“The President went to the Eternal. The pigeons help us to send the President our promise of honor to uphold the flag of national independence, and determination to defeat the US invaders”.

Few people believe that a foreign correspondent in Vietnam could understand President Ho Chi Minh’s thoughts and unfulfilled wishes reflected in the image of a flock of pigeons flying to the funeral using such cherished words. The film was recorded by Misao Ishigaki, a cameraman who was in Vietnam for less than a month. The film about President Ho Chi Minh’s funeral was his first product in Vietnam. Misao recalls: “I came to Vietnam to be the chief of the Hanoi bureau. 3 weeks later, when I woke up in the morning, I heard the mourning music, which was very low and sad. When I looked out into the street, everybody was sad and wearing mourning bands. I didn’t understand what was happening in the city because I didn’t know Vietnamese. I guessed a major event had happened. After that, I received a telegram from Tokyo informing me of the news”.

Misao says he had wanted to visit President Ho Chi Minh when he came to Vietnam. He filmed, wrote the script and read the commentary for the film. Ishigaki said on that day the sky was high and blue and it was sunny. Thousands of people in Ba Dinh square were crying. Their cries reached the sky.

Misao still remembers the state funeral for President Ho Chi Minh at Ba Dinh square 45 years ago. He said his Vietnamese colleagues helped him to find a good position to film the historic moments of the funeral. Misao said he was moved to take close-up pictures of Vietnamese leaders and their public in tears: “I took close-ups of their tears. General Vo Nguyen Giap was the only one who didn’t cry. I understand that the General had to hold back tears because he was a military officer and didn’t want others to see him crying”.

Misao still remembers the moment after the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Le Duan ended his funeral oration, and all the leaders went down to share the loss with the public. He says the sobs of thousands of Vietnamese people that day created the national strength of Vietnam: “I filmed Prime Minister Pham Van Dong hugging crying children, who were asking the Prime Minister to return their Uncle Ho. Mr. Pham Van Dong was in the middle of a huge crowd of crying children. That moving scene is still imprinted in my mind”.

Mr. Misao Ishigaki’s films impressed the post-production manager in Japan. Upon receiving Mr. Ishigaki’s film reports about President Ho Chi Minh’s funeral from Vietnam, Hiroko Yoshida, an editor at the NDN News Agency in Japan developed them into small pieces of news for TV broadcasts and then made them into a whole film. Ms Hiroko said: “We quickly edited, dubbed and released the news. At that time, we were very worried because the war in Vietnam was in a fierce period but its leader President Ho Chi Minh had passed away”.

Mr.Ishigaki’s film about President Ho Chi Minh’s funeral was quickly shown on TV broadcasts throughout Japan, the US and the West. The film conveyed a message of peace and reflected the Vietnamese people’s just struggle and their love for President Ho Chi Minh. Cameraman Misao Ishigaki later presented that precious 10-minute film to Vietnam.