New Jersey
Vietnam War veteran from New Jersey returns diary to family of fallen Vietnamese soldier
BERGENFIELD, N.J. — A local Vietnam veteran recently found himself back in Vietnam to return something he found on the battlefield almost six decades ago.
The item belonged to a North Vietnamese solider, and the sincere search for its owner was reported in a local New Jersey paper, which eventually made news over 8,500 miles away.
Vietnam War veteran Peter Mathews says “that besides having children and being married, that it had to be one of the best days I’ve had, to return the book.”
It took him 56 years and 87 days to return a small book he found on a hill during the Vietnam War — an eye-catching diary left behind after a bloody battle in Dak To, its pages filled with colorful illustrations, music and poetry.
It was 1967 in South Vietnam. Mathews remembers the hill where he found it, adding it was there that one of their helicopters was shot down.
Mathews, then a sergeant with the 1st Calvary Division, landed on Hill 724 after the bloody battle. His division was ordered to count bodies and look for war documents from the enemy.
He found the diary, wrapped in plastic, in an abandoned backpack. In a split-second decision, he decided to keep it.
When asked why, Mathews says, “I recognized the beauty of it. The handwriting was amazing. And I just thought it was something to really cherish.”
He stuffed it in his pocket, adding, “I was also a little bit scared that if somebody else would see it, they told me to turn it in, to be honest.”
With only weeks left to serve, his sole focus was survival and getting back home, but his homecoming to New Jersey posed new challenges. Originally from the Netherlands, he was drafted with only a Green Card and was told he had to wait for his U.S. citizenship.
“I got very mad about that, to put it mildly, so I put, I had a couple of medals, I put my uniform, I put everything in a box,” Mathews says.
Out of sight, out of mind. He adds, “I had hangover from Vietnam. I was drinking a lot. After that, I was actually homeless for about six weeks. Shortly after that, I met my wife, Christine.”
Support groups and resources for Vietnam veterans:
They raised children and decades passed. The 100-page diary remained mostly hidden away — its owner unknown, its writings untranslated.
Until he spotted something familiar at a client’s home — it was a typical Vietnamese hat. Mathews asked the man if he knew someone who could translate the diary, then the writing came to life.
“This is a poem that he wrote, and it tells you about his devotion to Ho Chi Minh, how he adored him, how he loved the Communist Party, how he hated American soldiers, of course,” Mathews reads.
Another poem read, “It’s a beautiful country. Mountains, birds, singing, waiting for spring but sleeping with a gun.”
A few translations offered a few insights, but he still had no idea who it belonged to. It turned out, the answer was there all along. They discovered a page with the owner’s name and address, and those of his family as well.
“I knew I was gonna give it back to them, whatever it had to take. I was determined,” Mathews said, adding he chokes up at the emotion of the day.
A story of his search appeared in a local online article, which eventually got the attention of the Vietnamese government. Within days, the soldier’s family learned of the news.
Mathews remembers, “I got a call. It was about 3 o’clock in the morning to turn on my iPhone, and I could watch them for the first time, they were shown pictures of the book.”
Mathews’ and his wife were on a plane to Vietnam within a month. News of the diary’s return made headlines. Dozens of journalists waited at the airport. The attention caught Mathews by surprise, as did the warm welcome from the surviving sisters and nephew.
Mathews recalls the moment he actually handed the diary over to the owner’s family, “like I handed over a cinder block,” adding, “It felt light once I gave it to her.”
The owner of the diary was Cao Van Tuat, just 21 years old. His body was never recovered. His family was left with nothing to remember him, not even a picture.
Mathews’ gift of the diary gave them something more than a memory to hold on to, but still, he said it was hard to let go. He made copies of the pages that fill a binder, and he still looks at them from time to time.
He read another entry about a girlfriend, “how he loved her and how he mentioned he was going to ask for hand when he returned.” He says that girlfriend is now 80 years old, but she never married.
Mathews also reflects on the beauty of diary, saying, “How on Earth can a person be a soldier fighting a war in the terrain like that with limited resources and create still, take time out to create something this fascinating and beautiful?”
He says this experience changed him.
“My children are happy because they have read and heard about things they didn’t know anything about because of me not talking about it,” Mathews said.
Mathews still has dreams about the war and memories he hasn’t yet shared, but there are also new memories of his return visit, holding hands with the sister of a soldier once considered the enemy. Time changes perception, and perhaps time, for both families, to heal old wounds of war.
But he says after all of this, he has found some peace, saying, “It’s a fairytale ending after all these years.”
Health insurance industry faces backlash after UnitedHealthcare CEO death
There’s a common theme in the wave of unsympathetic posts about UnitedHealth exec Brian Thompson’s death: rage against the health insurance industry.
PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Multiple federal and state agencies are investigating a possible arson attempt at the New Jersey home of an executive of global pharmaceutical giant Bayer, authorities said.
Earlier this week, the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office said a fire was reported around 7:30 a.m. on March 4 at an occupied residence in the borough of Madison. The suburban community is about 15 miles west of Newark, New Jersey.
The prosecutor’s office told the Morristown Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY Network, that Madison firefighters responded to the incident and that the fire was quickly extinguished. No significant property damage or injuries were reported.
The prosecutor’s office declined to identify the residents of the home, citing an “active and ongoing” arson investigation. Bayer spokesperson Nicole Hayes confirmed to the Daily Record that an incident occurred at the “private home of one of Bayer’s U.S. executives,” adding that the “family is safe and unharmed.”
“The safety and security of our employees are of utmost importance to Bayer,” Hayes said. “The incident is under active investigation. The company is cooperating fully with the investigation. We appreciate the quick response of local law enforcement.”
Several agencies, including the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Arson/Environmental Crimes Unit, Morris County Sheriff’s Office CSI Unit, New Jersey State Fire Marshals Office K-9 Unit, New Jersey Transit Police, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, and the New York City Police Department are investigating the incident as a possible arson.
On Thursday, the prosecutor’s office told NBC News and CNN that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also assisting in the investigation. The incident was first reported by Yahoo Finance last Friday.
What is Bayer?
Bayer, an international pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, was founded in Germany in 1863. The company initially focused on manufacturing and selling synthetic dyestuffs, according to the Bayer website.
It is now one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies and known for making prescription drugs and other consumer health products such as aspirin, Alka-Seltzer, Claritin, and Aleve.
Bayer consolidated its U.S. operations in 2013, opening a new $250 million headquarters in the Whippany section of Hanover Township, New Jersey. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who approved a $35.1 million business incentive grant to keep the company in the state, attended the grand opening.
In recent years, the company has been under intense scrutiny after it acquired Roundup under the $63 billion takeover of agrochemical company Monsanto in 2018. Roundup is a popular residential and commercial herbicide widely used by landscapers and agricultural workers.
Reuters reported last Friday that Bayer told U.S. lawmakers it may halt the sales of Roundup if it does not receive stronger legal protections against product liability litigation.
The company has faced thousands of lawsuits that claimed victims developed a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma from exposure to glyphosate, which was the active ingredient in Roundup sold for home use until 2023, according to Reuters.
Bayer has paid about $10 billion to settle disputed claims. About 67,000 cases are pending, for which the group has set aside $5.9 billion in legal provisions.
Incident follows increased security measures for companies
Last week’s incident comes amid heightened security measures and social media vitriol aimed at the health insurance industry and corporate America. Authorities and companies feared potential attacks targeting industry executives after the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December.
Thompson, 50, was shot outside a New York City hotel while on his way to speak at an annual investor conference. Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested following a massive manhunt and faces state charges of murder as an act of terrorism. He pleaded not guilty in December.
The shooting sparked an outpour of contempt toward health insurers with people on social media sharing their grievances over denied claims and complaints about perceived greed in the industry. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, videos posted online appeared to show “wanted” posters in New York with the names and faces of other corporate executives.
Thompson’s death prompted industry peers to remove biographies and photographs of top executives from their websites. Some companies also closed offices or canceled in-person events.
“It was an eye-opening experience for many CEOs. … Most of them think they’re anonymous. A great deal of them, they drive themselves to work or just jump in a cab,” Matthew Peters, vice president of protective services at security provider Guidepost Solutions, previously told USA TODAY.
Contributing: Bailey Schulz, Ken Alltucker, Jeanine Santucci, and N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; Reuters
A wildfire that burned through 191 acres in Gloucester County has been fully contained, officials said Thursday morning.
The Scotland Run Wildfire began in the area of Pennsylvania Avenue and Coles Mill Road in Franklin Township and was first spotted around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
Sixty structures were initially threatened by the flames. However, no buildings were evacuated, and the estimate on endangered structures was reduced to 20 by Wednesday night as firefighters achieved 50% containment, officials said.
The fire had spread to 150 acres as of late Wednesday, according to the fire service.
Fire crews made significant progress overnight and the fire service declared full containment Thursday.
No schools or businesses were affected by the blaze and all shelter-in-place orders have been lifted, Franklin Township Police Chief Matt DeCesari said around 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
No structures were damaged and none remain endangered by the fire, according to DeCesari, who is also the township’s office of emergency management coordinator.
Forest Fire Service crews will remain in the area for the next several days to improve containment lines and address “areas of concern” until significant rains fall, the service said.
Smoky conditions are expected to remain in the area until those rains arrive. Showers and thunderstorms are in the forecast for Sunday.
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Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com.
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