Hanoi - When Tank 390 crashed through the gates of Saigon's presidential palace 40 years ago, it heralded the end of Vietnam's war. But the men who manned it have since lived in obscurity, poor yet forever bonded by the history they created.
On April 30, 1975, the four-man tank team had come under heavy fire and lost contact with their commanders as they entered central Saigon during a lightning-fast offensive by communist forces from the North.
But their thoughts were firmly on victory as they barrelled into the compound -- now known as Independence Palace -- according to retired captain Vu Dang Toan, the commander of Tank 390, a Chinese-made T59 first deployed in Vietnam in the 1960s.
"If we had been scared, how could we have crashed through that gate? Our aim was to quickly occupy the palace and arrest Duong Van Minh's cabinet," he told AFP, referring to South Vietnam's president -- 'Big Minh' -- who would soon surrender.
"I didn't want to lose, whatever the battle was," he added.
For decades after the war, Vietnam's official account of the victory maintained that Tank 843 -- a Soviet-made T54 which arrived in Vietnam as part of USSR military aid in 1972 -- had broken down the palace gates. But Toan and his colleagues say they were first.
Their recollection is backed up by French photographer Françoise Demulder, who witnessed the moment Saigon fell.
In 1995 she returned to Vietnam with her photos showing the moment in question, restoring Tank 390 to its rightful place in the nation's official history.
Both tanks are now both in military museums in Hanoi, preserved as national treasures and emblems of the day the US-backed south finally gave up the fight and fell under a unified communist government from the North.
Although happy that the record has now been put straight, Toan says he generally avoids publicity and hardly ever talks about his role in a defining moment of his country's recent past.
"My family, my neighbours... they all were surprised to discover (it), they say I'm too stubborn not to share this secret," he said.
"We fought with our hearts, for people in the south, not for fame, not to be called heroes," he said, adding he was just glad he was able to do his duty for his country.
AFP
