Socialist Republic of Vietnam

by Tri Binh

He became famous through a war photograph – then disappeared.

Soldier Le Xuan Chinh was presumed dead by many, including the man who took the well-known picture, former war correspondent Doan Cong Tinh.

In fact the young fighter had survived the horrendous fighting in the American War. But only to go on to a life of poverty in the remote north.

How Chinh finally found redemption is a tale of compassion and coincidence – all of it revolving around that one photograph.

A rocket-launcher by his side

In 1972, war photographer Tinh snapped the smiling young Chinh by the ruins of Quang Tri Citadel, a Soviet-made rocket-launcher by his side and a group of young northern soldiers in the background.

The larger-than-life, the black-and-white shot later went on display at the Quang Tri War Museum, in central Viet Nam, and is still exhibited today. Until recently, visitors were told a sad story about it.

"He was killed soon after," museum curator Tran Khanh Khu would say.

That story changed abruptly last year.

A young man among a group of domestic tourists said he recognised the profile of the young soldier in the photo.

"Oh, this must be Chinh from my village," he said.

Khu said he must be mistaken. But the visitor insisted that Chinh survived the war, and that for 16 years had been living somewhere up north in the province of Lai Chau.

"I rang Tinh up and said the smiling soldier was still alive," Khu said.

Tinh recalled his bewilderment at hearing the news.

"My photos often appeared in the Quan Doi Nhan Dan and Nhan Dan newspapers, so many former soldiers and their families would see them and write me to ask for copies as souvenirs," he told Viet Nam News.

Because Chinh never did, Tinh considered it further confirmation that Chinh had been killed in late 1972, along with the rest of his platoon, in the intense fighting around the Quang Tri Citadel.

How the photo was taken

Tinh said the siege of Quang Tri was like an inferno that no one could have survived. Even Tinh and other war correspondents were warned against entering the besieged citadel after two months of fighting.

The skies over Quang Tri Citadel would be overcast with yellow chemicals sprayed from US aircraft, and dark smoke billowing upwards from the wooded area now devastated by repeated bombing.

The former artillery officer turned photographer, working for the then-prominent newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Dan (People’s Army), Tinh had wanted to show his readers "how our beloved soldiers lived and fought in the besieged citadel."

He finally found two women militias in an underground bunker who promised to take him to the war zone in the night, by swimming across the Thach Han River, fighting the rapids as well as occasional artillery fragments and flares.

Tinh’s encounter with Chinh and his comrades-in-arms was brief. He tried to take shots of as many soldiers as possible before trying to get out alive. He became the only photographer to have seen action in the besieged Quang Tri.

The former war correspondent went on to study abroad, and became a history when he returned home.

But his passion to make new friends and meet those he took photos of in the war prompted Tinh to resume his photography hobby after he retired two years ago.

Last year, Tinh managed to find some sponsors and printed a hardcover book of his collection of war photos. The book proved a hit among photographers as well as his friends and acquaintances.

"I gave 600 copies to old friends and those in the photos before I heard of Chinh’s survival," Tinh said.

And finally they met again

Having learned that Chinh was alive, Tinh tracked him down by writing a letter to his village, and arranged to meet his old photo subject at a bus station in Ha Noi last August.

At first, Tinh could not find Chinh, who had bussed down from Lai Chau in the north, and had to ask around among street kids to track him down.

Finally one of the children dragged a raggedy, bearded man to Tinh. The photographer could not believe it was the youth he met 30 years before.

The next day Tinh had the man’s hair cut, beard shaved and his rags exchanged, and they talked about the Quang Tri battle days. Tinh then knew it was the same Chinh.

The ex-soldier had reasons for his troubles. He and his family had toiled terraced fields for a meagre existence. And Chinh lost all his paper and personal effects when he returned home from Quang Tri.

The hard life in a small rural village, in the province of Thai Binh, led Chinh and his family to move to Dien Bien to rebuild their life in the northwest, but to no avail.

Tinh was appalled by the destiny of his subject. So he helped Chinh reclaim all needed papers from his former military unit certifying that Chinh was a wounded soldier.

Now this has shot Chinh into further fame. Viet Nam Television invited Chinh, along with Tinh, to his former Quang Tri battlefield for a documentary shot last month. The piece was aired about two weeks ago.

Now, visitors to Quang Tri Museum get a different introduction to the photo by curator Khu.

And while Chinh has returned to his low-paying farming life in Lai Chau, many visitors ask Khu to send Chinh their little donations, and some have even travelled to Lai Chau to offer Chinh their gifts, Tinh said.

Tinh said there would be more work for him and veteran friends to make sure that his proud photo subject gains the life that veteran fighters are entitled to enjoy. — VNS