Feature Article
Article by: Ern Marshall, amateur war historian. Ern is a long time resident of Vung Tau and a Veteran. Http:// www. hotkey. net. au /~ marshalle /
The Mystery Graves
When researching history you come across many stories and so-called urban legends, this is one of them: For years now I have heard rumors of two Japanese graves near one of the Forts in Vung Tau, with no details to follow I put it in the back of my mind and thought no more about it until a few weeks ago when I accidentally stumbled across two graves near the Cable Battery on the Small Mountain. I looked at them for some time and thought, yes these are the two Japanese graves I’ ve heard many rumors about; This all made sense as the Japanese were here in Vung Tau during WW 2. Giving credibility to the story.
This image was supplied to me by Paul Rowe showing the Graves situated behind the French Artillery Barracks of the Cable Battery on the Small Mountain. I sent the detailed photos to my Japanese friend to be translated. To my great surprise, when he replied it turned out they were Chinese Graves not Japanese. His translation was quite detailed a paraphrased version is as follows:
The two tombstones are for Chinese Born in the China Guangdong Province Fangcheng Prefecture Zhang, family name Yang’ s third daughter. The symbols respectfully describe her as the wife’ s grave. Died in Vietnam, Vung Tau, according to the Western calendar, on September 3, 1968; in the traditional Chinese calendar( nong lich in Vietnamese) on the year of Dog Monkey July 6. This concession was included into French Indochina, which is possibly why she and her husband migrated from China to Vung Tau. The middle line is a bit difficult to understand, however taking the other tomb stone into consideration, two characters written horizontally at the top could be understood to be the family name of her husband. The next two characters will be her old family name. The next two characters show that she was the third-born daughter of the parents. The next three characters mean“ wife” in a respectful manner and the last two are“ of” and“ grave”. This is not an exceptional case, rather it is common, but what is interesting is that we cannot find her personal name in this grave. The other tomb stone is also written in the same manner; Born at China Guangdong Province Fangcheng Prefecture Mr Zhang Dejiu’ s grave Died in Vietnam Vung Tau in Western calendar on 29 August 1972 in traditional Chinese calendar( nong lich in Vietnamese) on the year of Dog Monkey July 6. So this couple( if they were) were from the same prefecture. What is interesting is the dates of the death of both are the same date in the traditional
Chinese calendar. It could happen, but calculating from the western calendar, it would not be correct. The date of the western calendar would be the real date of death. And both graves are in the same manner in terms of material and the way of the inscription, so it reasonable to assume they are both from the same artisan.
These are very interesting. Since apart from whale cult, I am generally interested in migration history. Best Regards, Hideaki Suzuki
8 The MAG Vung Tau
Photo by Ern Marshall
So now the Guns and Forts of Vung Tau have thrown up another riddle!