Next morning I was among thousands of Hanoians fleeing the city fearing further strikes on civilian targets. About one kilometer of Kham Thien street that I passed was totally damaged. It was 5 a.m. and people kept digging for survivors under kerocene lamps. Almost no crying, people just dug like miners. The road was full of craters so we had to push our bike in a zig-zag manner to get out of Hanoi. Later I was told that about 300 people were killed (56 children) and 300 wounded that night. One bomb fell in a house and killed all 9 people. Some families were wiped out completely. Other had one or two surviving members who stayed in the evacuation or in the front. Dead bodies clogged the drainage. After the calendar new year when it was clear that the peace would come, I returned to Hanoi. When I passed Kham Thien again I fell a strong smell of lemon grass and did not understand why. At home my dad explained the rescurers used disinfectors with strong smell to clear the stench. I also saw that survivors came back to their houses to collect any possible belongings. They took every whole or half-broken brick, cleaned it and put in a pile so they could build a house later.

When we heard that the prisoners were released, there's a big crowd gathered at the Hilton Hanoi. But the timing was kept secret to avoid angry crowds throwing stones. Some people managed to see the pilots and said they looked fine, well-fed, well-dressed. We did not know that the captors were given order to increase their food and clothing so pilots look fit at the release. Anyway people knew for long time that prisoners were given bread, meat, butter and milk, even chocolate, things that we only dream about.