Never Die Today: In His Arms She Was His to Discover. Would the War Forever Keep Them Apart?

By John Daniel Strong

As they careened to the left, to his surprise the wounded Iroquois was not in a spin. Though the pilot was dead, the co-pilot was flying. Once the olive green bird slapped the ground and the twin rotor-blades were still, maybe there was just enough room for the escort gunship to land and get them out if the blades were rotated. Unfortunately while he turned the blades no one would be shooting at Charlie.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524618858

John Daniel Strong

John Daniel Strong was born in San Diego. He has a Bachelor of Science in History and Political Science from Weber State University and a Master of Education from the University of Houston. He has lived in Texas for more than thirty six years. He has three children and eight grandchildren. He is a Veteran and a member of VFW Post 12058 in Kyle, Texas. John has previously published--The Last Muster--a novel that cinemas the Mormons as they escape Missouri during the Extermination Order , and the love of an escort girl for a down on his luck cowboy caught in the crossfire when Butch Cassidy robbed the San Miguel Valley Bank. John has also published--Never Die Today—a novel where love emerges triumphant in a war —when the final curtain call is seen from a wounded Iroquois leaving the American embassy during the fall of Saigon.

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CHAPTER 1

Thanh Huu

Already too many years had kept them apart. Would she keep him waiting? Thanh Huu stood in front of the bamboo gate that opened into a flower garden. Even Vo Nguyễn Giap did not know his trusted general was there. Only Lieutenant Dong Nghinh knew Thanh Huu was at the orphanage.

He had wanted to marry the beautiful Anouk Bernat for as long as he could remember. However, such a marriage had seemed impossible. Though both were taught in the same Catholic school, nonetheless, she was the daughter of Basile Bernat a wealthy French landowner, and while Thanh Huu’s mother was French, his father was a Viet Minh nationalist killed fighting the Japanese in 1941.

Thanh Huu had not forgotten how it was when Georges Thierry d’Argenlieu was appointed vice-admiral, and the French again were enforcing European Empire-building after the Japanese surrendered to the Americans. Basile Bernat fought with Charles De Gaulle and the Free French against the Germans, but now Basile Bernat was with Philippe Leclerc in spite of Ho Chi Minh’s victory in the north and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi.

Was there a difference between the Japanese and the French? Both invaders opposed Vietnamese liberty whether you were from Hanoi or Saigon. Yet be as it was, Thanh Huu had never forgotten the last night he and Anouk were together, though now it was so long ago.

**********

Anouk sat up. She had been unaware of the noise in the night that otherwise would stir apprehension. Only Thanh Huu knew where she was. Even so, not knowing how long she had been waiting, more as a reflex than a conscious reaction, though she had only seen her father shoot snakes with it, she had already put her father’s Luger in the folds of her dress. Then suddenly Thanh Huu stood above her, at the edge of where it was dark.

As she scrambled to her feet, she almost dropped the pistol. Except for the hint of red from his mother, Thanh Huu’s hair was as black as a crow’s back. To Anouk Bernat, standing there in the moonlight, Thanh Huu was more than a mensch. He was Jules Verne, Claude Nonet, Yves Montand, and Charles de Gaulle merged into one.

Do you like what you see? Anouk didn’t believe what she had just said as she pulled at the wrinkles in her dress. It fit tight around her waist, drawing attention to her breasts, especially when she accentuated them the way she was breathing. She had seen her mother intentionally do that when she wanted Anouk’s father to pay more notice.

But right then Anouk wanted Thanh Huu to do more than just be attentive. She wanted him to know she was a woman, not a little girl. She could almost feel him breathe. If she turned without stepping back, she would be in his arms. What would he do then?

Though it was interrupted when her mother had called, wanting Anouk to come in, he had kissed her before when he had walked her home from school. Then on Sunday after Mass, he had kissed her again, when she had felt what was stirring her now. Other boys had kissed her, and it was not the same. Then last night he had asked her to meet him where she had been waiting.

Suddenly, in his arms everything was right. Whatever he wanted she was his to discover. Then she was helping him unhook the buttons on her dress, kissing him with no intention of any further interruption. There was no surprise when suddenly she knew the meaning of her forethought. Anouk had loved Thanh Huu even when love was before time, before it was tamperable.

Yet too often position forbids. When Thanh Huu tried to follow Anouk to France after Basile Bernat took her to Paris, Basile Bernat had Thanh Huu arrested. Then while the inquisition screeched subversion—a premature incitement—though at the time it did enlist the French government, in Paris Basile Bernat made certain his daughter realized if she tried to see Thanh Huu again, he would never be found alive.

Even when he was in school at Aix-Marseille a few miles from Paris, he never knew where she was. The next time Thanh Huu learned anything about Anouk, she had emerged from a convent married to her God and was somewhere in Cochinchina near Saigon. Yet it remained, would her love for Thanh Huu someday resist even her commitment to God if Thanh Huu ever wanted her again?

On the other hand, while at Aix-Marseille, Thanh Huu’s friendship with Jacob Davis his roommate very well might have become a reason to question his allegiance to Vo Nguyễn Giap if Thanh Huu’s mother had not died at the hands of the French, and the war for independence had never lengthened to include the Americans.

Jacob Davis had served with the 101st Airborne when the Screaming Eagles jumped into Normandy. He was a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge and the siege at Bastogne.

CHAPTER 2

Dong Nghinh

Dong Nghinh was born in 1922, in Kimlien, Annam, in the same village as Ho Chi Minh. Annam was the French name for Central Vietnam during the Colonial imposition. Ho Chi Minh was thirty-two in 1922. However, unlike Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nghinh was not a communist, though he fought with the Viet Minh against the Japanese until they surrendered in 1945, and his courage and daring were a matter of record when Ho Chi Minh became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Dong Nghinh was a hauler for Michelin when Thanh Huu finished the degree he started in France at Aix-Marseille, graduating from the University of Hanoi in 1950. After Vo Nguyễn Giap sent Thanh Huu to An Loc to organize the dissidents loyal to Hanoi against the French, though Dong Nghinh was still not a communist, he followed Thanh Huu and joined the growing struggle for independence.

From the outset, it just wasn’t possible to ignore Dong Nghinh when he proved to warrant his reputation, especially with the French Legionnaires calling him the ghost of the Red Baron. Yet there was something more, something extra-ordinary that would not forever evade announcement drawing Dong Nghinh to Thanh Huu even beyond a growing friendship, something Thanh Huu didn’t know, and Dong Nghinh would never think to tell him, though it was central to the reason Dong Nghinh joined the Viet Minh where Thanh Huu was recruiting.

It was the Tet New Year; Thanh Huu was back in Hanoi; and Vo Nguyễn Giap had made him a captain. He had also shown Thanh Huu what could be expected the next year in the all-out effort against the French. Then alone in his room that night, his thoughts never far from Anouk, tussling with the enormity of his responsibility, there was an unexpected knock on the door. Opening it, Thanh Huu was surprised when it was Dong Nghinh’s mother. She was in Hanoi visiting her sister.

Dong Hanh Hoa, this is unexpected. Why have you come to see me?

Is my son taking care of you?

Sometimes he looks after me too much … and I can’t help wondering why.

That’s why I’m here. I don’t want either of you killed by the French. You must tell my son not to be careless. He must take care of himself as well as you.

Why is it so important to him … his concern for me?

When your father and my son were in the war against the Japanese Dong Nghinh was trapped by a tank. In diverting the tank from Dong Nghinh your father charged the tank with a satchel full of explosives. Though the tank was destroyed and Dong Nghinh was safe … Thanh Minh was killed … and my son feels he owes your father. Looking after you is Dong Nghinh’s way of trying to pay that onus.

You know even if I order him to stop he won’t stop.

I know … but at least now you know why.

**********

There were several women standing near Thanh Huu. They were watching him demonstrate how to remove a bullet. He had also told them not to call him captain unless they were secluded. He would be less a target for the French that way. Claudine Phu Lai was twenty-two. She was ten years younger than Dong Nghinh, and she had been with him and the Viet Minh fighting the French for two years. She had just told Thanh Huu she loved Dong Nghinh.

Claudine, have you told Dong Nghinh how you feel? Thanh Huu closed the bamboo lid on the box that held the much needed medical supplies. They were made available from the Russians through the efforts of Ho Chi Minh.

It isn’t I don’t want to. I would if he even hinted he felt something after all the time we’ve been together. Though I know I saw something yesterday when he looked at me … before I could be sure he sent me here to deliver the medical supplies.

What if he’s afraid of his feelings because of the difference in your age?

Would that make a difference to you?

Not if I loved you. Though knowing Dong Nghinh … to avoid the awkward … he will wait until it’s almost too late unless you risk his denial and show him you love him.

Men … you’re all alike. Captain Thanh Huu, I’ve got to know no matter what the risk. I love him so much there are days it would be easier to stop breathing than go on. He’s all I think about …

I love someone like that. Losing her still haunts me. Maybe I can find out what you need to know.

They had crawled close enough to smell the toilet when the humid air settled, though not close enough to hear any careless conversation. Yet even with that as it was, it was not necessary to risk moving closer. The siege had concluded fifty-three days. The French would not last much longer. They had three-thousand wounded trapped inside Dien Bien Phu. When the barrage lifted the Viet Minh would come out of the spider caves for the last time. There would be no more blood spilled just to close a trap. Ho Chi Minh will have his victory, and the French will be forced to leave.

Captain, do you think when the French have surrendered we will be allowed to plant and harvest our rice in peace … and the rubber plantations will be in our hands?

Dong Nghinh, I think we will yet see our country caught in a tug-o-war between the superpowers. And while that continues there will be nothing but ruin. I understand Ho Chi Minh’s desperation … but when he encouraged Russia and China to come to our aid against France … he set us against the United States. It will not be easy to turn them away as long as they believe our struggle threatens our own and the world economic balance … part of a landscape cultivated in what communism is perceived to be … especially after the Chinese attacked the Americans in Korea.

Unfortunately … though it is no less authoritarian than the Japanese … communism has provided the only means to throw off the colonials. Will there be a time when we will seek freedom for all our people beyond what is sacrificed at the altar of independence?

I’m afraid our generation will not see it.

Although Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh decisively defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu, bringing an end to the French domination of Indochina, unfortunately, the dividing of Vietnam along the 17th parallel will lead to such a bloodletting so extreme where the dead are nameless and unknown counted only in the millions that even Thanh Huu could not have foreseen the holocaust affirmation. Yet even with this the most continuing of human endeavors has its moment. Not all is smeared if love is not buried with the dead!

Before Thanh Huu opened the door when Dong Nghinh stopped the truck in front of the Viet Minh command center, he turned around. Dong Nghinh, Do you love Claudine Phu Lai?

Yes … but why do you ask?

The lack of an attempt to conceal what might have been considered subjective, and not the concern of anyone else, didn’t surprise Thanh Huu. It was just the way Dong Nghinh was. She loves you … and I like her. It would be terrible to see you not together if your apprehension of the difference in your age is the only reason you haven’t told her.

Did Claudine say something?

The way she said she loves you made me remember how it was before Anouk became a nun.

You don’t think the difference in our age matters?

The only thing that does matter is she loves you. The last time you were alone … when I sent you to get the medical supplies … she said it was all she could do to keep away from you.

When I’m with her I’m afraid I might do something you would not approve of.

Then it’s time you stopped running from your feelings. Do you want to marry her?

As soon as I can ask her.

When Dong Nghinh walked into the amputee ward where Claudine Phu Lai was working, she was surprised to see him. He had never been there when she was there, though she knew he had brought more than one wounded Viet Minh to the hospital when Thanh Huu had sent him there.

Dong Nghinh, what are you doing here? Is there something you need? Claudine pulled her uniform down tight around her hips. It stretched flat around her waist. She unconsciously held her breath. The affect was not lost on Dong Nghinh.

I love you! Dong Nghinh stuttered the words, but there was no point in trying to calm his nerves. Will you marry me?

She was standing in the middle of the ward with beds on both sides. Without any warning, saying nothing, she suddenly stood in front of Dong Nghinh. She was as tall as he was. With both arms around his neck she kissed him, obviously not caring who might see. There was a loud cheer from almost every patient. Those with two hands clapped.

Then while Dong Nghinh was trying to breathe, Claudine stepped back where he could see her eyes. I’ve loved you almost from the first day I saw you. Of course I’ll marry you.

I don’t want to wait one more day. Captain Thanh Huu is at the Buddhist Temple with a priest. He’s waiting for us.

I don’t know what you believe … and Captain Thanh Huu is a communist. Why the priest?

You’re Buddhist. It’s your wedding.

I love you … Dong Nghinh!

After they were married, Claudine didn’t cry, not even a sniffle. She just put her arms around her husband’s neck, letting him kiss her, not caring if they ever stopped!

CHAPTER 3

Claudine

Phu Hy was Claudine Dong’s sister. She was nineteen in 1960. Like Claudine she was a dedicated adherent of Vietnamese independence and Ho Chi Minh. However, unification attained by Democide demanded objection.

She was in Phong Dien when the Viet Cong struck their own. The villagers were gathered and forced to watch while the hamlet chief’s tongue was cut out and his genitals were sliced off and sewn inside his bloody mouth. As he died, his wife was cut open, killing her unborn baby. Then a nine-year-old son and two other children were murdered, a bamboo lance rammed through their ears. Though the five-year-old daughter was not harmed, she was left holding her dead mother’s hand.

When Phu Hy recognized the man responsible for the Phong Dien barbarism, before the three men with him grabbed her she hit him in the head with a shovel. They would have beaten her to death in the street where everyone could see, if one of them hadn’t known who she was. However, when they took her away they carried her in a bamboo cage like a wild tiger.

Dong Nghinh watched the children play their game, crawling in and out of a spider cave, what had been their shelter before when the bombs came. He sat on the floor in front of the door next to Claudine, his head on her swollen stomach, listening to the heartbeat of their unborn child. Though he had just come from where countless dead were buried, some things went on without change. The unborn still made ready to participate, whether the dream of a rightful marriage—or the consequence of a harlot’s carelessness.

Suddenly a young boy about twelve stuck his head in the open doorway. Mam, they took your sister.

Who took her? Claudine arched her back against the baby.

Nghia Hung. There were two men I don’t know with him.

Dong Nghinh, those men were Viet Minh. The baby had moved. Claudine sat again on the floor.

They are Viet Cong now. What did she do? Dong Nghinh watched the pain in his wife’s eyes.

She hit Nghia Diem with a shovel. I think she killed him. The boy was still standing outside.

Nghia Hung knows I was at Dien Bin Phu … and I’m married to you. He will not do anything to Phu Hy until after a trial. If she’s found guilty I can’t stop him from demanding a public execution. We will have to do something before the trial.

Thanh Huu stood in the door leading to an even larger room. He was a major now. Vo Nguyễn Giap had promoted him the year before. Meizhen Ling was very much a woman most men would feel lucky to have. She had been his uncle’s wife. Now she was his widow. Like Ho Chi Minh he was a Bolshevik. The French War had made him rich. Yet as it was while on his way to deliver medical supplies to Vo Nguyen Giap, one of his own killed him. Thanh Huu remembered how abandoned his aunt could be when she wanted his uncle’s attention. She had been alone a year now.

Aunt Ling, you are as beautiful as ever! Thanh Huu didn’t move from where he stood. Though his eyes gestured appreciation, it was still only Anouk that fired his hunger.

Although your eyes announce a need … and you find it unsettling the prospect of an exchange in my bedroom … knowing I would give myself to you … yet the way you stay where you are tells me you have never stopped loving Anouk even if where she is seems catatonic … and because there has been no one since my husband I know how alone you are.

You always were someone special.

Since it’s not me you want … what can I do for you?

You know Dong Nghinh?

Yes … quite well. He brought your uncle’s body home. Claudine stayed with me until the worst was manageable.

Claudine’s sister is in jail for killing Nghia Diem. If Dong Nghinh was not involved she would already be dead.

Is Phu Hy Claudine’s sister?

Yes.

I know what happened. As long as what Nghia Diem did is customary Viet Cong strategy … condoned by the Central Committee … I don’t have enough influence to help Phu Hy. We will have to get her out without anyone knowing you are involved. She will have to leave … go where no one knows her … maybe even to Saigon. It will be easy to go south. Hundreds infiltrate across the 17th parallel almost daily. She could stay there until it’s safe to come back. I can take care of Claudine when her baby comes.

I hope your money can make it happen?

Enough money can make anything happen … and your uncle’s money is where no one can get it … except me.

Switzerland…

Yes.

Dong Nghinh set the Chinese rifle he had brought from An Loc on the floor and kissed Claudine, holding her like he did when they were first married. He never left her without letting her know she was his life. Reluctantly he had let her hide the Luger she intended to give to Phu Hy, binding it to the inside of her leg above the knee. Anouk had given the German hand gun to Thanh Huu that night the last time they were together. It was not what Dong Nghinh wanted to do. Yet even if her water broke, there was no stopping Claudine. There was also a bottle of rice wine the guards were expected to take before they let Claudine in to see Phu Hy. It was half gone when Dong Nghinh came to the jail after Claudine had gone.

Hello, Dong Nghinh. If you came to see Phu Hy I have orders from Nghia Hung not to let you see her unless there is someone with you. The other guard won’t be back until nine.

I will wait. It’s only twenty minutes.

I will have to search you.

When they let Dong Nghinh in where they were keeping Phu Hy, they had left him alone with her in spite of Nghia Hung’s orders. It was not a monkey cage like where they put political prisoners, but she was locked in just the same. Phu Hy, has Nghia Hung mistreated you?

With you married to my sister no one dares hurt me … not before a trial. If I had killed anyone else but Nghia Diem I would probably be out of here … but I’m in a lot of trouble … aren’t I? Claudine said if anyone could help me it would be you. I did intend to kill Nghia Diem. Though I was upset and angry when I first saw him … when I picked up that shovel and struck him as hard as I could I was as cold as ice … and I’m still not sorry I did it. I love my country. I will always want Vietnam for Vietnam … but I cannot overlook what Nghia Diem did … what the Viet Cong are doing to the villagers that just want to be left alone.

I don’t know how we are going to do it … but I am going to get you out of here … though you will have to leave the north … maybe even go to Saigon.

Phu Hy smiled. It was a seductive smile. It’s too bad you are married to my sister. If you were not … then I could marry you … go with you when you go to Dak To.

I’m already too old for your sister … and you’re younger than she is.

It doesn’t bother her. It wouldn’t bother me either.

Dong Nghinh sat on the bed next to Phu Hy. He did feel attracted to her. He would have to make certain there never was a reason they would be alone again. What we have to do would be easier if Major Thanh Huu was here.

But that might give Nghia Hung reason to turn the hardliners in Hanoi against him. Then even Vo Nguyễn Giap would not be able to intervene.

Where is the pistol … the one Claudine gave you?

Here. Phu Hy reached under the mattress next to where she was sitting and pulled out the Luger.

After Dong Nghinh took the gun