The Returning Casualty Blog

On July 19th, we have a busy day in Hanoi. At nine o’clock, we meet with the U. S. Embassy officials. At lunchtime, we meet with a journalist from Associate Press. In the afternoon, we think we’ll meet with an officer from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (although our meeting is not confirmed). Of course, the topic of conversation will be a small cemetery, across Thac Ba lake, outside the village of Lang Da. The lake is a beautiful sight, and the VNG intends that it become an ecological tourist destination, a modern idea found in a country determined maintain relevance in a competitive world.

Several decades ago, Lang Da was not such a welcoming sight for the men who occupied the reeducation camp in the forest. Twenty-seven men died in the camp while it was in operation, most likely from hardship and disease. At TRC, we don’t dwell on notions like justification or accountability for the camp. We come for the twenty-seven buried at the camp who want to go home.

TRC has this opportunity by permission of the VNG. The government is allowing TRC to recover all the remains, and to take DNA samples to match the remains with their families. Regardless of what may have happened at Lang Da in the past decades, today Vietnam demonstrates that it belongs in this modern world among nations who also have faced their difficult pasts. TRC recognizes the cooperation of the VNG at Lang Da, and we hope that the cooperation continues as TRC seeks the remains at other camps.

July 16th, 2010 | Category: Government Policy, In The Field

Many of you have asked how TRC identifies the remains of those buried in the reeducation camps. The techniques TRC uses at the sites are identical to the techniques used by archeologists at ancient burial sites. TRC’s Archeological Consultant, Julie Martin, is expert in excavation of ancient cemeteries with twenty years experience. The task is not easy. The process begins before TRC enters the site of burial. As you can see in our website gallery, first TRC relies on maps, cemetery plots and in some cases lists of the dead.

At the site, TRC often finds grave markers cut by prisoners at the camps at the time the person died. Sometimes the gravestone actually includes information about the home of the deceased. Even broken head stones are helpful. In one case, we found a broken gravestone lying in the jungle overgrowth. Carved in it was the name of the person we sought! Our team then searched the cemetery plats and found the base that matched to broken stone.

When we find the grave, and exhume the remains, we look for personal items buried with the person. Once we found a man’s food bowl buried with him. In another grave we actually found a makeshift wallet.

Earlier this year, for the first time, the Vietnamese government gave TRC permission to excavate an entire cemetery site. (In the past TRC has recovered individual sets of remains when asked to do so by family members.) The cemetery at Lang Da is threatened by a plan to construct a road through the site. The Vietnamese government recognizes TRC’s concern for the remains, if not recovered in an orderly fashion. Lang Da is a difficult site, because there are no grave markers, but TRC has the cemetery plat. Julie, our Archeological Consultant, will be onsite to direct the excavation. First, she has to find the plat on the ground. To do so, the team has to scalp the site. After all these years, the original grave cuts can be seen after the site is scalped. Julie has used the same techniques at other sites over a thousand years old. Once the team locates the graves, then the digging begins.

July 14th, 2010 | Category: DNA Analysis and Identification, In The Field

At the Lang Da camp cemetery, TRC faces a new challenge. Six families have come forth to recover remains of their loved ones at the camp, but there are no grave markers. To complicate the matter, there are over twenty graves. How can the families know which remains belong to a particular family? The solution is DNA analysis: recover all the remains located at the site, and test for matching DNA. The families have already provided their own DNA samples for analysis.

Many professionals have helped TRC in its mission, and the DNA analysts have been among the most supportive. Some of the best in the nation have come forth to assist. TRC’s first door opened at Family Tree DNA, a Houston based service that uses state of the art DNA technology to discover the ancestry of its clients (See the website www.familytreedna.com for interesting information about DNA technology, including an interview with BBC.).

The company’s President and CEO, Bennett Greenspan, promptly replied to TRC’s request for assistance. Mr. Greenspan and TRC’s General Counsel, Wesley S. Coddou, spoke at length about the process of DNA analysis, and in particular, the importance of careful handling of the DNA samples taken from the remains. Mr. Greenspan alerted TRC to the problem of cross contamination of DNA. He warned that cross contamination can be caused by something as simple as a bead of sweat transferred to the bone. Mr. Greenspan makes himself available to TRC for additional advice, for which TRC is grateful.

Mr. Greenspan was also kind enough to introduce Mr. Coddou to Megan Smolenyak, an eminent genealogist, author, researcher and contributor to the PBS series Ancestors. She has been Chief Family Historian and spokesperson for Ancestry.com, the largest genealogical company in the world, creator of RootsTelevision.com, a pioneering online channel of free videos and winner of four Telly Awards, and founder of UnclaimedPersons.org, a volunteer group that assists coroners and medical examiners. Visit Ms. Smolenyak’s website at www.honoringourancestors.com to read about her tireless work in the genealogical field. Ms. Smolenyak also quickly responded to TRC’s request for assistance, and gave Mr. Coddou insight as to the recovery and study of remains in the context of armed conflict and social unrest (she has provided forensic consulting services to the U.S. Army to locate thousands of family members of soldiers still unaccounted for from WWI, WWII, Korea and Southeast Asia). Ms. Smolenyak also makes time in her schedule to consult with TRC.

TRC now works with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, Forensic Division (www.unthumanid.org). The Center is providing all DNA testing and analysis for the remains recovered at Lang Da. The Center is an extraordinary group of facilities dedicated to the identification of missing persons and the confirmation of identity of others (as in paternity cases). The Center’s laboratories support law enforcement agencies, but also humanitarian initiatives like TRC. Another important initiative supported by the Center is the mission to identify and recover children taken or sold against their will. It’s a challenge that crosses all borders in developed and underdeveloped countries alike. TRC hopes to assist the mission through its contacts in Vietnam. The cooperation between the Center and TRC to identify the remains at Lang Da and to expand the search for the children is a good example of how important initiatives can network their resources for the advancement of both.

TRC takes this opportunity again to thank Family Tree DNA, Megan Smolenyak and the North Texas University Center for Human Identification for their support and guidance.

July 14th, 2010 | Category: DNA Analysis and Identification

Many of you have asked why we have not reported our progress for several months. This was our thinking. Although TRC is strictly a humanitarian initiative, our mission can have unintended political consequences, if not handled thoughtfully and with respect for the governments affected. Of course, since 2006, TRC’s Founder, Thanh Dac Nguyen, has engaged the Vietnamese government in discussions about the recovery of the remains. Mr. Nguyen’s first opportunity to speak to the VNG came while he attended a conference in Vietnam with a group of American lawyers. Eventually he earned the trust of important officials in the VNG, and gained permission to search parts of the country for individual sets of remains in behalf of families who sought his assistance. Mr. Nguyen enjoyed success, and as his success preceded him, he made more trips to Vietnam. As TRC’s star rose, the initiative picked up momentum. We saw a real possibility that we could be an instrument of reconciliation. We believed that if reconciliation were a possible outcome of TRC’s work, then it would be wise to engage the VNG and the U. S government at the diplomatic level. TRC did not want to step on the wrong toes, and certainly we did not want to say anything to offend. We didn’t want to say or do anything publicly, without a better view of the big picture.

TRC’s General Counsel, Wesley S. Coddou, first contacted the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi to arrange a meeting between Embassy officials and Mr. Nguyen. The meeting went well, and later officials requested a summary proposal of TRC’s objective in Vietnam, prepared by Mr. Coddou, and approved and signed by Mr. Nguyen. After reviewing TRC’s proposal, the officials concluded that the initiative was valuable, and forwarded the proposal to Washington D. C. for further review. Not long afterward, a U.S. Senator visited Hanoi and officials briefly discussed the proposal with him. The Senator then suggested that TRC contact his staff. Mr. Coddou did and in September 2009, Mr. Coddou and Mr. Nguyen traveled to Washington D. C. for meetings with the U.S. Department of State, the Senator, and officials at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington. Those meetings brought forth advice and insight that kicked TRC into high gear. Today, TRC maintains contact with both governments, and both governments want TRC to succeed.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the governments of both countries for opening the way for our work.

July 12th, 2010 | Category: Government Policy

In April, we continued to expand our presence on the web through YouTube and Facebook.  Through these networking sites, we’ll be able to reach more people and connect you all more intimately with the inner workings of our project and the people involved.

On our YouTube channel, TheReturningCasualty, you’ll find brief video excerpts from our recovery missions in Vietnam.  Once we get our video footage translated, we’ll be able to post trip commentaries, interviews, and more in depth films of the process.  Click here to view our YouTube channel.

If you’re on Facebook, click here to see our newly launched Facebook page.  Become a fan and share the page with your friends. Doing so will help us spread our message to a larger community. As a fan, you’ll also be first to know about upcoming events, new blog entries, and new photo and video uploads.  Check it out now.

You can see one of our short YouTube videos below. Be sure to follow the links above to see more. Thank you for your continued support.

April 20th, 2009 | Category: Web Updates

Recording a tombstone discovered at Lang Da

Today, the TRC envoy returns from Vietnam. We received these updates and look forward to sharing more details on the success of the trip.

While overseas, the families of Major Duc Minh Hua, Captain Minh Van Nguyen, Police Sergeant Major Sau Van Duong, and Captain Vu Van Phu were able to collect their relative’s remains. The wife of Captain Hai Van Doan was ill in Saigon and unable to make the trip to Yen Bai to collect her husband’s remains as intended, so she will try again later. A TRC employee, while making his final checks at Cay Khe Hill before the families arrived, discovered that the tombstone of Lieutenant Colonel Tang Duy Nguyen had been removed. The family was advised and is waiting for more information before they travel to the site. Finally, the wife of Captain Son Hong Dang was unable to collect enough money to make the trip to Vietnam, and with our tight budget, we were unable to support her. When we have raised enough money, we will try again. If you wish to assist Ms. Dang with a donation, please click on the new “Donate Now” button at the top of the sidebar to the left.

We are still waiting on a permit to examine the graves found in Thanh Hoa and Nam Ha. Instead, the envoy took the opportunity to explore Lang Da village, where they discovered 20 more graves.

More updates to follow. Until then, please visit the updated gallery to view some new photos from 2009.

March 9th, 2009 | Category: In The Field

In Bien Hoa, 2008

At the end of February, TRC will once again return to Vietnam to retrieve remains and honor those who perished in the post-war Vietnamese reeducation camps.

On this trip, the families of Captain Hai Van Doan, Captain Vu Van Phu, Captain Son Hong Dang, Captain Minh Van Nguyen, and Lieutenant Colonel Tang Duy Nguyen will finally visit their relative’s final resting place and honor him with a proper burial.

Much work lies ahead. While we have uncovered many isolated camp burial grounds, we need the local Vietnamese officials to provide us with the burial records so that we may identify unmarked and illegible graves. With this information, we will announce the names of those discovered over the radio to the Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Americans who have long lived without knowledge of their relative’s location and assist those who come forward with the recovery process. We are in the process of obtaining permits and letters of introduction to procure this vital information.

We will also continue to meet with US officials at Embassy and Consulate General to garner their assistance in obtaining information and permits from the Vietnamese government. We will continue to push the Chief of the Binh Duong Province for a permit to properly bury the remains of South Vietnamese soldiers discovered in a mass grave in Bien Hoa in the Bien Hoa cemetery (renamed Binh An in 2007).

Of the reeducation camps we have located, a site in Thanh Hoa province has proved the most overwhelming, with an estimated total of 150 graves. We have also uncovered a great number in Ha Nam province.

In the future, we hope to see the establishment of a national military cemetery in Vietnam honoring the fallen ARVN soldiers. A nation cannot deny its history and can only move forward once it recognizes the humanity of all of its citizens. Whether they came from the North or South, they were all Vietnamese who sacrificed their lives for their country.

January 28th, 2009 | Category: In The Field

Thuong Tiec, a memorial statue to the fallen ARVN soldiers, located at Bien Hoa before April 1975, when it was destroyed

Bien Hoa Cemetery, 2008

This scene of overgrown wild grasses and trees, broken headstones, and mounds of fresh earth was once the site of the national military cemetery of the former Republic of Vietnam. Inaugurated in 1966, it housed the remains of the soldiers of the South Vietnamese military who passed away in the latter half of the war. Now, decades later, this abandoned and vandalized cemetery outside of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) is the last resting place for the old South Vietnamese regime in Vietnam. Since the takeover, their cemeteries have been paved over and replaced with industrial parks and playgrounds, often without proper reburial of remains.

In 2006, the Vietnamese government opened the cemetery to public use, with a clear purpose: if anyone may bury their dead here, then it is no longer an ARVN military cemetery, and the final neglected monument to the old government will fade from the country’s memory. Now called Binh An Cemetery, a brick kiln and factory has already been established on a portion of the site where the honored graves of the dead once stood. Untended and desecrated, the cemetery throbs with the pain of an open wound, where those who should have been honored and respected were outcast instead.

Bien Hoa Cemetery in 1994, compared with a photo taken before 1975

Bien Hoa Cemetery in 1994, compared with a photo taken before 1975

A North Vietnamese military cemetery in Vietnam

A memorial statue in Vietnam honoring the North Vietnamese soldiers

Common Humanity

One need not look far to find historical examples of post-war respect for the dead. Just as history is littered with examples of prejudice, discrimination and vengeful behavior on the part of peoples and governments, it has also witnessed the overcoming of such prejudices in favor of a common future.

The American Civil War (1861-1865) deeply divided North and South in a bloody and brutal conflict that pitted brother against brother. For years after the war ended, the two sides remained hostile and embittered. Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia was founded during the war as a military cemetery by Union General Montgomery C. Meigs on the property of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. After the war, it was considered a Union cemetery, even though hundreds of Confederate soldiers were also buried there. As a result, families of the fallen Confederate soldiers were not allowed to decorate the graves of their relatives and, in some cases, were not even permitted to enter the cemetery.

Finally, in 1900, the US Congress authorized the establishment of a special section for Confederate war dead, as a gesture of national reconciliation. Almost 500 Confederate officers, soldiers, wives, and civilians rest in concentric circles around a towering monument to the Confederate dead. Of the many inscriptions on the base of the monument, this one, attributed to the Reverend Randolph Harrison McKim, captures the spirit of the memorial:

Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery

(Photo by Vincent Lynch)

Monument at the center of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery

Not for fame or reward
Not for place or for rank
Not lured by ambition
Or goaded by necessity
But in simple
Obedience to duty
As they understood it
These men suffered all
Sacrificed all
Dared all-and died

(Photo by Bjarki Sigursveinsson)

La Cambe German Military Cemetery in France

(Photo by Paul LaRue)

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery Memorial in Columbus, OH

Another example from the American Civil War, Camp Chase, located in Columbus, Ohio, was a Union POW camp for Confederate soldiers. Those who died while in captivity were buried here. After the war ended, the site was allowed to deteriorate until restored at the turn of the century. Now well tended as a historical site, at its center rests a memorial with the word, “Americans,” chiseled in its arch.

In 1954, less than 10 years after WWII, the German War Graves Commission extended its mission to the establishment and upkeep of cemeteries abroad. In Normandy alone, the Service d’Entretien des Sépultures Militaires Allemandes (German Military Burials Maintenance Service or S.E.S.M.A.) maintains six main German cemeteries honoring WWII war dead. In the UK, the Commonwealth Graves Commission oversees the Cannok Chase German War Cemetery of WWI and II dead. The fallen German soldiers, hardened enemies to the British and French in both wars, are treated with respect. Though they were enemy combatants, they share a common humanity, and should be allowed to rest in peace. It is difficult to recognize this in a wartime enemy, but it is necessary to reconcile with the past and move forward.

Moving Forward

These men may have fought on opposing sides, but they were all Vietnamese soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the future of their cherished country. How can we allow some to be glorified while others are cast aside and forgotten? The Vietnamese government shames itself by allowing these offenses to continue, yet the administration even now has a chance to do what is honorable by respecting each of its fallen countrymen. To do so, the government must cooperate with our efforts.

The Returning Casualty has applied for a permit to restore the Bien Hoa Cemetery. When given permission, we intend to properly bury the unidentifiable remains we discover in reeducation camp graves and a group of unknown soldiers found in a mass grave on the grounds. While those who died in the reeducation camps were civilians imprisoned by the Vietnamese government after the war ended, many were ARVN soldiers and officers, and all were servants of their country who deserve distinction for their sacrifice.

In Vietnam, there will be a place to remember the past. Left untended, the wounds of the war cannot heal.

Related Links

Selected articles on Bien Hoa Cemetery compiled by an American Vietnam War Veteran
German War Graves Commission Homepage (In English)
Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery
National Park Service Lesson on Camp Chase in Columbus, Ohio, USA

January 7th, 2009 | Category: In The Field

Timothy Swanson, Chief of the Humanitarian Resettlement Section at the US Consulate, meets with Chairman Thanh Nguyen of TRC in November

Brian Aggeler, Counselor of Political Affairs at the US Embassy, meets with Chairman Thanh Nguyen of TRC in October

While in Vietnam last October and November, TRC met with US officials at the Embassy and Consulate regarding our efforts in the reeducation camps.

Mr. Brian Aggeler, Counselor of Political Affairs at the US Embassy in Hanoi, pledged his support to our humanitarian project. During the meeting, we discussed the most efficient and tactful way to solicit information and permits from the Vietnamese government.

After this meeting, Mr. Aggeler introduced us to Mr. Timothy Swanson, Chief of the Humanitarian Resettlement Section at the US Consulate General in Saigon. He oversees the immigration of former US allies in Vietnam to the United States under the Orderly Departure Program (closed in 1994 and reopened in 2005). This program was established as the Humanitarian Operation in 1979 to allow for the immigration of former South Vietnamese officials and soldiers who would suffer discrimination and abuse under the new regime. It was later extended to include the wives and, under the McCain Amendment, the children of those who died in reeducation camps. These family members of the deceased must produce their relative’s death certificate with their application for resettlement.

In Saigon, we brought the cases of three families who were denied resettlement because they could not produce a death certificate to Mr. Swanson’s attention. While the reeducation camps were still in operation, many families were not informed of their relative’s whereabouts and some did not receive a death certificate upon their relative’s death. Having recently assisted these families with the recovery of their relative’s remains, Chairman Thanh Nguyen offered to act as a witness confirming that their relative had indeed passed away in the camps. The families also provided photos and other documents proving their relationship with the deceased.

In the future, we hope to be able to provide DNA testing of remains, so that the families will know for certain that they have finally found their loved ones. In lieu of a death certificate, DNA test results will prove invaluable to those who wish to apply for resettlement. We are currently seeking a meeting with the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at the US Embassy in Hanoi, a detachment of the US Military already using DNA testing to confirm the identities of American remains discovered in Vietnam.

Related Links

US Embassy in Hanoi
US Consulate General in Saigon
US Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC)

December 15th, 2008 | Category: Government Policy