Ex-US military officer says Vietnamese, Americans should always be close friends Lindsey Kiang (R) poses for a photo with a Vietnamese friend inside a Vietnamese beef noodle soup store in Ho Chi Minh City in 2012. Tran Quoc Dung Lindsey Kiang (R) poses for a photo in front of a Vietnamese beef noodle soup store in Ho Chi Minh City in 2012. Tran Quoc Dung Editor’s Note: Lindsey Kiang, who helped set up the first U.S. Embassy in Hanoi in 1995 when Vietnam and the United States formally renormalized relations, sent Tuoitrenews his story about U.S. veterans’ efforts to bring about reconciliation between the two former conflicting sides. April 30th this year marks the 39th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam and the departure of the last U.S. troops, flying away in helicopters from the rooftops of Saigon. In the decades since that historic day, relations between Vietnam and America have gone from their absolute lowest point to normalization in 1995, and to today's blossoming of diplomatic, political, military, trade, cultural, educational, and people-to-people relationships.  To be sure, the friendly relations today are the fruit of steady efforts by government officials and representatives of the business sector, for good relations are in the best interests of both countries. But as April 30th reminds us inevitably of the war, it must be said that a significant contribution toward relations between our two countries has been made on a personal level, by individual American veterans of that war... indeed, by veterans who years earlier were engaged in the business of killing.  For example, when President Bill Clinton normalized relations between the two countries in 1995, it was made possible only after years of determined effort in Congress by Senators John McCain and John Kerry, two war veterans who had experienced the worst of combat. And when America quickly established its first embassy in Hanoi in 1995, Douglas "Pete" Peterson was appointed the first American ambassador to the newly reunited Vietnam. Peterson had been an Air Force pilot who was shot down over the North and had spent six years as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton prison.  He volunteered to return as representative of the United States, and he was universally respected and liked by the Vietnamese people. His personal example symbolized the reconciliation between the two countries. On another level, I served in the American Embassy as military attaché for a few months during the start-up, and I was struck by the very unusual makeup of that initial embassy staff.  The rapid start-up of the embassy didn't allow time to assign diplomats through the normal bureaucratic rotation, so a call went out for volunteers from all over the government, and a great many of the staff were indeed volunteers: veterans, officials with Vietnamese spouses, Viet Kieu, and others who wanted to be part of that historic time in Vietnam-U.S. relations. The groundbreaking efforts of that first enthusiastic group, the first Americans that most Hanoians had ever seen, did much to establish the foundation for the friendly relations between the two peoples.  In the years since, I have met many American veterans who have contributed to better Vietnam-U.S. relations in their quiet, personal way, usually unnoticed by the governments or the media. Some examples: Chuck Searcy, a former military intelligence soldier in Saigon, now resident in Hanoi, has led for years the effort by a U.S. veterans organization to deal with the huge problem of unexploded ordnance in the central provinces, including demining and providing medical and occupational services.  David Thomas, then a combat engineer in Pleiku, has headed for more than 25 years the Indochina Arts Partnership, an organization for cultural exchange between Vietnam and the U.S., and is one of the very few foreigners decorated by the Vietnamese government for his contributions to the arts in Vietnam. Other veterans work in their own way, even if far from Vietnam.  A friend, a U.S. Marine veteran, led his unit in a bloody battle with a North Vietnamese Army unit near Da Nang. He regularly offers prayers for all those young men who were killed in that battle, his own Marines as well as the North Vietnamese soldiers. Today, he volunteers to help Vietnamese immigrants in his hometown near Boston, as well as young Vietnamese students coming to study in the nearby universities.  General Hal Moore, an officer who became famous during the battle of the Ia Drang Valley in which both sides suffered tragic losses, returned to Vietnam in 1993 when he met and became friends with his former enemy, late Lt. Gen. Nguyen Huu An [who passed away in 1995], after the war. Moore's interpreter was a young Foreign Ministry official who years later became Vietnam's Ambassador to Greece. By his writings about his meetings with former enemies, General Moore was a powerful voice speaking to American veterans about reconciliation.  These few examples are just some of those about which I know. There are many more stories about other veterans who are quietly and individually working to build a warm and long-lasting relationship between the Vietnamese and the American people. I have often been asked by some: "How can a veteran act in such a way now when he and his foes were trying to kill each other previously?" I think the answer is that, for many American veterans, the experience of war and seeing death and destruction face-to-face, has led them to realize that basic humanity is the same for all people, even for the former "enemy." There is respect for the brave, dedicated, and resourceful Vietnamese people who suffered even more. The veterans on both sides experienced the same horrors, so they are bonded in a way that non-veterans cannot fully understand. But their shared belief that there should never be war again, and that Vietnam and America, having shared a tragic period in history, are and should always be close friends is something that everyone can understand... and should remember on this April 30th. Lindsey Kiang, Tuoitrenews