More than 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War, Gary Canant returned to the country whose people he had fought, ‘to find closure and healing’ and ‘make contact and peace with all Vietnamese’.
His aims during the trip included playing ‘Taps’, the USA’s most revered bugle call, played during patriotic memorial ceremonies and military funerals.
Below is the media release published on 20 April 2007 by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States of America:
‘Veteran Gary Canant, famous author of over 200 letters to
his wife Maxie during the Vietnam War, arrived in Hanoi Monday on a nine-day
trip during which he will play the bugle in memory of war victims.
Accompanying him was Maxie and his son Kevin, who served in Iraq in 2003-04. Maxie said: “Our trip to Vietnam this time aims to commemorate the deaths. And we want to say we hate war.”
From Hanoi, the family will leave for Quang Tri and Danang – where Gary served during the war – where he will play the Vietnamese national anthem for the deceased.
Quang Tri saw some of the most intense fighting and was the northernmost part of the erstwhile South Vietnam and includes Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Cam Lo, Gio Linh, the Rock Pile, Khe Sanh, Con Thien, portions of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and the southern part of the old DMZ.
More bombs were dropped on Quang Tri than on all of Europe during World War II. The killings have continued even after the war ended in 1975, with over 5,000 people, including 500 children, being killed by landmines, cluster bombs, and unexploded ordnance left behind by the Americans.
The 61-year-old veteran said: “The Taps In Vietnam concept began as a way for me to create closure by having the memorial services we never had during the war. It has since grown into a much larger project to let people who lost so much in that war express their losses and share common memories.”
He has contacted local governments in Quang Tri to get permission to play the bugle. Most officials in Vietnam have been warm and welcoming since the focus of the project is to honor all American and Vietnamese lost during the war besides innocent victims.
Images from Gary Canant
You can read more about Gary Canant at http://dearmaxie.com/
If you are interested in the history of early America, and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at
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