After nearly two years covering the conflict in Vietnam, a reporter prepared to leave the country, reflecting on the physical mementos accumulated during the assignment. Stationed at the Continental Palace Hotel—located just half a block from The Times’s local office—the correspondent readied for a transfer to Jakarta, Indonesia, while sorting through personal effects.

Among the items shipped home were several keepsakes from the war zone. A lightweight nylon and polyester poncho liner, gifted by a commander at an artillery base in the highlands during a cold night, remains in use. This liner has found a new purpose, serving as a buffer on the couch to muffle the reporter’s partner’s snoring.

Scattered throughout the reporter’s residence are multiple P-38 can openers, a practical tool essential for opening military field rations. A box of C rations, once a staple of sustenance in the field, now sits preserved on a bookshelf in the home office. Additionally, a helmet—colloquially known as a “steel pot”—rests quietly on a shelf in the basement. The helmet originates from a combat base near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), an area notorious for frequent rocket attacks resulting in casualties among Marines.

The choice to keep the helmet came after a suggestion to take one from a collection of gear stripped from fallen soldiers. Inside a fold of the helmet’s canvas camouflage cover, the reporter discovered two words written—a blunt expletive followed by the word “you?”—which the correspondent interpreted as a stark, personal message from a deceased soldier.

These keepsakes serve as tangible reminders of the complexities and harsh realities experienced during years of war reporting, preserving moments from the frontline beyond written dispatches and photographs.