This past Friday, some people in my office took a trip to the Mekong Delta to introduce our partnering design and messaging consultants to Vietnamese life outside Saigon. We were in for a treat from our tour leader, Ben.
We went on a float down the river from My Tho, Tien Giang to Vinh Long City, Vinh Long. Since I was placed in the north for the teaching grant, there were aspects of the country that were new to me when seeing this area so far south. While some of the more obvious differences are food options and accents/word choice, little subtleties come through in customs, color schemes, and architecture. We also stopped at the site where the battle of Ap Bac took place.
Our tour leader, Ben Wilkinson – Director of the Vietnam Program at Harvard’s Ash Center who has lived in Vietnam collectively for 12 years and speaks incredible Vietnamese, board member at Fulbright University Vietnam, and consultant for Ken Burn and Lynn Novick’s Vietnam War documentary series – called an old friend and brought us over to his house. He introduced us to Veteran Le Cong Huan to share some experiences and his perspective. If you have seen Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s documentary series, you may recognize this man.
“I witnessed Americans dying . . . I saw them crying and holding each other. When one was killed, the others stuck together . . . I witnessed such scenes and thought, ‘Americans, like Vietnamese, have a profound sense of humanity.’ ” – Le Cong Huan
Mr. Le was originally from Ben Tre Province, southwest of Saigon. He joined the Viet Minh’s armed forces during the war against the French. He regrouped to the north for training having been identified as a talented individual. Then, he re-infiltrated down south in 1962, just before the battle of Ap Bac. After the battle he went on to fight until 1975. He was an officer in the 9th Divison.
He thanked our group for working with Vietnamese now. He said that war is the past and he hopes his children and grandchildren can work with Americans in order for us all to create a better future. Wow.
Witziggy World 