US veteran returns war diary to Vietnamese martyr’s family

At the handover ceremony (Photo: VNA)

Ha Tinh (VNA) – US veteran Peter Mathews and his spouse arrived in Ky Xuan commune, Ky Anh district, the central province of Ha Tinh, on March 5 to hand over martyr Cao Xuan Tuat’s diary that he has kept for the past 56 years to his family.

They arrived in the province to the welcoming smiles and warm hospitality of Ha Huy My and his family, the closest surviving relatives of the diary’s owner.

Mathews found the war diary on the battlefield among belongings of Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives, after surviving the battle of Dak To in the Central Highlands in November 1967.

Peter Mathews offers incense to Cao Xuan Tuat (Photo: VNA)

For over half a century, the diary had been kept at Peter Mathews' home in Bergenfield city, New Jersey state of the US. Mathews always hopes that if possible, he will come back to Vietnam to find the owner of the notebook and return it. The story was then published on North Jersey newspaper on January 27, 2023, and the information was shared via the Internet to Vietnam with an image of the diary and the information of its owner.

After news of the lost diary spread, Chairman of the provincial Fatherland Front Committee Tran Nhat Tan contacted Mathews.

Tuat, born in 1942, joined the army in 1963 and died in 1967./.