The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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May 2015 back issue
by Catherine Karnow
Part II
I then joined the family as we flew to Quang Binh Province for the burial. The young great grandchildren were
being very well-behaved as they enjoyed the plane ride. They lent an air of normalcy to this very heavy, sad
day.
When we landed in Quang Binh Province, I rode on a bus with the extended family members and friends,
leaning out the window to photograph the people lining the route.
I was astounded to see so many people holding up my portrait of the General, one I had taken in 1994. It was
a photo that his wife had asked me to take, just for her to have. I shot a few frames, then mailed them to her a
few weeks later. Little did I know it would be published on many book covers and in newspapers, and now
here in the middle of a country province I had never visited, I was seeing hundreds of people lining the road,
holding up my photograph. Witnessing this filled me with profound respect and pride. I was deeply moved,
sensing my place of belonging here in this country so far from my own.
When we arrived at the burial site, there were hundreds of people. We made the long journey up the rocky dirt
path to the plateau where the grave was. It was a breathtakingly beautiful site. Surrounded by pine trees, with
a view towards the sea, it felt like the right place for the General’s final resting place. It was important to the
family, and to him, that he be buried in the right place, and they had looked all over Vietnam for it. It turned out
to be his home province, but that was not the deciding factor. The coffin was brought up to the burial site and
then we waited.
Auspiciously, the time to lower the coffin had to be right. We waited. The family stood close together with tears
in their eyes. I wanted to stay at a respectful distance from them, but whenever I stepped back, a guard, not
noticing that I was an invited guest, would try to pull me away from the scene. A family member would notice
and motion that I was a friend. As a result I ended up standing right beside them the entire time.
As day became night, the people streamed up to pay tribute to the gravesite. They would come all day and all
night for days, weeks, even months. Now all over Vietnam, people have built altars to General Giap, and roads,
bridges and even pagodas are named for him.
General Giap leaves behind a family with whom he was very close; his daughter and granddaughter mourn
their loss.
