Australian veteran hands over Vietnamese soldier’s diary
A Vietnam War veteran from Australia who preserved a notebook and a scarf from a Vietnamese soldier for 40 years has handed them over to the fallen soldier’s relatives.
On April 3, Laurens Wildeboer sent these items to the elderly mother of the dead soldier, who was known as Phan Van Ban and also Phan Van Nhon.
Wildeboer became very emotional as he apologized to the soldier’s 85 year old mother, Nguyen Thi Hieu, for what he did in the past.
The former Australian serviceman also praised Ban and other Vietnamese soldiers for their bravery and what they did for their fatherland.
Meanwhile, Hieu said in tears that she was very moved that even though the war ended decades ago, Wildeboer still kept her son’s mementos, which will remind her of the beloved son.
After their meeting, Wildeboer and his friends from Australia lit incense to commemorate revolutionary martyr Phan Van Ban.
Lauren Wildeboer fought in the Vietnam War and kept many mementos of Vietnamese soldiers who had laid down their lives on the battle field.
He got the diary of a soldier named Ban during a battle in 1970 and wanted to send it back to the soldier’s family.
After four decades, Wildeboer’s search efforts finally paid off and the owner of the diary was identified in January 2012 as Phan Van Ban from Long Thanh district in Dong Nai province.
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