Peaceful aspiration from sacred land of Quang Tri: Part 2 - Talks full of deep affection

After the war ended, the soldiers on both sides of the front line never thought that one day, they would set foot in each other’s country to tell the war story and heal the wounds it left behind. There are opportunities for them to do that to contribute to eradicating the hatred caused by the war. The tale of veteran Nguyen Duc Toan, the family of the last American pilot captured in Vietnam, and many American veterans have proved it.

Emotional meeting

One day in early 2007, 34 years after the US Air Force Jet fighter F4J was shot down in Quang Tri, people in Cao Hy Village, Trieu Phuoc Commune, Trieu Phong District were curious to see two American women hugging each other and crying in the fields of Co Village. They are the wives of Phillip A. Kientzler – the pilot who surrendered on the field of Co Village in 1973 – coming to the province with an expectation to fulfill his words of farewell when he was still alive.

Nyla Kientzler, one of the two women, was the third wife of Phillip A. Kientzler. When he was in the military, she had not met and yet married him. Later, during the 20 years of living with Phillip, she was the person he told the most about the war years in Vietnam, about the story of the Vietnamese soldier who rescued him.

Nyla said her husband had died, but she understood that it was her husband’s endless obsession, as well as his desire to return to Vietnam to meet his benefactor. "I came across the story of my husband’s incident on January 27, 1973 in Cao Hy Village in the battle diary of a Vietnamese soldier on social networks in the US and contacted its author.

"I wrote letters on my husband’s behalf to Mr. Toan - the Vietnamese soldier who saved my husband in the past and arranged this meaningful meeting. If only my husband were here, with us right now, he would be very touched," Nyla said when she met Toan in Cao Hy Village.

The emotional meeting between Ms. Nyla Kientzler (in blue shirt) - the third wife of late pilot Phillip A. Kientzler and others of his family with Nguyen Duc Toan (first right) in the field of Co hamlet in 2007. Photo: Hoai Nam

Toan said his battle diary appeared in the US thanks to a meeting with a delegation from the US Veterans Memorial Fund in Quang Tri Township led by its Chairman Jan Scruggs, who later helped him contact Phillip A. Kientzler and his family. "I later knew that Phillip died of a heart attack in the US in 2005."

Phillip had not yet fulfilled his life’s great dream of returning to the old battlefield, visiting the fields of Co hamlet, where he was captured and rescued. His wives did it for him. The first meeting in 2007 opened a close relationship between Toan and Phillip A. Kientzler’s family members.

As for Truong Thi Chien, nearly 50 years after the war, she met a soldier of the Republic of Vietnam named Bui Trong Nghia - who stood in the same frame as her in the photo “Handshake of Joy”. The meeting, after nearly half a century, was filled with emotion.

"The author of the photo connected us to have this meeting. After nearly half a century, I realized I was in that photo. I clearly remember the soldier on the opposite side that I had talked to and persuaded to return home. I am delighted that he lives happily with his family in Ho Chi Minh City. In our talk, there is no shadow of war, only present life," Chien said.

Lessons of war in the US

A day in September 2012, at Indiana University, US, a sixty-year-old man confidently stood in front of hundreds of students from many countries around the world, talking about the war. He is veteran Nguyen Duc Toan, who used to lead the Anti-aircraft team of Trieu Phuoc Commune, Trieu Phong District.

The talk was part of the project entitled Historic Witness of the War in Vietnam (1959-1975) conducted by the Indiana University

At this first talk, an American student asked him: The war has left pain and death to the people of your country. Why didn’t you take it as hatred but instead rescue the US military pilot?

Toan answered, "Before going with a gun to the battlefield, every soldier in our army had been carefully educated, especially in treating prisoners of war. Furthermore, we Vietnamese people have a kind heart." His answer received applause from everyone present in the lecture hall.

Toan said he was invited to the US thanks to the support of two former employees of the US Embassy in Vietnam. After retiring, they returned to their home country and worked at Indiana University. When the university planned to make a documentary about war history, the two men introduced him to join the project as a witness.

Nguyen Duc Toan took a photo with Colonel Dalton Smith, who gave him the pilot jacket sent from the wife of US Senator John McCain - Photo the courtesy of Nguyen Duc Toan

During the visit to the US, Toan visited the family of late pilot Phillip A. Kientzler, whose family members took him to see some famous cities in the US.

From 2012-2017, Toan was continuously invited to the US to exchange and lecture lessons about the war for students in various universities and museums. Each presentation usually lasted two hours, but students always asked for an extra 30 minutes to interview him.

"Indiana University students come from many countries around the world. Their questions revolved around content related to the American war in Vietnam. As a soldier coming out of war, I understand very well the devastation and destruction caused by war. Therefore, my answers to the students are to clarify the message that war always brings pain and loss to people, so it needs to be completely stopped," Toan said.

In 2017, he unexpectedly received a special gift from the wife of US Senator John McCain. It was a pilot shirt that he treasured and preserved until now. US Senator John McCain is a friend of pilot Phillip A. Kientzler. He knew the story of the Vietnamese soldier saving his friend in the days after the war ended, as well as the meeting between Toan and Phillip’s family.

Before his death, US Senator John McCain gave that gift to his wife, telling her that if she had the chance, she would give it to Toan. The wife told this story to Colonel Dalton Smith - the man who piloted her and her husband’s private plane. Colonel connected, met and gave that meaningful gift to Toan.

"Resilient land from mountains to sea!"

On the “opposite” side, many American veterans also came to Vietnam after the war ended with an expectation to contribute to healing the wounds of war caused by their country’s army.

As talking about feelings for the land and the people of Quang Tri, President of the American Veterans for Peace in Vietnam Chuck Searcy exclaimed: "The people of Quang Tri have proven that the land is resilient from the mountains to the sea." They were resilient, determined to survive and develop, always committed to a better future for their children and grandchildren.“Quang Tri is not his”old battlefield", but he knows it is the land suffering the most severe damage of the war.

In 2001, Chuck co-founded the Norwegian People’s Aid funded “Restoring the Environment and Neutralizing the Effects of the War” (RENEW/NPA) in Quang Tri that focused on clearing mines, providing medical support, rehabilitation, and generating income for landmine victims.

After nearly 20 years, RENEW and many other non-governmental projects have removed tons of bombs and ammunition, helping the people of Quang Tri have a safer living condition. “Over the past two decades, our organizations have worked closely with the Vietnamese government to have destroyed more than 800,000 bombs in Quang Tri province,” Chuck said.

From June 1967 to June 1968, Chuck went to Vietnam as a soldier of an intelligence agency stationed in Saigon. Even during the fiercest time of war, he still thought that one day he would return to Vietnam and hoped it would be a time of peace. After returning to the US, Chuck joined the American Veterans for Peace organization opposing the war in Vietnam, struggling to stop the war. In 1992, he came to Vietnam on a trip with other veterans and returned here in 1993, then decided to stick with this country and its people.

Unlike Chuck Searcy, Kem Hunter, 78, did not think he would return to the country where he had the smell of death and bombs ingrained in his youthful memories. "Having witnessed the tragedy of war more than 50 years ago, I never intended to return to Vietnam. But then I learned about the citizen diplomacy tours conducted by PeaceTrees Vietnam (PTVN) from a friend who is also a veteran of the war in Vietnam. I realize this is the only opportunity for me to experience Vietnam in peace and contribute to healing the wounds of war," Hunter said.

Chuck Searcy (3rd from left) and the US Department of State delegation visited the mine clearance site of RENEW/NPA in Tan Mach Village, Vinh Thai Commune, Vinh Linh District on May 16, 2024. Photo: NGO XUAN HIEN (Project RENEW)

In January 2020, Hunter came to Vietnam, which, in his memory, was a country of devastation and destruction. Yet before his eyes, the remnants of war almost disappeared.

The golden paddy fields and orchards laden with fruit seemed to erase his memories of the land once devastated by bombs and defoliants. “The most important thing is that the Vietnamese people have accepted me, an American soldier in the war, as a friend and partner in the common effort to resolve the consequences of war,” Hunter said.

After returning to the United States in 2020, he decided to devote his time to supporting the PeaceTrees in demining and humanitarian work in Quang Tri Province. "This is what I can do to resolve the damage our military caused decades ago. Furthermore, supporting Quang Tri in demining is a meaningful job to me. During the war, our unit’s main task was to transport military supplies from Da Nang to Cua Viet, the military base at the river mouth leading to Dong Ha."

Hunter is preparing for his second trip back to Quang Tri. “It would be great if that time coincided with the Festival for Peace in this land,” he said.

PTVN is the first US non-governmental organization licensed by the Vietnamese Government to support the removal of mines and explosives in Vietnam. In Quang Tri, PTVN in 1996 successfully carried out a mine clearance program in Dong Ha town (now Dong Ha city). The organization is currently cooperating with the province to implement the project "Detection and disposal of bombs, mines and explosives to minimize dangers and support the province's socio-economic development plan, Phase 10 (2021-2025)", with a total cost of over US$10 million funded by PTVN.

Hoai Huong - Lam Thanh - Tu Linh - Ngan Ha

Part 3: On the thrive