The War Remnants’ Museum in Ho Chi Minh City received several valuable historic documents from writer Colonel Dang Vuong Hung during a ceremony on May 11.

Visitors contemplate Dang Thuy Tram's portrait.

The documents include the original first English translation of Dang Thuy Tram’s diary done by Carl W.Greifzu – a US veteran, in September 1971.

While visiting Vietnam last March, Greifzu presented the 121-page translation work to writer Hung.

Penned by doctor Dang Thuy Tram in the 1960s while working in a field hospital in central Quang Ngai province, the diary reveals her emotional tumult and personal aspirations.

She was killed by the US troops in June 1970 at the age of 27.

The diary was found and preserved by an American soldier, Fred Whitehurst, for 35 years before he donated it to the Vietnam Centre and Archive at Texas Technology University.

The diary was returned to her family in 2005 thanks to the aid of US war veteran Tom Engelmann and US writer Lady Borton.

So far, the diary has been translated into 18 languages. A movie adapted from the diary won the Vietnam Cinematography Association's Golden Kite Award in 2010.

On the occasion, Colonel Hung also donated to the museum his two books, which are a collection of war-time letters written by Vietnamese military and public security staff during the war against the French and American invaders, and the book “American pilots in Vietnam” – a revelation of less-known stories about imprisoned American pilots in Vietnam.

VNA