Lesson 1: Why did the "third person" speak up now?

After March 1973, Mr. Le Anh was still a member of the Revolutionary People's Committee of Trieu Phong district (Quang Tri), in charge of the fields of information, culture and education . After that, he was assigned to be the Head of the District Information - Culture Department (the education sector was separated but Mr. Anh was still a member of the Revolutionary People's Committee of the district in charge of this field).

phl1.jpg -0 — Mr. Phan Tu Ky (far right) in a meeting with journalist Chu Chi Thanh, Mr. Nguyen Trong Tao, Mr. Bui Trong Nghia... in 2018 in Trieu Trach. Photo by Tien Phong Newspaper

From 1976 to 1991, Mr. Anh held many local positions and retired due to disability in 1991. Currently, Mr. Anh is enjoying two regimes: people with revolutionary contributions and people infected with Agent Orange, with a total monthly subsidy of 6.6 million VND.

In 1979, he married Ms. Nguyen Thi Phung (born in 1956 in Van Hoa village, old Trieu Hoa commune; now Trieu Binh commune, Quang Tri province). Currently, Ms. Phung and Mr. Anh live in Dong Tam 1 village, Trieu Co commune (formerly Tham Trieu village, Trieu Tai commune), Quang Tri province. Ms. Phung participated in the Trieu Hoa commune guerrilla during the period 1972-1975, working in military propaganda at the checkpoint. After the country was liberated, she worked until 1990 and then retired due to disability. Mr. Anh and Ms. Phung have 5 children: Le Thi Ninh (born in 1981), Le Thanh Vu (born in 1983), Le Thi Thanh Nhan (born in 1988), Le Thanh Vinh (born in 1990) and Le Thi Thanh Nhu (born in 1992).

Returning to the story of the photo “Two Soldiers”, Mr. Anh said that around 2015, he happened to see this photo mentioned on TV and told his children that he was the one with his arm around the Saigon soldier in the photo, taken at the end of March 1973 at a location outside, next to our Harmony House in Long Quang village, Trieu Trach commune. At that time, his children did not pay much attention, only asking: “Why didn’t you tell anyone?” (meaning to inform the authorities), but Mr. Anh replied: “It happened a long time ago, now I just focus on business”.

Later, when Quang Tri Radio and Television organized a meeting and exchange program between Mr. Nguyen Huy Tao and Mr. Bui Trong Nghia on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement in 1973, Mr. Anh watched the program. At that time, he felt very upset but still tried to hold back. Knowing this story, and reading on some personal pages reposting the information, his two daughters (third and youngest) left comments saying that the person in the photo, on the revolutionary side, was their father. From that information, a newspaper reporter went to meet Mr. Anh to find out the matter. However, despite feeling upset, he continued to remain silent, saying: "Now, the whole world knows about the incident; if I give my opinion, the newspaper and radio will be affected, Mr. Thanh and Mr. Tao will also be affected, so that's it."

I immediately asked: "So why are you only commenting now?". Mr. Anh pondered for a moment and then confided: "In fact, this story has made me lose sleep many nights... I feel resentful because later on, especially on every anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement or April 30, information about "Two Soldiers" reappeared, while Mr. Tao was not the character in the photo, and I remained silent here. In particular, on August 31, 2025, there was a writer in Quang Nam - in my opinion, this person was not present in Trieu Trach that day - but he attached a point to Trieu Trach on his personal page, below was a photo of "Two Soldiers" with an article as if to confirm that Mr. Nguyen Huy Tao was the person on the side of the revolutionary forces in the photo. That made me think even more and become even more resentful. Therefore, I decided that this time I had the responsibility to tell the truth. In addition to the petition and recommendation sent to CAND Newspaper, I also sent it to 7 relevant agencies."

Lesson 1: Why is the — Mr. Le Anh burned incense to remember and pay tribute to heroic martyrs at the Long Quang Steel Fort Memorial.

“Is it also irresponsible for you to know about the incident but not report it to the authorities, because that is the right way to do it, rather than staying silent for a long time and then finally reacting? Moreover, if you are really afraid of affecting the relevant units and individuals as you said, there are still other ways, such as reporting it privately to Mr. Chu Chi Thanh, the direct author of the photo?” – the reporter continued to ask.

Mr. Anh suddenly lowered his voice and replied: “In fact, I did it, but it was not very timely. Even sadder, my work was not responded to. Specifically, around 2021, when I learned to use social networks, I wrote about 10 articles; in most of the articles, directly or indirectly, I mentioned “Two Soldiers” or related stories. However, my personal page was only followed by friends and acquaintances, mostly older people. Among them, Mr. Truong Ngoc Ung, former Head of the Organizing Committee of the Quang Tri Provincial Party Committee, and Mr. Pham Duc Chau, former Deputy Secretary of the Quang Tri Provincial Party Committee, suggested that if such an incident occurred, it should be reported to the authorities and functional agencies to handle it, bringing the incident back to its correct historical form. But my heart was still hesitant as I said above, so I was not decisive. After that, I also chose to inform Mr. Chu Chi Thanh by sending 5 articles, 1 text message and many calls, but Mr. Thanh did not respond.”

“Can you let me check the data on your phone?” the reporter asked. Mr. Anh happily replied: “Okay, you can check it freely; I have never deleted any posts, messages or calls myself; if there are any losses, it is not my fault.” Through checking, we noted: At 9:45 a.m. on May 2, 2021, in the Messenger section of Mr. Anh's personal Facebook, there was a phenomenon of sending a data file to Mr. Chu Chi Thanh but the content was not visible (there may have been a data transmission problem or other reasons). Similarly, at 5:13 a.m. on January 30, 2023, Mr. Anh sent 3 data files to Mr. Thanh in a row; at 10:8 a.m. on the same day, he sent another data file, but all had similar signs. Next, at 7:11 a.m. on April 2, 2023, Mr. Anh made 4 consecutive calls to Mr. Thanh via Messenger but received no response. At 12:17 on May 15, 2023, Mr. Anh texted Mr. Thanh via Messenger with the original content: “To you: When I watched the 7 p.m. VTV1 news program at night, I saw that the story of the photo of two soldiers was brought back and you said a few things. I sent to your messenger 4 of my articles about the story of the photo you took in 1973 at Long Quang checkpoint. Please let me know if you have any comments. Goodbye and wish you good health.”

At 1:35 p.m. the same day, Mr. Chu Chi Thanh replied to Mr. Anh's message with the original content: "Thank you for your interest in my old photos. Sorry, I rarely open Facebook so I haven't read your article. I will find and read it now. It's a pleasure to talk to you." However, even though Mr. Anh called many times via Messenger, Mr. Thanh still did not answer the phone.

The reporter continued to wonder: “On April 27, 2015, the story “Two Soldiers” was first published in a newspaper. This reporter met Mr. Phan Tu Ky, who was the Trieu Trach Commune Guerrilla Team Leader in 1973. According to Mr. Nguyen Duy Chien, who was the Trieu Trach Commune Guerrilla Team Leader in 1973, Mr. Ky was the commander of the inner protection, that is, directly present at the Hoa Hop House in Long Quang at that time. So how could Mr. Ky not know him? Or if he did not know him, why did he not know the regulations at that time that regular soldiers were not allowed to participate, while later Mr. Ky himself contributed to finding the person in the photo in the direction of a regular soldier?”.

Mr. Anh said: “In 1973, when I returned to Long Quang, I knew Mr. Phan Tu Ky, who was then the leader of the Trieu Trach guerrilla team, but Mr. Ky did not know me. When I looked at the photo of 10 people taken that morning with the photo “Two Soldiers”, I had the feeling that the person on the Southern revolutionary side – wearing a tucked-in army shirt, a pith helmet, a watch on his left hand and resting it on the shoulder of the Marine standing next to him – was Mr. Ky. As I told the journalist, when I returned to the House of Harmony, the atmosphere was very tense, the two sides met but did not know how to handle the situation – it was an extremely sensitive time. Mr. Ky focused on doing his duty, and so did I; when he finished his work, he returned immediately.”

“Is it possible that the people investigating the incident only showed Mr. Ky the painting “Two Soldiers”, and assumed that the characters were soldiers, so he did not think about the photo shoot at the end of March that year? Therefore, he followed the direction of reporters, looking for veterans and military units. And because of that, later when Mr. Chu Chi Thanh’s group brought Mr. Nguyen Huy Tao and Mr. Bui Trong Nghia to meet, Mr. Ky was sure that they had found the right person?” – Mr. Anh wondered, then pondered for a moment: “Mr. Phan Tu Ky passed away a few years ago, so these questions now have almost no chance of being fully answered.”

Next article: New witness account

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Xa-hoi/bai-1-vi-sao-nguoi-thu-ba-bay-gio-moi-len-tieng--i782667/