Une si jolie petite guerre (ii)

bande dessinée from Marcelino Truong

The author and his brother and sister watch Pham Phu Quoc and Nguyen Van Cu bomb Ngo Dinh Diem, from poolside at the Cercle Sportif.

The two pilots felt that their president should attack the Communists more aggressively. Others succeeded in killing Diem the next year.

Within his book the author shows the bombing as the children witnessed it, from their balcony at home. Another chapter backs up and tells the tale in its military and political context.

Marcelino Truong so provides a rich account of politics both as we understand them and as the incomprehensible mayhem that we live.

Most of all, Marcelino tells the story of his such a small pretty war as a Vietnamese one, among Vietnamese, for Viet Nam.

The Viet Nam war. Not the American one the Communists talk about.

You can get the English version by David Homel who has made his way translating in Quebec since arriving there from America back in the day.

This was the second Viet Nam letter of 7 so far addressed to Une si jolie petite guerre by Marcelino Truong. We sent the first on February 28, 2022.

Then the third went out on March 26, 2022, the fourth on April 25, 2022, the fifth on May 28, 2022, the sixth on July 9, 2022, and the seventh on May 22, 2023.

Viet Nam letters respects the property of others under paragraph 107 of United States Code Title 17. If we asked for permission it wouldn’t be criticism. We explain our fair use at length in the letter of September 12, 2022.

The colophon of these Viet Nam letters, directly above, shows the janitor speaking with poet David A. Willson on a Veterans Day.