Author: wolin@dmin

“We marched down from our home in Haiphong in the north to Cu Chi west of Saigon. We had many troops around Saigon. My unit, Cat Bi, was based a few kilometers from the tunnels at Cu Chi. I fought as an infantry officer but I was also responsible for speaking to the troops to keep their morale up and encourage bravery. At the same time I spoke to them of tactics and analyzed the outcome of previous battles in order to improve our chances in the next one.

Just two days after we arrived in Cu Chi, we joined the fighting. Our forces attacked an American tank unit on Road Number 22 that runs from Tay Ninh to Saigon. We expected the tanks to move towards Saigon but they changed direction. One of the lessons we learned right away was the need to have fallback plans for every battle. In this case we weren’t prepared for the American tanks to change direction.

We left our base at 6 p.m. and arrived in the area by 3 a.m. It was the dry season so the soil was very hard-you had to be strong to dig a foxhole deep enough so that only your head was above ground. The weaker soldiers were unable to dig deep enough to completely shield themselves but weak or strong, we all had strong determination to fight.

About 8 a.m. on May 6, 1968, the fight began. It was our first battle. We destroyed seven American tanks with B-40 Rocket Propelled Grenades. An eighth tank was destroyed with a Chinese-made hand grenade-we had to approach very close, about two meters. In addition to the eight tanks, we shot down three helicopters. Cat Bi suffered 23 casualties, dead and wounded.

We withdrew in the night and returned the next morning with local villagers to collect the bodies. We buried the dead in a field. After the war, burial units returned to the area to dig up the remains for a proper burial.

I was wounded twice. The first time was September 1968, when Cat Bi attacked an American base. As we cut the fence a bullet grazed my head. The second time was more serious. We surrounded the Americans but they called in artillery. I was hit in the back by shrapnel. One large and several small pieces of metal are still lodged in my chest.”

“About midnight a helicopter landed and American soldiers entered our village, Xuan Khe. On that night when the soldiers moved into the village they took Mr. Tuyen, an old man, to the bank of the river and struck him on the head, killing him immediately. Then they killed Mr. Tuyen’s wife. They moved to another home, arrested Mr. To, Mr. Huong and Mrs. Thai. They beat the men, then shot all three. In another house they killed Mrs Loi and her three children. Next door they killed Mrs. Xu and her two children. Then they shot my mother in the head, killing her. Her name was Lan. The American soldiers killed 13 people that night, all women, children and old people. This was in August 1967. I was 9 years old.

Three days earlier an American force had entered the village and set fire to all our houses. They wanted to relocate us due to the presence of guerillas and local army forces in the area. They were clearing the area of civilians so we couldn’t provide support for them. We moved to another village but quickly returned home.

On the day of the killings an American patrol was attacked by guerillas on the mountain about 5 kilometers from here. We were in our bunkers in the village but we could hear the shooting. We were still in our underground bunkers that night when the helicopter landed. First the soldiers threw grenades in the bunkers. As the villagers came out they were arrested, then killed.

I was in a bunker when I heard all the noise. I came up and saw what was happening about 50 meters away. I hid with my younger brother in a large clay jar that my family used to store rice. I ran with my brother on my back—that’s when I saw the soldiers beating Mr. Tuyen by the river. It was the middle of the night but the moon was full.

My brother and I went to stay with our grandmother. When the Americans set fire to our village three days earlier, she went to stay at a village 10 kilometers away and on the night the Americans attacked, she was still at that village. From that night my grandmother raised my brother and me.”

“After I graduated from high school I went to work at a tea plantation in Hoa Binh. I met Lan there and we became close friends. We enlisted in the army on the same day in 1967 and walked south together for two months on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. I was smaller than Lan so he helped me carry my gun. He’d have one in front and one behind and told me it was easier to carry two—they balanced each other out. But actually he carried my gun because he loved me and wanted to help. We were in the same company and fought the enemy together in Quang Tri south of the DMZ.

One afternoon Lan and I agreed that if I lived and he did not that I would please remember to visit his home and talk with his father to tell him what happened. I should not tell his mother because she had suffered a heart attack and her heart was weak.

In 1971 I returned home in the north but Lan remained behind in Quang Tri. While I was in my hometown one of my friends from the war visited and told me that Lan died. So we went to visit Lan’s family but didn’t tell them Lan had died. Lan’s mother asked that my friend bring Lan a gift and we were afraid that if he didn’t take the gift and pretend to deliver it to her son, she would suspect Lan had died. She sent tobacco as a gift and we knew another soldier in the unit could use the tobacco.

A few years after Lan’s death the government sent a letter to his parents informing them of his death. His father received the letter but kept silent and did not tell his wife. He kept the letter hidden in a box for a few years but Lan’s mother eventually found out about her son’s death anyway.

I first began to write poetry in 1967 after I enlisted. I wrote about love, friendship, family and war. I became more passionate about these things because of my war experiences. Over time the poems became more powerful, more passionate and more human because of the war.”

“In 1967, our unit attacked the base at Trieu Phong in Quang Tri province. It was a base of southern regime soldiers and American military advisors who were collecting information about our forces. My unit was Dac Cong, Special Forces. Our responsibility was to approach close to the target and attack. I was a 2nd Lieutenant at that time.

A few days earlier we had sent soldiers to observe and make maps of the enemy positions. Using these maps we approached the base, which had twelve layers of barbed wire fence. On the other side of the base, another Dac Cong unit prepared to attack. We broke through three layers of fence but the fourth layer was illuminated by a bright searchlight. We couldn’t penetrate any further without being seen so we changed our plan.

The Dac Cong unit on the other side of the base began their assault. A comrade and I began to throw grenades with string fuses to destroy the fences. We got close to one watchtower when the soldiers inside began to open fire and threw a grenade at us. I jumped aside as it exploded and then threw my explosives inside the watchtower. A piece of shrapnel hit my back. When we had gotten past the first layer of fence I stepped on a pungi stick, which slightly injured my foot. So I was injured twice in the battle.

After I was hit by shrapnel, the Saigon soldiers counterattacked. I ordered my troops to shoot out the searchlight but they couldn’t so I took a B-40 grenade launcher without the round, quickly climbed the tower and smashed the light so we could withdraw without being seen. As the unit leader I accepted the possibility of my death in order to protect my unit. My comrades carried me out since I was wounded. I was taken to a hospital in the jungle for one month and then spent three months in rehabilitation at another base in Quang Tri. I was awarded the status of National Hero of the Army.

Right after the battle we returned to the village nearby where we were living among civilians. The villagers killed a cow to make a feast for us to celebrate our victory. The soldiers and villagers were like fish and water—we depended upon each other. Not long after we attacked the base at Trieu Phong the American and Saigon troops came and killed the villagers for supporting us.”

“I joined Biet Dong, the resistance force in the cities of the south, in 1966 when I was 16. As a cover, I worked in Da Nang as a housekeeper for a family that owned a construction business. I cleaned the house and took care of the children. But my real mission was to dig bunkers in safe houses to hide weapons I smuggled in along with other girls in Biet Dong. We guided soldiers into Da Nang and found bunkers for them to hide in. The family I was housekeeper for did not know of my work for Biet Dong. After a year I had to tell them the truth: that I had joined the army to fight for liberation. They had suspected something was wrong, with so many people coming and going all the time. I asked them to support my mission and they agreed.

Before Tet in 1968, the police suspected me and I was arrested on the street and held for 15 days. They questioned me but I told them I was just a housekeeper and didn’t say anything about my real work. I was tortured but told them nothing.

On the morning of December 26, 1968, I was at the house of Mother Nhu in a bunker under the floor. A spy had denounced Mother Nhu and police surrounded her house. They broke in, arrested her son and beat him. He didn’t say anything and they took him away. Then they arrested and beat Mother Nhu. She also revealed nothing about her activities for Biet Dong. The police shot her in her home.

I was hiding in the bunker with two other soldiers. We could hear everything that was going on upstairs. After they killed Mother Nhu we burst out of the bunker and threw grenades at the police. Some were killed immediately as we fled the house. There were many police in the area and a helicopter overhead told us to surrender. The police shot tear gas to try to capture us but we fired our weapons at them. American soldiers began to chase us too.

While we were running, one of my comrades was badly wounded. We tried to carry him but he said he couldn’t move. He asked for two grenades and we left him. As the police and soldiers approached he detonated the grenades killing himself and several soldiers.

The whole area was surrounded—they wanted to capture us alive. As it grew dark, I covered myself head to toe in mud and leaves. My hair was long then and disturbed me while I was fleeing so I cut it off with a knife that I found in someone’s abandoned home. A few pieces of shrapnel from an M79 grenade landed nearby and struck me in the head and rear end. I used mud to stop the bleeding. Along with my remaining comrade I crawled slowly on the road to the cemetery. Soldiers ran right by but didn’t notice us. It took from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next day to escape.”

“The first battle I fought in was in 1954 in Quang Nam, just outside Da Nang. Our forces defeated the French at the Battle of Bo Bo. I served on a suicide team of three men-we were sure we would die. We wore red scarves over our shoulders to signify that we were Cam Tu, suicide fighters. We carried explosives onto the French base. When we arrived at the base that night I was spotted by a French soldier. We fought hand-to-hand but I was young and trained in martial arts and I prevailed.

Before the battle, our suicide team had high spirits; we were determined to carry out our mission. We were fortunate that our troops killed all the French soldiers and we did not have to detonate the explosives we carried. That is why I am still alive today.

I remained in the army after the French War. When the American War began, my job was to penetrate the American bases. I was Dac Cong, Special Forces. I was leader of a four-man team. We would quietly approach the bases at night, crawl in slowly and cut the fences-there could be three or four layers of barbed wire. We disabled the flares and mines surrounding the bases so our main force could attack.

In March 1966, American reinforcements arrived in Da Nang and about 25 artillery pieces were sent to build up a base at the village at Thanh Vinh. They were 105 mm and 155 mm artillery.

At midnight on June 17, 1966, we attacked the base at Thanh Vinh, 5 kilometers from Da Nang. I led a group of about 60 Dac Cong. We broke into the base from three directions and destroyed seven artillery pieces. The battle was short-it was over in 25 minutes. I fought in many battles in both the French and American Wars.”

“We walked the Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos to get south of the DMZ. I was in Da Nang, Quang Ngai and Quang Tin. We lived in tunnels during periods of bombing. Otherwise our quarters were built half-below and half-above the ground and we stayed there when there was no bombing. It was in a thick forest. We weren’t worried about being attacked by ground troops.

The tunnels were “A” shaped, 2-3 meters deep and 3-4 meters wide-we could walk upright in them. There were many tunnels-they were connected by trenches dug into the ground but uncovered.

During battles I would fight as a regular soldier-I had an AK-47. But when someone was wounded I was a medic. I would give them something for the pain, dress their wounds and help carry them back to the base for further treatment. Sometimes the American helicopters would fire rockets at our base but they never hit near the hospital. They never found our tunnels in that thick forest.

In that part of Vietnam during the monsoons we got heavy rain. One time two of us were carrying a wounded comrade on a litter and it was raining very hard. A helicopter shot at us. We hid my friend by the base of a tree and covered him with our bodies to protect him from the rockets. I was hit once in the head with shrapnel but it wasn’t serious.

If someone died we also carried them back four or five hundred meters from the battle zone where someone else took care of the body. The dead were buried in the south and a map was made of the graves so families could locate their loved ones later and give them a proper burial.

During the war we didn’t have enough food to eat so our bodies were not as strong as usual. We all got malaria but we didn’t have enough medicine to treat the disease. It took until two years after the war before the malaria was completely gone from my body. I lost all my hair; my eyes turned yellow and my skin green. All of us caught the disease. We had to fight anyway.

After the war I returned home to work as a farmer and rebuild my hometown-so many years of fighting but now the world is at peace.”

“During the Tet Offensive of 1968, I served as Chief of the Division to organize the plan for the Battle of RN 9 near the DMZ in Quang Tri province. The purpose was to stop the movements of the American soldiers so they could not cross Route 9, which ran from the coast to Laos.

We had sent in regiment after regiment until we had the whole division in the area. Finally we got closer and closer to Dong Ha. Our unit faced difficulties. The American defenses were very strong and the area near the base was just sand with nothing to conceal our troops. So we dug in under the sand at night. During the day the sunshine made the temperature very hot.

Everything was very difficult for the Vietnamese soldiers but we appeared suddenly and the Americans were surprised by our attack. The battle was Tien Tanh of Cua Viet-it means the surprise attack of the Cua Viet River. Our troops were buried in the sand the whole day and that night we came out and surprised the Americans.

We knew very well the organization of the American defenses in the Cua Viet area, which was protected by an electric fence. The water level in the river was not so deep. The American side had artillery and bombs all day and even at night so to avoid that we went where the water was deeper. We attacked where the American bombs and artillery had damaged the fence. We went through the wires.

We understood the schedule of the bombings and artillery and waited until they stopped. We took off all our clothes and crossed the river with everything carried on our heads. When we got across the bombing started again. Once we got to the other side of the fence we put our clothes on.

Our special forces that led the attack were naked and covered with mud from head to toe. They coordinated their movements to make no noise. During the artillery barrage if one of the soldiers was wounded or killed the one behind him would carry him back but always we were moving forward. We had to do everything we could to fulfill the mission.”

For months we kept the supply line cut to the American base at Khe Sanh. The Americans had to focus on trying to get troops and supplies to Khe Sanh.”

“All the adults in my family were still in Hanoi-the children were staying outside the city to avoid the bombings. At 10 or 10:30 on the night of December 26, 1972, when we heard the anti-aircraft guns and then the sirens we rushed to the shelters. I heard a big explosion and the shelter collapsed and buried us. In my shelter there were four of us: my older brother, my sister and her husband, and me. They all died-only I was rescued.

When I woke up my legs couldn’t move because of the rubble. My back was bent because of the weight of the debris. I was unconscious for six hours from the time of the explosion until I was awakened by the voices of the rescuers. I spent the next year in the hospital.

On that day, my father and younger brother, who had been staying in the countryside, came back to Hanoi to get food for the children. My father returned to the countryside but my brother stayed in Hanoi that evening and was killed. He was fifteen. My mother died too-they were in a nearby shelter.

There were many shelters all over the city. Every night for over a week when the sirens went off we headed to the shelters immediately. We were all very worried but we stayed in Hanoi to work. I was employed by the government.

When I returned to my home after I was released from the hospital, the whole neighborhood still lay in ruins. My home had collapsed. We lived in a tent and collected the bricks to rebuild our home. I didn’t marry after my sister died. She and her husband had four small children between the ages of two and six. I spent my time raising her children as my own. They are my children now.”

“We left Da Nang in March 1975. I was in command of a unit of weapons technicians. When we passed through Nha Trang we were welcomed by the civilians. We were happy because we received orders from the Army command to speed up our drive to Saigon. We felt like a typhoon moving quickly south.

By noon on April 30, my unit was at Tan Son Nhut Airport outside Saigon. Two helicopters had just taken off and we captured a plane with the engine still running and no one on board. We secured the airport and in the afternoon we moved towards the city to secure the Ministry of Defense building. We met with very little resistance along the way.

When we reached Saigon, civilians crowded into the streets to welcome us. They waved flags and offered us drinks and food. We asked civilians for directions to the Ministry of Defense. I remember one girl, about 19, on a motorbike offered to show us the way. She took one of the soldiers on the back of her bike and led us. All the trucks followed her. By the time we arrived, the Ministry of Defense had been abandoned. After we secured it my unit moved on to the intelligence services building and spent the night there; we secured all the files.

On the day of liberation, the 30th of April all Vietnamese were happy and shouted, ‘Independence!’ We finally had freedom. I had fought in the French War and the American War. I had been badly burned by napalm. I shared the joy but I had my own private feelings as well. My family had lived in Saigon throughout the war and I hadn’t seen them in many years. The day after liberation I went looking for my parents.

I went to the area where they lived when I left to fight but they were not there any longer. I asked the neighbors and they sent me to another place, and then another. Finally I found my parents. I knelt down and told them, ‘I fulfilled my duty to our nation but I failed to take care of you.’ My parents said, ‘No, no, no. Stand up. You fulfilled your obligation to our country and that was more important than your responsibility to your family.’ We hugged each other and wept.”

“For three years I escorted the soldiers from the north to the south and the wounded from south to north. My unit was based in the jungle, one day’s walk from Da Nang, south of the DMZ. We carried the wounded on litters from base to base in the jungle. It took the whole day. We left in the morning from our base and arrived at another in the late afternoon. A soldier went ahead to clear a trail for us with a machete. Ten of us carried five soldiers. They were seriously wounded-some were missing limbs.

It was hard for women. At first we marched south from Thai Binh province to the south, always on foot, through the jungle along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We would rest every ten days and take a shower every ten days. For women to go that long without a shower after walking in the jungle, you can imagine how hard that was. We had to carry everything-food, weapons-the same as the men. At that time I weighed 50 kgs.

Many women volunteered during the war. I thought everyone should defend our country. It was hard work and also dangerous but I felt happy to do it. Many times we were in the area where B-52’s were bombing and sometimes we were surrounded by American soldiers. Once, in 1972, our unit was carrying wounded soldiers through the jungle in Quang Binh province when B-52 bombers came in and we had to move fast, carrying wounded and our weapons. That night soldiers from our unit, some of them women, were wounded, so they stayed behind until they could be retrieved.

I was near the airport at Da Nang when the city was liberated on March 29, 1975. I went into Da Nang to join in the celebration on April 1. Everyone was delighted-I can’t describe how happy we were. The people of Da Nang greeted us and were very happy. The women wore ao dai, traditional Vietnamese clothing. They waved flags and threw flowers. We knew the war would soon be over.

The jungle we operated in was sprayed often with Agent Orange. The trees lost their leaves and the people from that area told us it was because the water was contaminated by dioxin. Now my health is poor. My stomach is not so good and I have pain in my backside and up and down my legs, It started more than ten years ago.

The war has already passed and we try to rebuild our country but still the war victims of Agent Orange have problems up to the third generation of the veterans: our children and grandchildren. Please tell the American people about the victims here who are still suffering.”

Phong: At Dien Bien Phu in 1954 we used new tactics to defeat the French. We attacked Him Lam and Doc Lap hills and cut the airport off. The airport was like the stomach of the French. By cutting it off we cut off their means of resupply. Then we squeezed the French into one part of the base. My main responsibility was to organize our troops to dig trenches from the surrounding hills into the airport. We captured many French soldiers in the hills in the first round of the battle. The French fired artillery at our positions and injured and killed many of our soldiers. The French brought in paratroopers. They had better weapons, planes and tanks but we were determined to defeat them.

Thai: I was involved in the plans for the first attack at Dien Bien Phu. We drove the French out and years later in July 1965, I moved south of the DMZ as the American forces began to arrive in large numbers. We were stationed along Road Number 9. I was responsible for analyzing our battle plans and keeping up the morale of the troops. We surrounded the American base at Khe Sanh and attacked Tacon Airport at the start of Tet ’68. We hoped to draw many American forces from all around the south to Khe Sanh. That was our plan so Vietnamese inside cities in the south would rise up against the Saigon regime.

In April 1968, our unit broke off the siege of Khe Sanh and went to Kon Tum in the Central Highlands. We were reinforced by fresh troops from the north who remained in the area around Khe Sanh. Our goal had been to tie up American troops and resources defending the base even as we attacked cities all over the south. It was the biggest battle of the war. We used large artillery every day against the Americans. At the same time American B-52’s bombed us and American artillery shelled our positions. At first the B-52’s struck a few hours a day but by the end of the battle they were bombing around the clock. Many men died on both sides.

Phong: In March ’75, we liberated Phuoc Long province and drew closer to Saigon, 100 kilometers away. I was a Senior Lieutenant Colonel and my division was to seize the Presidential Palace and raise the Vietnamese flag on the roof but we were held up at a bridge outside the city and arrived at noon, half an hour after another unit had already captured the palace.

Thai: I was in the same division as Phong. We arrived at the Presidential Palace 30 minutes after it had been captured. We went through Bien Hoa but our tanks were too large to cross the bridge there so we had to go around a different way. Our forces approached Saigon from five directions. Our division had been given the honor of entering Saigon first, capturing the Presidential Palace and raising the flag because our unit was distinguished in the French War-we captured the French general at Dien Bien Phu and raised the flag over his bunker.

Phong was in charge of the fighting while my main role was developing strategy and encouraging the troops. We lived and fought together during the war so we developed a close friendship.

Phong: In my life as a soldier I had two major accomplishments: in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu in the decisive battle against the French and in 1975 when we liberated Saigon. Many citizens waved flags and cheered as we entered the city. The Saigon regime soldiers fled. It was the second time in my life as a soldier that I was happy. I was glad that Thai was with me to share our victory.