A Wandering Soul Returns Home
We continued on the Quy Nhon, where we had dinner on the beach before
catching the train just before midnight.
Wednesday
28 May 2008
Around 6:00 am we passed through the Hai Van Pass, between the mountains and the
sea, quite scenic.
When we passed through Vinh, LTC Tien joined us with a case of beer,
as she had promised.
We had much time to converse with LTC Tien, and the Hoang family on the trip to
Nam Dinh and Jessica conducted another interview with Wayne, me and the Hoang
family, while on the train. I spent most of the time taking picture of the
scenery passing by as we moved through the countryside.
We finally reached Nam Dinh at 7:00pm.
Duration of train ride around 19 hours.
We got off the train and had a small ceremony outside the station as we said
goodbye to the Hoang family members, who would
carry the remains to their home in a private vehicle and prepare for the funeral.
We returned to the hotel by vehicle and Wayne and I
did another audio interview for Jessica.
Thursday
29 May 2008
We left Nam Dinh at around 5:00 am for the village of Thai Giang for the funeral
of Hoàng Ngọc Đảm. We got there around 6:00 am and Cat took us to meet with the
People’s Committee.
There was an enormous tent in the courtyard, with hundreds
of people gathered for the funeral. A military band was playing traditional
Vietnamese music. After meeting with the People’s Committee, we were ushered
into the tent and down front just to the right of the altar. We sat for about an
hour and a half, watching family after family approach the altar paying their
respects and lighting incense. One group of half a dozen veterans who had
enlisted the same day as Dam approached and paid their respects. Finally we were
asked to approach the altar and I helped place a large wreath we brought.
We each took turns lighting incense and paying our respects.
I don't know about the others, but I couldn't see the tears were flowing so
profusely.
Then we sat
through several speeches about Dam. Finally I was asked to help
the military honor guard carry the heavy concrete coffin to the funeral wagon,
where Wayne and I were asked to walk at the front of the honor detail who pulled
the wagon.
As I looked back,
we could see hundreds of people following the coffin to the cemetery, over a
kilometer away.
We walked very slowly and the heat in the high nineties quickly
dehydrated us. The military band played loudly all the way. I had not taken any
fluids for several hours, and as I pulled the wagon along, I began to feel
faint. I was just about to step out of line and take a rest and look for
some water, when a Vietnamese veteran came up and offered me his hat to protect
me from the sun. Our interpreter also showed up at the same time, with a
bottle of water. Jessica was walking with the altar just in front of us,
and I saw an elderly Vietnamese woman come up and hold an umbrella over Jessica
to shield her from the heat. They seemed very conscious of us and took
every opportunity to see to our needs.
The cemetery is in the
middle of rice paddies. In the war heroes section of the cemetery, where Dam was
laid to rest, only about 15 of the 180 or so bodies have been identified. The
casket was lowered into the grave, and I was asked to throw in the first handful
of earth. Quite an honor! It caught me quite off guard. The tears
just flowed. What incredible people!
Then Wayne, followed by the Hoang family members.
After the funeral had
broken up, the Vietnam TV crew did a quick interview at the cemetery, and we all
returned to the Hoang family home, where they had a set out a feast for the whole
village. The mood shifted from somber to happy and relieved. There was much
conversation, especially with the niece, who had been to distraught up to this
point. She seemed to make a special effort to get to know me. She
was very disappointed that I did not have a photo of my Mom. She made me
promise to send her a picture of the American Mom, who had protected Dam's
documents for so long. After lunch, I
met with the veterans who had enlisted with Dam and we had a good time sipping
wine and talking about the war. It turned out that at least three of them fought
in the same area I did. We are pretty certain that we walked the same
trails and ridges.
We finally said our goodbyes to the Hoang family, everyone of them making a
special effort to invite me back soon and thanking me for my efforts to bring
Dam's spirit back home. The niece kept thanking me and holding my hand.
Tears kept choking my voice. I felt so close to these Vietnamese farmers.
My own childhood farming days allowed me to bond with them easily. Finally
we left for our hotel in Nam Dinh, then drove back to Hanoi.
At the hotel
Wayne, Jessica, a writer friend of Wayne’s and our interpreter Quan had supper
together. I cannot express my gratitude to Quan for the wonderful job he did
interpretation for us. He knew not only how to listen and not break the
speaker's line of thought, but was very gifted in taking the literal translation
and putting it into proper English context, so that the mood and thoughts were
properly conveyed to us. He is quite quick minded and very tactful.
I think meeting him and getting to know him is one of the highlights of the
trip.
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