Vietnam on the path of reform
http://www.washingtontimes.com/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050620-090411-6487r.htm

By Phan Van Khai
June 21, 2005


HANOI, Vietnam. -- Vietnam has made great progress since embarking on Doi Moi, our process of economic reform over 10 years ago. Our country has graduated from the list of the 50 poorest nations, maintained political and social stability and is now among the most dynamic and fastest-growing economies in the world. These impressive achievements are a result of the sound reform policy, of opening our doors to the world, working proactively to integrate our nation with the international community and normalizing and strengthening relations with the United States.

We cannot grow complacent, but must continue to accelerate the pace of reform, ensuring a greater harmony between economic growth and the resolution of social issues it generates. Economic reform may have taken one step ahead, but it must be linked to political reform.

Within the framework of political reform, establishing a state governed by law is crucial to increasing the people's participation in governance. We are and will remain focused on reforms aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the National Assembly so as to strengthen the role and powers of popularly elected bodies. We are introducing new legislations that ensure greater openness and transparency for operations of government.

We are also accelerating the building of the institutions of a market economy eliminating favoritism, striving for greater liberalization, transparency and consistency, all of which are critical to meet the demands of economic integration.

Foreign-invested and private enterprises play an increasingly important role in generating growth and employment. The success in expanding relations with other countries, including the United States, Europe and Asia have deepened Vietnam's integration into the global economy. We attach much importance to learning from the success of other countries, especially from our East Asian neighbors. We understand that only by unleashing the dynamism of every economic sector and investing in health, education and other social services, can Vietnam succeed in reducing poverty and achieving equitable and sustainable economic development. In these endeavors, we view the United States as a great power with its unparalleled economic and scientific and technological capabilities — an essential partner.

A vibrant press complements our reform strategy and is an indispensable weapon in the fight against corruption and red-tape. The Vietnamese press are taking active measures to expose injustice, earning the admiration of our citizens. These heroic efforts are encouraged and protected by the government.

Mass media, especially the Internet, recently enabled Vietnamese Catholics, in spite of the geographical distance, to witness and share their sorrow with each other and the world on the sad occasion of the passing of Pope John Paul II, and to hear a speech by the new pope in which he conveyed his hope for an early establishment of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. In recent years, ties between Vietnam and the Vatican have significantly improved, paving the way for further development.

Vietnam is a country of many religions. Major religions in the world like Buddhism, Catholicism and Protestantism are all present in Vietnam. They exist in harmony with traditional beliefs and indigenous creeds. Indeed, religion is central to the identities of many of my fellow countrymen.

It is our consistent policy to regard beliefs and religion as a basic spiritual need of the people. The freedom of religion and of non-religion is respected and protected. We are working with religious groups in Vietnam to strengthen our society. We welcome and appreciate the participation by religious organizations in national construction, national defense and endeavors to improve people's lives.

The winds of globalization have brought to Vietnam favorable opportunities as well as unforeseeable challenges and evils. HIV/AIDS and the frightening consequences of avian influenza pose two of the big challenges. We will do everything in our power to prevent the spread of these pandemics, but on its own Vietnam cannot defeat these threats. The government of Vietnam requests assistance from the international community, including the United States, in meeting these threats. We greatly appreciate the existing cooperation between our two governments and peoples in this regard and look forward to its continued growth and effectiveness.

The continued strengthening of the society in combination with domestic economic growth enables us to gradually raise our capabilities to cooperate with the international community for the sake of peace, stability, and development in the region and the world.

Terrorism has become a global threat. The horrific losses suffered by the Americans
on September 11 and people in other parts of the world are a somber reminder of the grave danger of terrorism. It is imperative to rule terrorism out of human life and prevent the disasters it causes to innocent people. Asia and Vietnam are not immune from this scourge, and we pledge to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors and the United States to combat terror.

The people of Vietnam appreciate that ending conflict is a prerequisite for progress. Vietnam has been participating in and making many contributions to United Nations activities, and will share the U.N. responsibility in maintaining international security and keeping peace. Our country will participateinpeacekeeping operations appropriate to our current capacities such as sending field hospitals and de-mining teams. Vietnamese soldiers, who proudly serve under the yellow-starred red flag, will stand beneath the blue colors of the United Nations as guarantors of peace.

We know well that our Vietnamese soldiers will perform their mission with discipline and professionalism for the sake of global peace and prosperity.

Phan Van Khai is the prime minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the first to visit the United States.

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http://www.nguoi-viet.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=28057&z=85

http://www.washingtontimes.com/

[image]http://diendan.vnthuquan.net/upfiles/1124/0E6C0DF48BEF4A5B961F76032760CE47.JPG[/image]

Attached Image(s)

The Embassy of the United States of America is pleased to announce an exhibition of black and white photography entitled "Vietnam: A Decade in Images" by Peter Steinhauer and Nguyen Hoai Linh. The exhibition opening is a celebration of the official commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam.

The exhibition consists of 60 black and white photographs of Vietnam taken between 1993 and 2004 celebrating the beauty and vitality of this dynamic country. The opening reception is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, 2005 at the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum (by invitation only). The exhibition will be open to the public from July 13 through August 8. The Embassy of the United States thanks the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information and the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, as well as the following corporate sponsors: Citigroup, KPMG, Liberty Mutual Insurance, International Data Group, Mast Industries and Hilton Hanoi Opera.

Importance of Exhibition:

The year 2005 marks ten years since the United States reestablished formal diplomatic relations with Vietnam. "Vietnam: A Decade in Images" celebrates this historic ten-year anniversary of the U.S.-Vietnam relationship with a selection of exemplary photographs of Vietnam by two friends: Peter Steinhauer, an American from Boulder, Colorado who has lived in Vietnam for eight years and currently resides in Ho Chi Minh City, and Nguyen Hoai Linh, a Vietnamese from Hanoi. Their photographs depict a peaceful and beautiful Vietnam, ranging from magnificent landscapes to intimate portraits and from ancient lifestyles to contemporary urban culture.

Steinhauer met Hoai Linh when he first arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam in 1993. At that time, Hoai Linh was a photographer for a Vietnamese news magazine while Peter was starting to produce a body of work for his first book on Vietnam. Peter and Linh discovered a deep emotional bond with one another though the methodology and style of working was widely different. Their friendship grew over the past ten years as they traveled and photographed the Vietnamese countryside together, each learning about the others culture and sharing a deep respect for one another’s professional work. Peter’s carefully studied, technically brilliant photos contrast starkly with Linh’s spontaneous, of the moment heartfelt reactions to the life around him. Each influenced one another’s perceptions while maintaining their own interpretation and artistic style.

Artists’ Background

Peter Steinhauer

Peter Steinhauer graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art with a degree in photography. His personal book projects include "Vietnam: Portraits and Landscapes", and upcoming release "Peter Steinhauer: The Enduring Spirit of Vietnam", a book of four portfolios made from 1996 to 2004. Some of Steinhauer’s works include portraits of Vietnamese lacquer painters for a exhibition catalog and two-year international traveling exhibition entitled "Vietnamese Lacquer Painting: A New Age". Peter’s work has also been published in the book projects "Passage to Vietnam and America 24/7" (and) in TIME Magazine, Newsweek, Communication Arts, Asian Art News and numerous other publications. Steinhauer (exhibits internationally in galleries and museums and in 2002 was profiled in a group photography exhibition at the Hemphill Gallery of Fine Arts in Washington, DC entitled Vietnam: Now and Then. In 2003 a large mural photograph of Steinhauer’s opened the landmark exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, "Vietnam – Journeys of Body, Mind and Spirit", a collaboration exhibition of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Presently Steinhauer continues with his deep passion of discovering the beauty, mystery and wonders of his adopted homeland.


Nguyen Hoai Linh

Hoai Linh graduated from the Social Sciences and Humanity University in Hanoi and is currently working for Viet Nam Pictorial - Viet Nam News Agency. Linh has been awarded first place in numerous nationwide photo competitions in Vietnam since 1994 and his works have been exhibited in Canada and France. His photos of Hanoi’s Ancient Citadel are featured in the June 2005 issue of National Geographic magazine.





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http://usembassy.state.gov/vietnam/wwwh050617.html

Berne convention earns Viet Nam's poet over 6,200 USD
12/10/2004 -- 17:47(GMT+7)


Ha Noi (VNA)- Huu Loan has become the first Vietnamese literature author to benefit from the Berne convention on intellectual property as he was offered 100 million VND (6,250 USD) for his poem "the violet myrtle flower" by joint-stock Vitek company.




Under a licence recently granted by the Copyrights Bureau, the Viet Nam Technology Company will fully hold the copyright of the poem until 50 years after the author dies.



Vitek will use the poem to advertise its products as well as promote Vietnamese poems, said executive manager Le Van Chinh.



The company plans to record the poem, which is recited by Bich Ngoc, in the remote-control handle of a new DVD recorder product. Customers therefore will have a chance to enjoy the poem, illustrated with folk music, once they turn on the product, said Chinh.



The new product will be on display at an information technology fair in the United States in January, 2005.

The Berne Convention came into force in Viet Nam on Oct. 26, 2004, making the country the 156th member--Enditem

http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=31&NEWS_ID=130733

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Nguyen Huu Loan:
"Bloody Paradise"




Poet Huu Loan was born on April 2, 1916 in Nga Son, Thanh Hoa province. He is also known under the pen-names Phuong Huu and Huu Sinh. Starting as a French teacher in 1939, he later joined the resistance movement and was part of the force taking over power in Thanh Hoa province in August 1945. From 1946 to 1951, he was assigned to the editorship of the Chien Si Quan Khu Tu (Military Zone 4 Soldiers) magazine in the Hue City area. It was here he met General Nguyen Son, another fervent supporter of artistic freedom for all writers and artists.

After the war against the French, Nguyen Huu Loan was assigned to the educational and training function of four different agencies: Education, Information, Civil Construction, and Commerce. He is also the author of many renowned poetry collections, including Mau Tim Hoa Sim (The Purple of Berry Flowers), Deo Ca (Mountain Pass Ca), Lon Song (Upside Down). Nguyen Huu Loan's misfortune began when he led the groups of writers and poets Nhan Van (Humanity) and Dat Moi (New Land) in unveiling Party and government corruption and crimes against their own citizens.

As a result, Nguyen Huu Loan and most members of these writers groups were condemned to forced labor in the "New Economic Zones" for decades. Refusing to give in to brutality, Nguyen Huu Loan continued to record the sufferings of people under the communist regime in poems committed to memory during his prison time. These poems were later written down in the "Bloody Paradise" collection upon his release. This work soon found its way out of the country in 1991. The "Bloody Paradise" was selected to receive the 1994 Vietnam National Day Literature and Arts Award from overseas Vietnamese.

In his 1956 "Those Flatterers Again" poem, he wrote:

Those Flatterers Again

"In the People's Republic
The flatterers roam free
Without big suits
But with big mouths
Mouths that fear no stenches
They take hold of the pipe
Wholeheartedly blow up their superiors
Yes, yes, Sir, Sir
They repeatedly kiss up
And praise the fragrance"


As for the communist rulers, he provided the following description in his "Legend of Man, Buffalo, and Horse" :

Legend of Man, Buffalo, and Horse

"These evil warlords
dictatorial and totalitarian
They grow roots from their bottoms
and octopus tentacles from their foreheads
They embrace over and over and over
the throne like a prey
and hand it down to their children
The dictatorial warlords
they look so much alike
And like leeches
they don't let go"


He was critically critical of himself and other intellectuals like him:


"Despite your being buffaloes and horses
In the face of injustice
How could you be so mute"
In the "Bloody Paradise," he called on the world's conscience to stop inadvertently strengthening the oppressive hands of the regime:


"Dear conscience of heavenly goodness
of logic
and of holy wish to save lives
CANCEL YOUR CONTRACTS WITH SATAN !"


http://www.fva.org/bios/nhloan.htm

Poet Huu Loan:
A Sad Comparison


As a prelude to the Conference of French Speaking Countries in Hanoi later this year, the Vietnamese Program of Radio France International has held a writing contest on past and present relations between the two countries. Following is the submission of poet Nguyen Huu Loan, a pillar of the Giai Pham Magazine and one of the most unfortunate victims during the Vietnamese Communist Party's purges of intellectuals in the 50s and 60s in northern Vietnam. The Nhan Van Giai Pham affair, as it is known today, continues to haunt the Party Politburo and its credibility in the current calling for cooperation from intellectuals.

Forever speaking the truth without much attention to the pending punishments, Huu Loan, renowned in the 50s with his short story "Upside-down Waves" and poem "Those Flatterers Again," illustrated that in the independent Vietnam today, civil rights and human rights are not even on par with those in the colonial era. Again, the poet questioned the Party's claim of serving the Vietnamese people.

He wrote:

"A variety of freedoms did exist even under the colonial regime. Let me list a number of memorable points in the French-occupied Vietnam that still remain in the memory of this slave:

First, freedom of election. Most administrative offices were subject to popular vote. The provincial French officials simply played umpires. Other lesser [Vietnamese] officials dared not accept bribes. People can sue and even impeach officials from their positions. Corrupted officials were scorned by everyone. Corruption resulting in loss of lives was treated even worse. One such district official in Hue city was made known to the whole country.

Second, freedom of the press and expression. Private individuals were allowed to set up their own papers. They refused to accept government subsidy. Among these papers were the famous Nam Phong (Southern Wind) Magazine, Dan Ba (Women) Magazine, Phu Nu Thoi Dam (Women's Contemporary Discussion) Magazine, Tieng Dan (People's Voice) Newspaper, Phong Hoa Ngay Nay (Today's Custom) Newspaper, etc. Among the well-respected writers and reporters were Pham Quynh, Nguyen Van Vinh, Phan Khoi, Thuy An, Huynh Thuc Khang, etc.

Candidates to any position must take qualifying exams. Those with talents would pass. Workers' salaries were enough to pay for their livings and some for their savings. A teacher of two classes, preliminary and preparation, earned 12 piasters a month, equivalent to 2 "chi" of gold today.

Students did not have to pay tuition. Only higher education would cost them a few piasters a month. Good students were awarded scholarships, even scholarships to study in France.

Sick people were given medicine without pay at district dispensaries. Provincial hospitals had reserved areas for poor patients who received treatment and food for free. These hospitals were known as charity hospitals. Today, medical ethics has long disappeared. Hospitals everywhere take patients' money but make no effective treatments.

The French colonial regime was horrible indeed, but it is still a far dream for people under regimes that are thumping their chest bragging about independence [and turn around oppressing their own people]."

(Signed)
Huu Loan
Thanh Hoa, Vietnam

http://www.fva.org/0297/huuloan.htm

Culture Vulture


The Viet Technological Joint Stock Company (Vitek) has paid 88-year-old poet Huu Loan VND100 million (US$6,400) for the rights to his famous poem Mau Tim Hoa Sim (The Purple of Sim Flower).
This copyright transfer made Mau Tim Hoa Sim the first and most expensive royalty paid for a poem in Viet Nam. Culture Vulture talks with Vitek’s director Le Van Chinh about the transfer.

Vitek is a company that specialises in designing and manufacturing electronic products. Why did Vitek decided to pay such a high price for Mau Tim Hoa Sim’s copyright?

Vitek’s products are meant to help the people enjoy works of art and literature, and Vitek always respects cultural works.

The copyright transfer of the poem Mau Tim Hoa Sim reflects Vitek’s high regard for the artistic labour of poet Huu Loan, and it is also our response to the implementation of the Berne Convention in Viet Nam.

Why did you choose the poem Mau Tim Hoa Sim instead of a song or piece of music?

Mau Tim Hoa Sim is one of the best love poems of the last century.

It was written by Huu Loan in the early 1950s to lament the loss of the young wife he left at home while he was in battle against the French.

The poem’s simple words, the inspiration and emotion it provides, has made it popular and given it a special place in people’s hearts for nearly 60 years now.

We think that the feeling will never grow old and the poem will appeal to people even now.

How does your company use Mau Tim Hoa Sim in Vitek’s products?

We will install the poem implicitly in our new DVD players. We want to use the poem as a stamp of Vietnamese culture for made-in-Viet Nam products.

When the company’s DVD players are exported to foreign countries, the poem will be introduced to foreign customers as a symbol of Vietnamese culture.

The poem has been recited with artist Bich Ngoc’s reading voice, Hai Phuong’s 16-string zither, Tran Bo’s flute and Thien Huong’s monochord.

How was the copyright transfer carried out?

The copyright transfer was done through the Pham & Associates law company. When Vitek proposed the copyright transfer, the family of poet Huu Loan was surprised and did not think it was a serious proposal.

We had to ask some famous poets and journalists close to the poet to persuade them.

Finally, the VND100 million contract was signed and the poet’s family received payment.

Is this a business method?

All companies have to think about how to promote their trademarks. Many foreign companies invest a great sum of money to have well-known models, footballers or beauty queens represent their companies.

As an entirely Viet Nam-owned company, Vitek knows Vietnamese culture in a way that foreign companies cannot perceive. Therefore, Vitek chose a poem that represents Viet Nam and its permanent beauty.

If anyone wants to use the poem will, they now have to pay Vitek?

Yes, we will negotiate and collect royalties to further promote Vietnamese culture.

By the way, we want to announce that Vitek’s DVD products bearing Mau Tim Hoa Sim will participate in an international telecommunication and technology exhibition in the US later this month with the participation of thousands of foreign companies. — VNS

http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/2004-12/16/Columns/Culture%20Vulture.htm

Monday, October 17, 2005 13:10:06 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Young war martyr and doctor evokes message of peace




A US officer who had pursued Dr. Dang Thuy Tram for months revealed his affection for Vietnam during an interview with a Thanh Nien reporter in mid-October.
Le Thanh Giai - an interpreter for the US Army during the war - forwarded the questions to Danny L. Jacks, former head of the Oregon Co G. Rangers team which belonged to 11th Brigade, Americal Division stationed at central Quang Nam’s Chu Lai commune. He returned to the US after serving for 18 months in Quang Ngai province’s Duc Pho battlefields, including a three month stint in hospital. A letter from Danny L. Jacks to Dang Ngoc Khoa, a Thanh Nien reporter who has corresponded with Le Thanh Giai and helped to publish his mails.

Dear Dang Ngoc Khoa,

I am full of respect for the well known doctor loved by her comrades. She was dedicated to her cause and sacrificed her personal life for the revolution. As the leader of team Oregon, Co G Rangers I tried to capture her but failed in my attempts as her beloved soldiers around were too fierce in their protection. Every day I experienced pleasant memories of Vietnam. I close my eyes and let the memories of past years come alive. I can smell the jungles on the outskirts of Duc Pho. I can hear the laughter of little children playing. I can hear the beautiful songs of the land even though I cannot understand the words. I can see old men plowing the rice paddies with water buffaloes. I could go on for hours with all my memories.

I want to give you my thanks for printing the articles written by Le Thanh Giai, my close friend. I think Giai did a marvelous job in helping to make Dr. Tram's dedication and love for her country immortalized in Vietnam’s history.

Danny Jacks.

Co G. Rangers


Reporter: After returning home, did you suffer Post-Traumatic-Stress- Disorder (PTSD)?

Jacks: Since the 1st Gulf War (1990-1991) broke out, Americans could compare it with the Vietnam War and realize all wars were named by the mass media, with proper names they coined and fixed in the public’s mind. Back from Vietnam wounded, I was nicknamed “baby-killer” by people in Rison, Arkansas, my hometown. I also suffered PTSD and was treated for almost six months at a mental clinic. I did suffer a great deal. But fortunately, the fallout from the Gulf War took away the presumed public view of blaming the soldiers for war. All those who had lost their family members to the Vietnam War have looked at us - also victims- sympathetically.

Reporter: What did you think every time you were assigned with pursuing Dang Thuy Tram?

Jacks: After a narrow escape at Ba To in 1969, my mind was vacant every time I entered the Tactical Operations Center for presentations or before we set off. I really did not want to meet the person I was assigned to pursue [Dang Thuy Tram] and I did not want any trouble. The more my service term approached an end, the deeper I was in such a mood. I remember once telling the team members that we were reproached by Major Perkins for repeatedly failing to capture the Viet Cong (National Liberation Front) doctor. But ours was not the only one; other units failed too.

Reporter: What do you think an English-language book on Dang Thuy Tram should be?

Jacks: That is certainly a must for the survivors. It wouldn’t be difficult to undertake such a project, but it must be persuasive. The image of a young qualified North Vietnamese female doctor who volunteered to give treatment to solders and locals and be willing to sacrifice her own life for her country’s liberation, in my opinion, would hold American youth spellbound. What a pity I had not been told about this earlier; maybe I wouldn’t have been so tormented by PTSD.

Reporter: Will you return to Vietnam once more?

Jacks: Vietnam is so lucky to have such heroic people like Tram. Tram’s family must be really proud of such a wonderful daughter. Meanwhile, our country only produced “heroes” in its literal sense, with no one winning the Life Saver Medal during war time. Its funny we used to run after her. I also told Steve Lemire, who had worked for Americal Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol and now lives in Alaska, about all this some days ago. The guy was panting and could not hide his astonishment while listening to my accounts. Tram should never have died (Jacks paused). People in your country are really benevolent. Vietnam, who wouldn’t want to visit you?

Le Thanh Giai jotted down some of the sentiments from readers in the US on Dang Thuy Tram’s diary.

“Thanh Nien was the first to send me [Giai] the 100 - page English version of Dang Thuy Tram’s diaries, which was translated by Robert Whitehurst, brother of Fred, who found and kept Tram’s diaries for 35 years. Within the next fifteen days, I noted down what those who have read and are reading the diary said about it:

Gary L. Klauenburch (in Redwood city in California): “I first read the English version of the diaries out of curiosity and was held instantly spellbound after reading each page. In it I found a young woman dedicated to a clear cause. Admittedly, I did not possess that character when I was young. I worked at central Quang Ngai province’s Duc Pho battlefields for one year as a social specialist at the 1st Platoon, 29th Civil Company. Some Duc Pho residents may have remembered me. I had not expected the locality to be the historical site of Dang Thuy Tram’s demise. What a pity! I did hear a little bit about her and I have also shared the English versions of her diaries with some of my friends…I think we should do something for Duc Pho. I do not deny the merits of those who found and preserve the valuable diary for all these years, but Fred [Whitehurst] and [Nguyen Trung Hieu] have done all they can to this point. I believe the Vietnam and America are looking to the future in a more positive way. It would really be worth it to release a book or a film about the doctor.”

Marcell Jacks (in Johnston Rd., Arkansas): “I’m reading page 36. It’s so touching! I have forwarded the 100 page English version of Tram’s diaries via email to my neighbors. Reading a female Vietnamese doctor’s diary and discussing what she had done is currently our [women’s] topic of discussion on the weekends. I really admire her, as it is so hard to find such a person. Through Tram’s image, I come to love Vietnamese women and my friends, some of whom had lost their family members to combat zones in Vietnam, all think so. In my opinion, there should be a well-printed diary, so we can read it again and again at times. There is no boundary between us, as we are all women. Vietnam and America should cooperate in making a film about the doctor.”

One of Thanh Nien’s readers (of Vietnamese origin, in Little Saigon, Orange County, California): “I have the right to read what I like. We should highly acclaim and publicize what is good and that is also one of Vietnam’s cultural traits… During my trip back in Vietnam, I read newspapers everyday. Let’s respect the good wherever it is, in Vietnam or in the US. I read the doctor’s diary in English, sent via email by a friend from Vietnam and also the original version on daily newspapers. I have never read such good and moving accounts. We have the full right to choose what we read.”

Ex-interpreter for the 1st Airborne Cavalry Division, currently in Santa Anna, California: “Accounts of Dr. Tram’s and Danny L. Jacks, part of the history, make us look back and meditate…Everyone has come much closer, with the North California Radio Station and US newspapers posting news about [Dang] Thuy Tram along with many websites mentioning her. Isn’t Dang Thuy Tram’s diary a message of peace?

http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9936

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US recon team narrowly escapes raid with precious intelligence
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9779

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War hero’s diaries: Colleague’s take on the brave interpreter
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9838

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Young martyr doctor performs minor miracle in jungle
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9884

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Martyr-doctor’s sisters meet interpreter who saved her diaries
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9918

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Young martyr-doctor lives on in everybody’s hearts
http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9912

October 17, 2005 11:39:22 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Ex-US officer recalls war hero’s death as picture of sadness

A southern Vietnamese interpreter working for the US army during the war relays a former US officer’s sadness of the final moments for Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, part of his eighth email to Thanh Nien.
Le Thanh Giai’s eighth email brings us even closer to our war hero and martyred doctor from the perspective of Danny L. Jacks, who carried out years of reconnaissance missions tracking the doctor through the jungle. The war martyr’s diaries

Martyr-doctor’s sisters meet interpreter who saved her diaries
War hero’s diaries: Colleague’s take on the brave interpreter
Heroic war martyr doctor survives B-52 bombing raid
US recon team narrowly escapes raid with precious intelligence
One who portrays the war martyr he never met
Young war martyr’s image meant large regiment of troops

“Like water drops which fall upon a serene surface and create a progression of cyclic waves, stories of Dang Thuy Tram will soon be known all over Rison, Arkansas as well as other places…”

“The combat zone included a railway which ran parallel to the national highway No. 1 and divided the mountainous area and central Quang Ngai Duc Pho’s plains into two territories. The area from Pho Binh railroad station to the sea was under control of the US and the Duc Pho local military zone, with the 11th Brigade’s Bronco base only 1.5 km from the station. The area from the railway to the mountains belonged to Liberation forces, green with mountain paddies and thick jungle. On the map, the military and residential zones below the railway were seemingly pushed into the sea by Liberation forces.”

“Even with some 4,000 soldiers, 40 different types of arms, a battalion of 105mm and 155mm artillery, 35 helicopters, and a technological reconnaissance unit, US troops could only operate during daylight, with guerillas and Bac Viet (Liberation) forces, with only one-fourth the soldiers, taking control from dusk to dawn. Though facing a smaller force, the 11th Brigade had heavier casualties than other units under the Americal Division, with losses in some months topping the US’s expeditionary forces in southern battlefields at over 300 dead a month.”

“The problem was that they faced an invisible force and information on Tram, which was collected or purchased, thus became a real challenge. But, the pursuit of the real person was never successful. Major Perkins, heading the 11th brigade’s Bureau No. 2 turned angry many times when the teams tracking her down returned empty-handed.”

“The heroic doctor is a legend. All wars are alike, with soldiers recruited and forced to kill the enemy. But she volunteered for the ruthless combat zone with a heart full of love and sacrifice. I wished I had met her. Her name soared upon the warring atmosphere, over many lives and in my heart, by name only.”

“G.75 Airborne Ranger veterans from Texas, Fort Benning (Georgia), North Carolina, California, and Alaska all showed keen interest after receiving news on Dang Thuy Tram, a historical event they knew they had been involved in 35 years ago. They thus want us to do something with lasting significance together.”

“My neighbors, other ranchers in Rison as well as my pals at high school, university, were very interested in what I told them as I was one of the key characters in this surreal real-life recount of war. “You’re lucky you were not the one who killed the doctor,” many said to me, congratulating me. I wish I could meet her now.”

“Thanhniennews.com has found its way to Rison, where people prefer e-newspapers to printed editions for world, domestic, state, and local news. Locals love discussing events over morning coffee, which is a traditional cultural trait of the region. It is a rare experience for Rison residents who love reading about Thuy Tram on Thanhniennews.com.

With my involvement I have brought honor to Rison, where I was born and raised. Everyone is proud now that my name appears on the web pages, suggesting we should work together on a film about Dang Thuy Tram.”

“Everyone in Rison was anxious over the news of a photo capturing Tram’s final moment, her death, in a picture in which two US soldiers stood by a woman’s body with a ba ba (Southern Vietnamese casual wear) hanging from a nearby tree. Rison residents think the two were expeditionary combatants who committed an outrageous act. Everyone here is angered by the past, condemning the soldiers as woman killers. “You [the two soldiers] have brought disgrace to Americans”, they denounced. Their condemnation is entirely right. We, Rangers [a unit of the US Army specially trained for commando raids] would never act in such a disrespectful way.”


http://www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=9924

Posted on Thu, Oct. 06, 2005

JIM WATKINS | AP


Doan Thi Ngoc Tram, center, is overcome with emotion after being presented the diary of her late daughter, Dr. Deng Thuy Tram, who died during the Vietnam War.

War's cruel poetry moves search by 2 N.C. veterans

2 brothers spent decades trying to find the family of a doctor, killed by U.S. troops, who wrote about love, bravery and despair.

DAVID PERLMUTT

Staff Writer



Excerpts From the Diaries of Dr. Dang Thuy Tram
Read the entire diary on online
The diary is two volumes long, bound crudely by cardboard with thin, delicate pages.

Yet the writings of a young North Vietnamese battlefield doctor are so powerful and poetic with despair, bravery and love they have torn down walls between her family and two N.C. brothers, both Vietnam War veterans -- and created a national hero in Vietnam.

Dang Thuy Tram wrote in her war diary, now a bestseller in Vietnam, for three years until she was killed by U.S. troops in June 1970, deep in the jungles of South Vietnam. Months earlier, Army intelligence specialist Fred Whitehurst had been handed the first volume, wrapped in silk, as he burned captured personal documents.

"Don't burn this one, Fred," his translator advised. "It already has fire in it."

Against orders, he didn't. That fire took Whitehurst and his tugboat skipper brother, Robert, on a devoted journey -- Tram's writings prodding them -- to get the diary to her family.

Last spring, with help from a photojournalist, they found the family after 35 years and in August traveled to Hanoi.

Friday, Tram's mother, Doan Ngoc Tram, ("Mother Tram" to the Whitehurst brothers) and three daughters are flying to North Carolina to visit the Whitehursts in the Pitt County town of Bethel, 90 miles east of Raleigh, and to meet their "American mother."

"You can't not be moved by these writings unless you're the kind of person who kicks puppy dogs," said Whitehurst, a lawyer and Bethel commissioner. "They're beautiful. Deep. They're Anne Frank times 100.

"Straight from the heart."

The search begins

Whitehurst began his search soon after he began reading the translations.He'd joined the Army his senior year at East Carolina University and arrived in Vietnam with an infantry unit in 1969.

Soon he was assigned to the 635th Military Intelligence Detachment in the central South Vietnam province of Quang Ngai, where he interrogated POWs and supervised document translation.

That's where he was June 23, 1970, dumping more papers into the "burn barrel" when his translator handed him a canvas kit bag with the second volume inside.

"Fred, this is from the same doctor," he recalled the translator saying. "Don't burn it, either."

Later, a soldier told Whitehurst about a nearby skirmish on June 22 between U.S. and North Vietnamese troops. The Americans asked their enemies to "chieu hoi" -- give up.

"They got small arms fire from a single rifleman," Whitehurst said. "They asked the enemy to `chieu hoi' again, and again got small arms fire. After a third time, they returned fire and killed the rifleman. What they discovered wasn't a man at all, but a woman.

"Dr. Tram was laying down fire so her patients and nurses could escape."

At her side, was the kit bag with the second volume.

Her entries, which covered caring for her troops and watching them die, spanned three years. On Aug. 4, 1968, she wrote: "The pages of this small notebook continue to fill with blood. But my dear Thuy, continue to note that not enough blood and bones, sweat and tears of our people has flowed for 20 years. In these last days of the life-or-death fighting, every sacrifice is noteworthy."

Whitehurst returned home with the diary in 1972 -- knowing where it had to go.

"I thought that first, the family should know the last thoughts of its daughter," he said, "then the country should know its hero."

First he had to get well: He was sick with hookworm, and dealing with post-war depression. He finished ECU, then a Ph.D. in chemistry at Duke. In 1982, he went to work for the FBI, first as a field agent, then a forensic scientist in the agency's crime lab -- and earned a law degree at night from Georgetown University.

His FBI work hindered him from asking a Communist country for help.

But in the 1990s, Whitehurst began exposing FBI lab scientists for fudging reports and manipulating evidence.

As that scandal unfolded, he told reporters and Hollywood producers about the diary: "Nothing happened. They just wanted to talk about the FBI."

A Washington Post reporter from Hanoi told him the family was probably dead and he should give up.

"I wasn't about to give up."

Dogged search rewarded

Neither was Rob Whitehurst.

After Fred left the FBI in 1998, Rob told him they had to find the family.

"He went at it doggedly," Fred said.

Rob, a tugboat captain in New Orleans, made contacts on the Internet, and talked to anyone with ties to Vietnam. During his research, he found the Vietnam Center at Texas Tech University and discussed the diary with archivists.

Short of finding the family, he persuaded Fred to give the center the diary for safe-keeping.

Last March, the brothers took it to Texas Tech and delivered a paper on the diary at the center's Vietnam symposium. In the audience was a photojournalist named Ted Engelmann, who was headed to shoot a project in Hanoi.

Engelmann offered to take digital copies and try to find the family.

In Hanoi, he met Lady Borton, an American Quaker and writer. Through her connections at a hospital, she found "Mother Tram" and her family.

In August, the Whitehurst brothers flew to Hanoi and were treated as family -- and as celebrities by a nation they'd fought against nearly four decades ago.

The story was told in newspapers. Vietnam's prime minister welcomed the brothers in news reports.

Mother Tram told reporters: "I have been unhappy for 35 years ... However now, I have found my daughter's soul. I have her soul and her grave so that I am happier and luckier than many other mothers."

More than 200,000 copies of "The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram" have been sold -- undoctored.

"The Vietnamese have embraced this diary as if they were coming out of the desert and needed a glass of water," said Fred Whitehurst, who is not profiting from the diary's sale in Vietnam.

During their visit, they all drove to Duc Pho, where Dang Thuy Tram ran her clinic and wrote in her diary -- and Fred saved them from the burn barrel.

A poignant party

Wednesday, Mother Tram and her daughters spent hours at the Texas archive, holding and reading the original diary for the first time, often overcome with emotion. They'll continue reading it today.

They fly into North Carolina Friday, and Saturday the Whitehurst brothers' mother, Kay, is hosting a party for them in Bethel.

"Mother Tram asked to meet our American mother," Fred Whitehurst said. "She said she wanted to `look into the eyes of the mother who raised such sons.' "

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