Mr. Ramsey Clark (R) and his friends

Vietnam joyfully welcomed international friends, who had supported the Vietnamese national liberation struggle, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords (January 27th, 1973 – January 27th, 2003).

The hosts and guests were recalling the nation’s glorious past. Among the guests, one made a strong impression on participants, as he was tall, thin and so old that he usually needed someone’s aid to get around. He was Ramsey Clark, the former US Secretary of Justice from 1967 to 1969 in the Johnson Administration.

A fate engaged to Vietnam

At the exchange “The Paris Peace Accords and friends’ hearts” held at the end of January 2013, the former US Secretary of Justice, aged 86, told us a story about his fate that according to him, was engaged to Vietnam.

He said that after leaving the Johnson Administration, he decided to participate in the anti-war movement, petitioning the US Administration to stop the war in Vietnam. In 1970, he and his wife travelled to Paris and met the Vietnamese delegation in order to study the real situation of Vietnam. But for some reason, his first chance to visit Vietnam came in August 1972. In Vietnam, he had additional opportunity to understand Vietnam’s history and admired the united strength and heroism of the people in their resistance wars against French colonists and Japanese facists. On seeing the brutality of the war conducted by the US Army in the country, he felt more sympathetic and began falling in love with the country and people. He said: “The Vietnamese people had suffered numerous pains and losses in their struggles against French colonists and Japanese fascists in the past, and now the war conducted by the US Administration brought more suffering to the nation.”

“I did not want it to continue,” the former US Secretary of Justice claimed.

Recalling his first visit to Vietnam, he said that what he first saw was the destruction of homes, schools and hospitals caused by US bombing. He also realized that ordinary Vietnamese people kept on living and working bravely next to the craters of US bombing. Thanks to the visit, he gathered a good deal of knowledge and images of Vietnam and Vietnamese people, and when he returned to the USA he wrote articles and published pictures denouncing US crimes against Vietnam and its people, and helped Americans understand more about the unjust US war. Particularly, he pointed out that the Red River dyke system that the US Air Force was planning to attack was not a military target.

Many years had passed since his first visit, but he still remembered a conversation between him and a little girl in a Vietnamese fishing village. When he met the girl, he asked her about her dream. The girl immediately answered: “I just want to join the Army.” He was very surprised and wondered what the war had caused, that Vietnamese children did not wish to become doctors, teachers or engineers like their peers in other countries, but instead, soldiers.

Lacquer painting from Prime Minister Pham Van Dong          

Another unforgettable memory of the former US official from his first visit to Vietnam was a meeting between him and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong. In the meeting, the Vietnamese Prime Minister presented him a lacquer painting.

Although the Prime Minister did not tell him about the painting, he still understood the meaning of the painting with green trees on the red background. This implied that the war conducted by the US Administration in Vietnam seriously devastated humans and plants in the country, but life was continuously growing from the bleeding wound.

Before his visit to Vietnam, his acquaintances had advised him not to go to Vietnam, saying that the US Army had committed brutal crimes in Vietnam so the Vietnamese Government and people might not welcome him to their country. They were wrong. Vietnamese people were struggling for justice and they always welcomed all people aware of rightfulness, he confirmed.

“I admired and was very happy with this,” he was moved telling the story.

More than 40 years have passed since his first visit to Vietnam. This time, he returned to Vietnam when the country is enjoying peace, independence, freedom and strong socio-economic development. He is now old and his health is not so good, but the old man with his love for the country and people still travelled halfway around the earth to Vietnam to join Vietnamese people in recalling the nation’s victory 40 years ago. During this visit, he participated in a number of activities, including planting trees in the Peace (Hoa Binh) Park in Hanoi.

In that event, he himself planted a tree. According to him, green trees symbolize life, development and peace.

“Millions of green trees were destroyed during the war. Today, I plant a tree because I want people to remember the brutality of war and try to live peacefully together,” he said.

Translated by Thu Nguyen

Source: qdnd.vn