U.S. hands over war keepsakes to Vietnamese veterans and relatives of martyrs

Ambassador Marc E. Knapper speaks at the event.

At the event, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper handed over the war memorabilia to two war veterans and relatives of two other veterans who passed away in peace-time, and families of seven martyrs.

The war memorabilia included diaries, letters, identification documents, notebooks, certificates or diplomas of veterans and martyrs. They were identified by the research team at Harvard University.

War keepsakes handed over at the event are identified by the research team at Harvard University.

The handover ceremony was within the framework of the Vietnam Wartime Accounting Initiative (VWAI) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Also at the ceremony, Ambassador Knapper handed over a letter by U.S. President Joe Biden to veteran Nguyen Van Thien.

In his state visit to Vietnam last September, President Biden witnessed the returning of a diary to veteran Nguyen Van Thien at the headquarters of the National Assembly of Vietnam.

The U.S. ambassador hands over the letter of U.S. President Joe Biden to veteran Nguyen Van Thien.

In the past lunar New Year, the U.S. ambassador visited Hanoi’s Thuong Tin district to directly hand over a diary to veteran Vu Dac Tuc.

Addressing the war-keepsakes handover ceremony, Ambassador Knapper expressed his emotion to partly contribute to the effort of bringing war memorabilia back to veterans and relatives of martyrs and fallen veterans.

On behalf of the U.S. people, the diplomat expressed thanks to the Vietnamese government, local authorities and people for their support to the search for U.S. servicemen missing in action in the war in Vietnam over the past time. He hoped that the U.S. side would do the same for Vietnamese families in the future.

Veterans, relatives of martyrs and fallen veterans, and other delegates in a joint photo

Translated by Mai Huong