History Detectives Help Return Soldier’s Diary To Vietnamese Family

By ⋅ September 28, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Items belonging to Vietnamese soldier Vu Dinh Doan rest on a table during a handover ceremony in Cay village. (Photo: REUTERS/Kham)

Items belonging to Vietnamese soldier Vu Dinh Doan rest on a table during a handover ceremony in Cay village. (Photo: REUTERS/Kham)

A tiny red diary and an ID card figure in our Geo Quiz.

The red diary in question is a battlefield diary kept by a fallen North Vietnamese soldier. A US Marine came across it in 1966 and kept it ever he returned home from the war in Vietnam.

It took awhile but that personal diary has now been returned to the Vietnamese soldier’s family in a small village outside Vietnam’s capital.

You can hear our interview with a history detective about how that reunion came to be but first: name the city that became Vietnam’s capital in 1976.

This 1,000 year old city is located on the banks of the Red River.

Can you name it?

(Left to Right) Marge Garner with US Veteran Robert 'Ira' Frazure and History Detectives host Wes Cowan. (Photo: History Detectives)

(Left to Right) Marge Garner with US Veteran Robert 'Ira' Frazure and History Detectives host Wes Cowan. (Photo: History Detectives)

The soldier’s diary that’s at the heart of an upcoming episode of the PBS television series History Detectives was a personal battlefield diary of fallen North Vietnamese soldier Vu Dinh Doan.

His family lives in Cay village outside Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. Now 46 years after he died in action, Vu Dinh Doan’s battle diary has been returned. Wes Cowan, the lead investigator for History Detectives who helped make possible the return of the soldier’s diary, says the simple act of returning this battle diary marks an important diplomatic achievement.


“The Vietnam Diary” mystery is unraveled on HISTORY DETECTIVES on October 2, 2012 @ 8pm/7c on PBS.

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Discussion

2 comments for “History Detectives Help Return Soldier’s Diary To Vietnamese Family”

  • rondbaker

    My brother sent me a link to this story. It’s a tremendous story about heroes. It reminded me about asking our father what among all his WWII memories he felt most positive. He told the story of one night digging his foxhole and remembering a barn not too far away. He went alone to the barn looking for some straw to line his foxhole. He found some, slung his rifle on his back, and filled his arms with straw.
    Leaving the barn two German soldiers came up to him. They had their rifles ready. Dad thought he was dead. But the Germans had something else on their minds. Seeing him, they indicated they wanted to surrender. They couldn’t speak English and he couldn’t speak German. Dad gestured for them to follow him back to the American lines. They all made it back to his unit and Dad must have convinced his buddies that the Germans were surrendering and not to shoot them. That’s what our father remembered as being most positive about his war… to this day I am so honored to have had Dad in my life. He was a hero in so many ways.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1035376293 Mark Schmidt

    The American woman whose brother was killed in Vietnam said, “They are people just like we are.” The Vietnamese family said much the same thing. Returning this little book to the family was a really good and moral thing to do, and I think it may help bring our countries a little closer. Mr. Frazier is a good man and a good Marine.