CA MAU, Vietnam: Viet Cong veteran Vo Ban Tam remembers the first time he crossed paths with John Kerry on the banks on the Bay Hap river, a day that ended in bloodshed.
Almost a half-century later, the now 70-year-old Mekong Delta shrimp farmer locked eyes with the US secretary of state on Saturday and they warmly grasped hands in mutual respect.
Kerry returned to the Vietnam waterway at the end of a visit to the Communist nation, less than a week before he was to leave office, searching for the spot where he won a Silver Star for bravery as a young US Navy lieutenant.
On Feb. 28, 1969, as the skipper of Swift Boat PCF-94, Kerry was patrolling when Vo Ban Tam’s unit launched an ambush.
The plan, the Vietnamese guerilla told his former adversary on Saturday, was to use rifle and grenade fire to lure the heavily-armed American craft into range of a shoulder-held rocket launcher.
This tactic had paid off for the Viet Cong in the past but on this day Kerry made a dramatic decision, deliberately beaching his boat then storming ashore to pursue the operator.
Grabbing an M-16 rifle the then 26-year-old chased down the guerilla and shot him dead, saving his crew from a counterattack.
Vo Ban Tam remembered the dead man, 24-year-old Ba Thanh, as a respected member of the Viet Cong’s main force in Ca Mau province, trained to use the prized launcher.
“He was a good soldier,” he recalled, speaking through an interpreter on the banks of same river, shortly after Kerry re-visited the scene of the ambush for the first time.
Kerry had never before learned the name of the man he shot. During his unsuccessful 2004 White House campaign, opponents tarnished his war record by claiming he killed a teenager.
But US officials preparing for Kerry’s visit tracked down Vo Ban Tam and his account confirmed Kerry’s memory that his slain adversary was an adult.
Vo Ban Tam admitted that thanks to Kerry’s action the Viet Cong had not been victorious that day. But he recalled proudly how his comrades often had the upper hand.
“We were guerrillas, we were never there where you were shooting,” he boasted, telling Kerry they could hear his boat coming that day a kilometer off.
“Well, I’m glad we’re both alive,” Kerry said.
Kerry returned from Vietnam later in 1969. Despite holding Silver and Bronze stars for valour and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action, he became a prominent anti-war activist.
The tall, young, erudite Yale graduate stood out among veterans and his devastating testimony before a Senate committee in 1971 sealed his celebrity.
![]()
Kerry meets Vietnam War foe
Kerry meets Vietnam War foe
Lebanon president accuses Hezbollah of working to ‘collapse’ state
- Joseph Aoun: ‘Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state’
- Ahmed Al-Sharaa: ‘We stand alongside Lebanese president Joseph Aoun in disarming Hezbollah’
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday accused Hezbollah of working to “collapse” the state and expressed Beirut’s readiness for “direct negotiations” with Israel, drawing the backing of his Syrian counterpart for his goal of disarming the Iran-backed group.
Lashing out at Hezbollah over its March 2 attack against Israel, which has drawn a devastating Israeli retaliation, Aoun told European officials “Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state, plunging it into aggression and chaos... all for the sake of the Iranian regime’s calculations.”
To stop the war, the Lebanese president proposed a four-point initiative and called on the international community to help implement it.
The plan included “establishing a full truce” with Israel, “logistical support” for the army to disarm Hezbollah, and “direct negotiations (with Israel) under international auspices.”
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa endorsed his Lebanese counterpart on Monday saying, “We stand alongside Lebanese president Joseph Aoun in disarming Hezbollah.”
The statements came as the war between Israel and Hezbollah pushed into a second week, with Israel carrying out heavy strikes on a financial firm linked to the group.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Lebanese authorities said on Monday that Israel’s attacks since March 2 have killed at least 486 people and wounded at least 1,313.
AFP has not been able to carry out a detailed breakdown of the figures.
According to the government, more than 660,000 people have registered as displaced, with 120,000 sleeping at official shelters as of Monday.
Evacuation warnings
Israel said it killed the head of Hezbollah’s Nasr unit operating in part of southern Lebanon, Abu Hussein Ragheb, on Monday.
Earlier, the Israeli military struck branches of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a US-sanctioned financial firm, after issuing evacuation warnings, according to Lebanese state media and AFP correspondents.
The Israeli army said it was “striking Hezbollah infrastructure” in the southern suburbs.
An AFP photographer in the area witnessed a massive explosion, while an armed Hezbollah member fired warning shots into the air to encourage residents to evacuate from their homes.
The Israeli army renewed previous orders for people in the area to leave.
Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a lifeline for mainly Shia Muslim communities battling a years-long financial crisis in Lebanon that has locked people out of their bank deposits.
It says it has more than 30 branches nationwide, mainly in Hezbollah bastions such as Beirut’s southern suburbs, but also in central Beirut and other major cities.
In Lebanon’s southern city of Sidon, an area outside of Hezbollah’s traditional sphere of influence, an AFP correspondent saw ambulances and civil defense vehicles gather around a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Israel also bombed the firm’s branches during its last war with Hezbollah in 2024, including the one in Sidon.
Israeli tank fire killed a priest in the Christian southern Lebanese town of Al-Qlayaa, according to state media and a medical source.
‘Path of allegiance’
Hezbollah on Monday celebrated the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader.
“We renew our pledge of loyalty to this blessed approach and our steadfastness on the path of allegiance,” the group said in a statement.
It also claimed responsibility for at least 10 previous attacks against Israel and its forces, including against troops advancing into Lebanese border towns, as well as a missile salvo on an air base in Haifa.
It said it targeted the Israeli Home Front Command base in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, with “advanced missiles.”
Earlier Monday, it also said it had fought Israeli troops who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter, the second such incident since the latest war began.
Israeli strikes on sites belonging to the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee in the Tyre and Jwaya areas in south Lebanon killed two paramedics and wounded six, the health ministry said, accusing Israel of “systematic targeting of rescue teams.”
Despite the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon’s parliament met on Monday and postponed legislative elections by two years due to the conflict.
The polls had been scheduled to take place in May.
Lashing out at Hezbollah over its March 2 attack against Israel, which has drawn a devastating Israeli retaliation, Aoun told European officials “Whoever launched those missiles wanted to bring about the collapse of the Lebanese state, plunging it into aggression and chaos... all for the sake of the Iranian regime’s calculations.”
To stop the war, the Lebanese president proposed a four-point initiative and called on the international community to help implement it.
The plan included “establishing a full truce” with Israel, “logistical support” for the army to disarm Hezbollah, and “direct negotiations (with Israel) under international auspices.”
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa endorsed his Lebanese counterpart on Monday saying, “We stand alongside Lebanese president Joseph Aoun in disarming Hezbollah.”
The statements came as the war between Israel and Hezbollah pushed into a second week, with Israel carrying out heavy strikes on a financial firm linked to the group.
Lebanon was drawn into the Middle East war last week when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel in response to the killing of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli strikes.
Lebanese authorities said on Monday that Israel’s attacks since March 2 have killed at least 486 people and wounded at least 1,313.
AFP has not been able to carry out a detailed breakdown of the figures.
According to the government, more than 660,000 people have registered as displaced, with 120,000 sleeping at official shelters as of Monday.
Evacuation warnings
Israel said it killed the head of Hezbollah’s Nasr unit operating in part of southern Lebanon, Abu Hussein Ragheb, on Monday.
Earlier, the Israeli military struck branches of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a US-sanctioned financial firm, after issuing evacuation warnings, according to Lebanese state media and AFP correspondents.
The Israeli army said it was “striking Hezbollah infrastructure” in the southern suburbs.
An AFP photographer in the area witnessed a massive explosion, while an armed Hezbollah member fired warning shots into the air to encourage residents to evacuate from their homes.
The Israeli army renewed previous orders for people in the area to leave.
Al-Qard Al-Hassan is a lifeline for mainly Shia Muslim communities battling a years-long financial crisis in Lebanon that has locked people out of their bank deposits.
It says it has more than 30 branches nationwide, mainly in Hezbollah bastions such as Beirut’s southern suburbs, but also in central Beirut and other major cities.
In Lebanon’s southern city of Sidon, an area outside of Hezbollah’s traditional sphere of influence, an AFP correspondent saw ambulances and civil defense vehicles gather around a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan.
Israel also bombed the firm’s branches during its last war with Hezbollah in 2024, including the one in Sidon.
Israeli tank fire killed a priest in the Christian southern Lebanese town of Al-Qlayaa, according to state media and a medical source.
‘Path of allegiance’
Hezbollah on Monday celebrated the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s new supreme leader.
“We renew our pledge of loyalty to this blessed approach and our steadfastness on the path of allegiance,” the group said in a statement.
It also claimed responsibility for at least 10 previous attacks against Israel and its forces, including against troops advancing into Lebanese border towns, as well as a missile salvo on an air base in Haifa.
It said it targeted the Israeli Home Front Command base in Ramla, near Tel Aviv, with “advanced missiles.”
Earlier Monday, it also said it had fought Israeli troops who landed in eastern Lebanon by helicopter, the second such incident since the latest war began.
Israeli strikes on sites belonging to the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee in the Tyre and Jwaya areas in south Lebanon killed two paramedics and wounded six, the health ministry said, accusing Israel of “systematic targeting of rescue teams.”
Despite the bombing in Beirut, Lebanon’s parliament met on Monday and postponed legislative elections by two years due to the conflict.
The polls had been scheduled to take place in May.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.