, a group of Vietnamese veterans paid a return visit to New York. A great many stories were told at the meeting, including those about President Ho’s commitment to rescuing American pilots.
(To be continued)
Duong Trung Quoc | 
