The book series Nhật Ký Thời Chiến Việt Nam (Wartime Diary). — VNA/VNS Photo

A ceremony to recognise his hark work was held recently by the Forever 20 Foundation in collaboration with the University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

From 2004 to 2020, Hung collected several diaries written by Vietnamese martyrs and soldiers during the war. A total of 31 diaries were collected and then presented in the collection Nhật Ký Thời Chiến Việt Nam which consists of four volumes, each more than 1,000-pages thick, compiled and edited by Hung.

The book collection is considered a legacy that heroes, martyrs, and veterans have left for the next generation.

Writer Dang Vuong Hung (centre) seen together with readers of the Nhật Ký Thời Chiến Việt Nam (Wartime Diary). — Photo courtesy of the writer

The book includes the two most popular diaries entitled Nhật Ký Đặng Thùy Trâm (Dang Thuy Tram's Diary) and martyr Nguyen Van Thac's Mãi Mãi Tuổi 20 (Forever Twenty).

The North Vietnamese female doctor Dang Thuy Tram penned her diary in the 1960s while she was working in a field hospital in Quang Ngai Province. The young doctor was killed by US troops in June 1970 at the age of 27.

Her diary was found and preserved by American soldier Fred Whitehurst, who donated it to the Vietnam Center and Archives at Texas Tech University 35 years later. Officials, with the aid of veteran Tom Engelmann and American writer Lady Borton, were able to locate Tram's family, and the diary was returned to them in 2005.

That same year, thousands of copies of the diary were published in Vietnam, and it became a phenomenon. It has been translated into English, Korean, Thai and Spanish.

Diaries by other martyrs such as Chu Cam Phong, Duong Thi Xuan Quy and Nguyen Minh Son are also included in the series.

The Forever 20 Foundation, which was founded in 2005 in commemoration of female doctor Dang Thuy Tram and martyr Nguyen Van Thac, published the book.

Since its launching on April 30 on the occasion of the Reunification Day, the series has been widely read.

The recent honouring ceremony, aiming to celebrate the 76th anniversary of the Vietnam’s People Army (22/12/1944-22/12/2020), gathered two special guests from Quang Ngai, which witnessed some of the fiercest fightings during the war. They are war invalid Huynh Doan Sang and veteran Nguyen Tan Mot, who both were the comrades of Tram.

While Sang was a patient of Tram when he received surgery for appendicitis, Mot was a nurse working in the same battlefield surgery. In her diary, Tram mentioned Sang on the first page.

During the exchange programme, the special guests shared with the audience their stories about the wartime as well as about their heroic comrade Tram. — VNS

Wartime diaries published in new series

A series of the most popular wartime diaries written by 30 martyrs and soldiers has been released by the Writers' Association Publishing House on the occasion of the 45th Liberation and Reunification Day on April 30.

Wartime diaries’ authors, characters gather in Hanoi

The authors and historical witnesses involving in a series of the most popular wartime diaries gathered in Hanoi on July 22 on the occasion of the 73rd War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day (July 27).