A VOV correspondent with Colonel Jacques Allaire
Nhan Dan Online – Sixty years have passed, and former French soldiers who fought on the Dien Bien Phu battlefield are now approximately 90 years old. Some have passed away, others are no longer lucid. But for many veterans who are still alive, memories of Dien Bien Phu linger in their minds, even after all this time.
Memories of the fierce battles and the tough old days when they were captured as prisoners have were not yet faded, but they always have respect for the brave and resilient Vietnamese soldiers, as well as for the humanity of the Vietnamese army and people.
Travelling through many cities and provinces in France, correspondents of Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV) had several meetings with French veterans. Most of them have reached a ripe old age, and this was very likely the last time they will talk about their memories of Dien Bien Phu.
Dien Bien Phu: Intense memories in obliteration
After the fall of Dien Bien Phu, the French Government and army endured much criticism. After that, they began the war in Algeria. Thereafter, memories of Dien Bien Phu were not mentioned or were intentionally forgotten.
The Dien Bien Phu Veterans Association was dissolved in 2004, partially closing the door to the memories of 60 years ago. As a result of their private lives and old age, the French veterans who once fought in Vietnam are now living in many places and hardly keep in touch with each other. Thanks to some French friends and historians specialising in Vietnam and Dien Bien Phu, VOV correspondents tracked down several veterans and had a chance to talk to them about their old memories.
For some of them, firm orders during the war gave them no choice to think about or refuse to join the war, which later made them feel regret. Many were discharged as soon as they returned home and they went about their civilian lives.
To others who devoted their entire life to the army, Dien Bien Phu ended and they continued to fight in Algeria. Memories of the defeat of the French army in Vietnam were not a proud thing to mention, but they did not mind showing their respect and admiration for Vietnamese soldiers and particularly for General Vo Nguyen Giap.
“I respect my enemies”
In the city of Tours, about 250km from Paris, the correspondents went to see Colonel Jacques Allaire, who served as a lieutenant in a battalion under the command of General Bigeard in Dien Bien Phu. Over 1,500 books on Vietnam, most of which are about the Indochina War and the battle of Dien Bien Phu, rest on his bookshelf. It demonstrates how much the five and a half years of fighting in Indochina determined the rest of his life.
Colonel Allaire devoted his entire life to the army, fighting in many places. He explained: “I am now 92 years old and not a single day has gone by since the Dien Bien Phu loss that I haven’t wondered to myself about why the French army lost.” According to him, the colonial domination had made the Vietnamese people take up arms and perhaps inevitably, the ones who fought for national independence won—not only over the French colonists, but also against the US military after that.
After more than five and a half years of fighting in Indochina, Colonel Allaire commented that the Vietnamese army had recorded progress through each stage, along with a great determination to win independence, and under the leadership of brilliant leaders like President Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap, they finally won the battle.
“Victory was impossible and too far away from us. The aircrafts were not able to give us relief. The French Government changed 19 times in nine years and that messed everything up. General Navarre did not know anything about the battlefield in Vietnam. After the Na San battle, the French commanders thought they could win and decided to attack at Dien Bien Phu, but they were wrong. It was Vietnamese soldiers who owned the hills, because it was their country”, he added.
“I respect my own enemies, who fought hard for national independence. I know many soldiers of King Bao Dai’s army; they did not have any motivation and determination, they did not represent the wishes of the people of Vietnam and did not sacrifice their lives for the country. Meanwhile, Vietnam Minh soldiers were true soldiers with the will, courage and morality”, Mr. Allaire said.
Dien Bien Phu is the victory of the people of Vietnam
Mr Bonny and his wife
Unlike Lieutenant Jacques Allaire, Sergeant Pierre Bonny, who now lives in Lyon, was just a simple paratrooper who received the order to jump into Dien Bien Phu as the French army was near their failure in April 1954. He was only 19 years old at that time. Bonny feels regret for participating in the war in Vietnam.
Asked what he thought about the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, Pierre Bonny said: “I just thought that the Viet Minh deserved to win. They did everything to win. They were particularly brave and valiant. They won the war with modest means of warfare. Thus, the decisive factor that made their victory was surely courage and extraordinary endurance”.
Once he was captured by the Viet Minh and held prisoner. Bonny did not hold onto his hatred, however, because he knew that, “The Vietnamese soldiers had no intention of harming me. I was never physically abused”. With the constant memories of Dien Bien Phu, his turbulent youth and the brave Vietnamese people, Mr. Pierre Bonny joined the veterans and his wife on a visit to the old battlefield and witnessed how life has been rebuilt at the sites of the fiercest battles.
“I owe a Vietnamese medic”
92-year-old Colonel Jack Bonfils was sometimes confused when recounting the memories of a war that took place more than 60 years ago, but he told in great detail the story of a Vietnamese medic.
“I was taken as a prisoner and I was deeply injured with a gangrenous leg. Luckily, I met a medic soldier in a Vietnamese troop on the way. He decided to perform surgery for me right on the spot. With only a razor attached to a piece of bamboo, he removed necrotic parts of my leg, so I was saved and now still have legs to walk”, Bonfils said.
“The doctor spoke French very well; he had been trained in France but decided to join the Viet Minh Army to win independence for his Fatherland. We exchanged contacts and later wrote to each other several times. Sadly, he died in the last hours of the war against the US, and I never got the chance to reward him”.
Moved by the noble act of the medic and the humanitarian gestures of the Vietnamese army and people during the 21 months he was a prisoner, as well as wanting to atone for his sins for joining the unjust war, Colonel Bonfils gathered hundreds of Dien Bien Phu veterans to establish the Dien Bien Phu Veterans Association (ANAPI) in 1985.
The association has organised many trips to Vietnam to help the veterans return to Dien Bien Phu. They have also raised funds to build schools, bridges and roads in poor villages where there were once fierce battlefields. Unfortunately, in May 2014 the veterans met each other for the last time and decided to dissolve the association. The reason is simple: they are all very old now and it is very difficult to gather everyone and continue to operate.
There remain many veterans in different cities and provinces throughout France whose stories we wanted to share, but the correspondents could not meet them all. However, they surely keep memories of Dien Bien Phu forever in their mind. Although those memories are painful, they can also serve as a bridge to connect with Vietnam, in order to make the “two peoples of Vietnam and France come back to being friends”, as Colonel Bonfils expressed, or as Colonel Allaire said: “Solutions must be found before thinking about a war”.
THUY VAN
(Source: VOV/Translated by Nhan Dan Online)
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