An American Air Force sergeant and the legacy of a North Vietnamese surgeon

Dang Thuy Tram, family photo, 1968. 

The story of Dang Thuy Tram, a young surgeon from Hanoi who traveled down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to work for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, and who kept a diary during the war, has been told in one chapter of my young adult collective biography, Courageous Women of the Vietnam War. However, my chapter omitted a key player--Ted Engelmann, a Vietnam War veteran who spent many post-war years in Vietnam. Ted has graciously offered to tell his part in the following post.

Air Force Sergeant Engelmann, summer 1968, coordinating air strikes and US Air Force FACs (Forward Air Controllers), from the TOC (Tactical Operations Center), 3rd Brigade, 1st Infantry Div., Lai Khe (on Hwy# 13, north of Bien Hoa Air Base).

Dear Reader,

First, I appreciate Kathryn’s generosity that I might add some details to the story of Dang Thuy Tram, the medical doctor from Ha Noi, Viet Nam, killed by American soldiers in South Viet Nam, June 1970.  Please understand, VietNam is a country, not a war…a whole other story.

Here are a few bits of background and information that I’ve learned since I met Fred and his brother Rob Whitehurst in March 2005, at the Fifth Triennial Symposium, sponsored by the Vietnam Center & Archives, at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX. 

The beginning: Fred Whitehurst enlisted in the Army and arrived in Viet Nam in March 1969 as a SP4 (Specialist 4th class).   Fred was assigned to the military intelligence detachment of his unit, part of the Americal Division, in the small village of Duc Pho, a few km south of Quang Ngai, south of Da Nang.  Fred left Viet Nam three years later.

Fred’s brother, Rob, enlisted in the Army in November 1967.  First, he learned the Southern dialect of Vietnamese at the Defense Language Institute.  Afterwards, Rob was trained in boat operations.  He arrived in Viet Nam in March 1970, and was assigned as a boat skipper in the Mekong Delta.

After Thuy’s death, over time, capturing two of her diaries, Fred was supposed to burn the diaries along with other declassified material, but his Vietnamese translator told him, “Don’t burn these Fred.  They have fire in them already.”  Fred left Viet Nam in 1972, with the two small diaries.

After the war, Fred eventually worked many years for the FBI.  Always wanting to return the diaries, but unable to make any contact with communist Viet Nam, Fred kept the two diaries for 35 years.  Over time, Rob had translated a major portion of the diaries, which gave both men a deeper insight to this dedicated and special woman, Dang Thuy Tram.

Frustrated what to do with the diaries, in 2005, Rob arranged for Fred to donate the two diaries to the archivist at the Vietnam Center & Archives at the Fifth Triennial Symposium on 19 March.  You can see the moving presentation at the virtual archive link: https://vva.vietnam.ttu.edu/repositories/2/digital_objects/251991.

The evening after their emotional presentation, I was one of a couple people who received a CD with both diaries scanned, front-to-back.

A few days later I arrived in Ha Noi.  Eventually I asked a Vietnamese friend to look at the CD and see if she could figure out if there was any family members we could contact.

Reading the diary on her computer, she recognized former places of work of Thuy’s mother and father.  Doing some detective work by making phone calls, she learned the home phone number of Mother Tram and youngest sister, Kim.  Ironically, they lived a few blocks down the street from her office.  Within a couple days after her discovery, I was able to return Thuy’s diaries to her Mother and three younger sisters, and the rest of the family.

Thuy's family reading the diary for the first time, April 28, 2005.

Photo by Ted Engelmann.

As you can imagine, that was an emotional experience, for me, the family, and very soon, the rest of Viet Nam.

By August 2005, Kim had transcribed the beautiful hand-written diaries from the CD and published Nhat Ky Dang Thuy Tram (The Diaries of Dang Thuy Tram).  The book was an instant best-seller.  Over the years it has been translated into more than 20 languages and sold more than 500,000 copies in Viet Nam alone, where a “best seller” in Viet Nam is maybe 6,000 copies. The diaries inspired a Vietnamese film, “Dong Dot” (“Don’t Burn It”).

Two years later, in the fall of 2007, Harmony House, a division of Random House, published the English translation of the diaries, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace, The Diaries of Dang Thuy Tram.

Ted is seen in the central image, wearing a blue shirt and sitting beside Thuy's sister 

as the family reads the diary for the first time, April 28, 2005.

From a personal perspective, I find it strange I have never been contacted for background information by authors, publishers, or others.  Unfortunately, since I'm not mentioned as part of the story, incorrect information is passed on to the reader.  In one case, it was as if the diaries appeared in possession of the family by magic.  It seems my task is to help correct the narrative for future readers and authors as best I can.

Thank you for your understanding and interest in Dang Thuy Tram, and the other extremely deserving women in Kathryn’s book, Courageous Women of the Vietnam War, Medics, Journalists,Survivors, and More.

Obviously there are more nuanced details to the story of returning the diaries of Dang Thuy Tram.  If you have a question, or believe I have overlooked an important fact, please let me know and I’ll do my best to explain.

Sincerely,

Ted Engelmann

mail@tedengelmann.com

Bio:
Unable to keep his freshman college grades up, in February 1966, 19 year-old Ted Engelmann enlisted in the US Air Force, mainly to avoid combat arms in Viet Nam.  Ted was trained in ground-to-air radio maintenance.  His male ego challenged by a girl he was trying to impress, Ted volunteered for Viet Nam.  His wish granted, in March 1968, Air Force Sergeant Engelmann arrived at Bien Hoa Air Base, north of Saigon.  He was assigned to an Air Force Forward Air Control team and lived with the US army, helping direct Air Force air strikes north of Saigon for seven months; then five months with an American Advisory team in the Mekong Delta.  Ted left Viet Nam in March 1969.

Ted has been a teacher at the Middle School (his favorite), High School, and College level in the US, South Korea, and Viet Nam.  He worked as a veteran advocate and national trainer with the Veterans Employment and Training Services, part of the US Department of Labor.

Ted in 2004 after a slide presentation with students at the UN International School in Ha Noi. 

For more than 45 years, Ted has photographed the Viet Nam veteran parades and memorials in Australia, South Korea, and the US.  Ted’s first return to Viet Nam was in March 1989.  He has photographed this changing culture and resilient people for 30 years.

Ted lives in Denver, Colorado.