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 !