Former war correspondents at home and abroad reunite after 50 years of liberation

On April 27, in Ho Chi Minh City, the City's Department of Foreign Affairs organized a meeting and exchange program between 47 former international war correspondents who reported on the anti-American resistance war in Vietnam, overseas Vietnamese reporters and a number of former domestic war correspondents on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and National Reunification (April 30, 1975 - April 30, 2025).

Throughout the exchange, the reporters, although on two sides, all had a common story about love for the country and people of Vietnam.

Mr. Tom Fox, former reporter for The New York Times and TIME Magazine, uses fluent Vietnamese to recount his memories in Vietnam.

In 1966, when he was just old enough to be drafted, Mr. Tom Fox refused to join the army and asked to go to Tuy Hoa ( Phu Yen , Vietnam) to volunteer to help people.

Mr. Tom Fox, former reporter for The New York Times and TIME Magazine, speaks fluent Vietnamese. (Photo: Hong Giang/VNA)

During his time volunteering in Vietnam, Mr. Fox soon realized that the war that Americans claimed was “helping” the Vietnamese people was actually a “lie,” an unjust war that caused people to suffer. From then on, he decided to become a war correspondent, learn Vietnamese, eat like a Vietnamese, and report as realistically as possible about the war in Vietnam.

Not long after that, he married a woman from Can Tho , and to this day is still very proud of being able to speak Vietnamese with a deep, Western accent.

Revolutionary writer and journalist Doan Minh Tuan, 94 years old, who was a war correspondent from 1961 until the country's reunification, shared that he himself participated in the fight against the French and the Americans to save the country; participated in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, but at the same time he also acknowledged the feelings of American friends who love Vietnam and love peace.

According to Mr. Tuan, he and many Vietnamese people are always deeply grateful for the solidarity and support of American people and peace-loving war reporters.

Mr. Tuan shared that Vietnam values national harmony and has a policy of "bamboo diplomacy" - no matter how strong the storm is, the bamboo bush that is bent down will still rise up and cannot be knocked down.

Some documentary photos of war correspondents at home and abroad during the resistance war against the US for national salvation were displayed at the meeting. (Photo: Hong Giang/VNA)

Edith Madelen Ledever is a former AP reporter assigned to cover the war in Vietnam from 1972 to 1973.

Ms. Ledever witnessed and reported on the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam in 1973. Since then, she has returned to Vietnam many times to mark the 20th, 35th, 40th and now 50th anniversaries of the liberation of the South.

Every time she returns, Ms. Ledever is overwhelmed by the extraordinary changes and development of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

Ms. Ledever also appreciates the friendliness, hospitality and openness of the Vietnamese people, who have left behind the hatred and pain of the past to move forward, towards the goal of modernity and development.

Each person has a story, but all former war correspondents have one thing in common: a passionate love for the S-shaped strip of land.

The reunion of domestic and international war correspondents on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the South and national reunification once again affirmed the value of peace and harmony as well as expressed Vietnam's gratitude to international friends who stood by Vietnam in difficult times./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/cuu-phong-vien-chien-truong-trong-va-ngoai-nuoc-gap-lai-sau-50-nam-giai-phong-post1035419.vnp