What War Could Not Destroy

"Let's also not forget that the reconciliation between our countries was led by our veterans who once faced each other in battle. Because our veterans showed us the way, because warriors had the courage to pursue peace, our peoples are now closer than ever before."

-Former American President, President Obama (Hanoi, Vietnam, 2016)

As I arrived in Hanoi, I was met at the car by Luong Thanh Nghi, a senior official of Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He opened the door, motioned me inside, and said quietly,

"Welcome, Mr. Ambassador."

I said, "I'm not an ambassador."

"Oh, but you are, sir. You are our first American goodwill ambassador since the war ended."

-Hanoi, Vietnam, November 10, 1993

What War Could Not Destroy is the true story of how a U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade paratrooper returned to Vietnam to meet Nguyen Van Nghia, the former enemy whose diary he had captured in battle in March 1968-and how that fragile, handwritten diary became a bridge between two men once separated by war. This is not a story about forgetting the past. It is a story about facing the past-fully-and discovering what reconciliation actually requires.

Paul Reed is a former U.S. Army paratrooper who served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade during the Vietnam War. In March 1968, during combat operations in Vietnam's Central Highlands, he captured a small diary belonging to a North Vietnamese soldier.

Decades later, Reed returned to Vietnam to locate the diary's author, Nguyen Van Nghia, and return the diary and other personal items taken during the war. That meeting marked the beginning of a long and unlikely friendship between two former enemies. Reed's journey has been recognized internationally as an early act of reconciliation between former combatants and between nations once at war. His story has been shared through books, public speaking, and documentary films, reaching audiences around the world. He lives in the United States and continues to speak about the cost of war, the discipline of forgiveness, and the enduring possibility of peace.