On 4 October 2013, Vietnam announces the death of Vo Nguyen Giap. Immediately thousands of people line up on Hoang Dieu Street, amidst the giant xa cu trees and the colonial villas. In this leafy district where the general lived until the age of 102, young people sit casually on the garden wall of the neighbouring house as they wait to pay their respects. The line extends hundreds of metres, the more elderly holding flowers and incense. There are people from every age and profession. War veterans, rich and poor, government officials and business owners all wait their turn. The hero of Dien Bien Phu, victorious over France and the United States, was one of the few figures left who could bring everyone together, not just for his war record, but as a symbol of anti-Chinese nationalism and a critic of state corruption.

At the time I was working as a consultant for a documentary film about the Indochina War, which the Vietnamese call ‘the War of Independence against the French’. The idea was to collect and confront the narratives of all sides: the French, the Vietnamese in the Democratic Republic’s People’s Army, the Vietnamese enlisted in the French army and civilians. With Giap’s death, I realised the urgency of our work. It would be the last chance to hear the history directly from participants. Most of the veterans were born in the 1920s and so were around ninety years old. Many of them still spoke flawless French, which greatly helped my work.

• Tags: Issue 20, Louis Raymond, Vietnam, Vo Nguyen Giap