My Grandfather was always a Great guy, he had been sweet to me and my siblings and my cousins, he was such a caring Grandpa too, he loved everyone in the Family equally which is why i really loved him a lot, but one thing i never understood was why does he get panic even in the slightest bit when he’s in the Forest, even just passing by with cars, some panic attack would just trigger him, i was a Child at that time so i never understood why,
i even saw him with pictures of him in the Forest, it seemed to be pictures when he looked younger, i saw Old Black and White Pictures of when he was younger and in those pictures, i saw what seemed to be his friends and even my Grandma and my Mom when they we’re young, he was smiling in those pictures, so i never understood why he doesn’t like the Forest anymore, He prefers living in the City we live in, and even if we we’re just driving by the forest, he would always pray and pray and even panick sometimes, he would often chant prayers to keep Spirits away???
i know many people are scared of Mythical Creatures but does my Grandfather really believe in them? honestly, everytime he does this, me and my always worry about him, but we always take care of him, that’s why we rarely drive in forests to get to our destinations in the country, but for most of the time, my Grandfather prefers to stay in the City at our House,
if i’m being honest, i prefer to be in the forest since the air is fresher there and it’s not as poluted unlike the City but it’s up for my Grandfather to decide and i don’t wanna force him out of a place he’s comfortable in, i still don’t understand why would he be scared of the Forest though, my mother even told me that they used to live in a Rice Farm in a pretty dense forest back then so i never understood why he would not want to be in the Forests anymore, was it because of some mythical creatures he saw? i will probably never know
but then, i grew a little older, it was time for me to go to college, i was gonna move out of our house now, my Family is obviously happy that i got accepted in University especially my Grandfather who seemed the most enthusiastic out of all of them, guess it makes sense since he never really went to university and only got low paying jobs in his life,
my parents go luck to go into college and get proper jobs, the college i’m going to is pretty far away from my Home, hell, it’s not even in my country, ill be going to Great Britain to Study in University, i will obviously miss it here but i’m also excited for what comes ahead, so i was preparing to pack my things, i only had a few weeks left before i leave this City, i will miss it here,
so ill just pack all the things ill bring to college and pack some in the attic, so i packed up everything, i will pack up all the things in my room to prepare for the coming weeks, so while i was packing, i saw a box that i had never seen before, it seemed a little too dusty, as i wiped out the dust, i opened the box to see what was inside of it,
it was a bunch of letters and a diary book, and it wasn’t written in English, it was Vietnamese, and the letters seemed pretty old, i can understand some Vietnamese since i grew up with it, but anyways, i decided to read what it was about and what i am about read would shock me for the rest of my life, the first letters i saw seemed normal, it was just his letters to my Grandmother,
and this was around the time when he fought in the war back in Vietnam, it all seemed normal, it was all about them checking each other to see if they we’re both alright and the letters are just very sweet, i will read one of them
Hello Dear, i hope you are okay back there at Hanoi, i hope your doing okay there and i hope your safe there, your probably worried sick about me, i know i haven’t said a letter in ages, but that was because of how busy i am fighting but don’t worry about me, i’m still alive, and i am still going strong, i hope your okay there, i love you my dear, and i promise, ill try to get back home alive to see our beautiful daughter in our arms
it was all normal letters but then, i read his diary and i wish i should have never read, ill translate them in the best possible way i can
Page #1
October 25 1965
This war is really as bad as i expected it, we are forced to hide in cramped tunnels with no fresh air, we always have to hide from bushes and trees, we’re given really terrible food and don’t even get me started on the mud, this war was really as bad as they say it was, ill be surprised if i even survive this long, but i hope the best for my country, i know what i’m fighting for
Page #2:
Febuary 10 1970
i’m starting to go crazy, i’m hearing things, i hear them, the sound of cries of help and despair, deep in this thick and dense forests, i keep hearing them, and i’m even starting to see them, please, just make it stop, i need to hide in the tunnels,
Page #3:
(same date as the last letter)
The tunnels aren’t any better, it’s much more worse, i’m seeing them everywhere, and they are surrounding me, the noises are just getting louder and louder, i’m trapped here, these spirits are going after me, i don’t know how much i can take it anymore, i don’t think i can get out of these tunnels anymore,
If you find this diary, then i’m dead, i have no more hope of surviving anymore (the page seemed to be lined out, pretty much erased)
Page #4:
Febuary 11 1970
no wait, i’m not dead, i’m still alive, i may have some hope, i found some of my comrades in these tunnels, it turns out, i’m not the only who is hearing them and seeing them, they we’re also hearing and seeing them, maybe, just maybe, we can get out of these tunnels and dense forest, we still have hope, maybe we can get out together
we have officially come to a conclusion that these spirits are real, we’re gonna survive, we can do this, this is not about the war anymore, this now about getting out from these haunted and evil spirits, and we will do it, we will hope for the best
Page #5:
(Same date as the last letter)
The sounds have stopped and We found an exit! we can finally get out, we have hope of returning now, we’re back out into the dense forest and it’s night time, we’re trying to return back to our posts, i hope we do so, all of us, i hope we all make it in one piece,
Page #7
We’re hearing them again, their all over the place again! *the pages are a bit torn and the words are a bit utually unitelligible due to the corrupted writing* My comrades are firing at them now, we can’t take it anym- and it just cuts off from there
while i’m in shock reading his diary i found another letter from the box and this time, it was from my Grandma
Febuary 18 1970
Dear, what is Going on, i just heard about soldiers who ran back because they saw Ghosts???? please tell me what’s going on there, i hope your doing okay there my dear, please be safe
and this is the last page:
April 15 1970
my comrades whom i considered my friends are now gone, the Ghosts took them and i’m lucky to be alive, i am now a Prisoner of War in this Camp, based on the American’s stories, it was said that we fired at their direction so they fired back at us as self defence, they managed to kill my comrades but not me, i was shot but it wasn’t fatal, they said that after being shot, i was still alive and moving, i don’t really remember much about it, all i remember is that we shot up the ghosts that we’re coming at a direction we hear them, then afterwards, i just passed out after all that, one of the soldiers was kind enough to bring me to the POW camp to get my wounds treated, these horrors will forever be stuck in my mind, i am never going back to forests ever again, i want to move somewhere that is away from these forests, i hope no one has to experience what i experienced,
the letters shocked me and as i was going down the attic, questioning what i just read on my Grandfathers leters then i heard this on the TV while walking, i stopped for a bit and heard this:
*On the 10th of February 1970, the United States launched Operation Wandering Soul. it was a propaganda campaign and psychological warfare effort exercised by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. It was an attempt to increase desertions and defections from Việt Cộng forces and weaken their morale. Vietnamese believed that the dead must be buried in their properly, or their soul will wander aimlessly in pain and suffering. Vietnamese feel that if a person is improperly buried, then their soul wanders constantly. They can sometimes be contacted on the anniversary of their death and near where they died.*
*American engineers spent weeks recording eerie sounds and altered voices, which acted roles of slain Việt Cộng soldiers, it was so effective that it also scared the South Vietnamese Allies, many Soldiers from the Việt Cộng deserted due to the demoralization that the tapes brought. no one knows the full extent use of the tapes but it was said that it’s use was stopped due to how the tape so demoralizing that it not only Demoralized the Việt Cộng and South Vietnamese Forces, it also Demoralized American Forces.*
When i heard what was being said on the TV, i suddenly got even more anxious, i was already getting anxious reading my Grand Fathers letters, but hearing all those things being said on TV made me even more anxious, it made my body even more heavy and i’m honestly shocked, my Grandfather had went through a lot, and i could only imagine what was going on in my Grandfathers mind,
what a cruel way to torture my Grandpa, i never knew about this, i knew my Grandpa fought in the War but i never knew it was that bad, and i now understand why he doesn’t talk about it, these bad memories are probably haunting him forever, i now understand why my Grandfather doesn’t want to go and walk around forests, it triggers bad memories for him and ill make sure to spend more time with him while he’s still here and make sure he enjoys the remaining days of his life
i will try to get more details about him but for now, i need to focus on my college studies, ill go home on summer holidays to learn more about his war time experience and maybe even let him reconciliate with his past
i will post a part 2 of this post soon