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517 Release Free to Live in a Larger Prison OnJanuary10,1982,whileIwaswaitingfortheescapeinformation—time,place, and password—I was informed that I was on the list of eighty-eight prisoners to be released on January 21. That was far beyond my expectation. InJanuary11,thereleasedecisionwasreadatAnnexClargeyard.Myname was about the tenth on the list. To my surprise, the name of the Special Forces captain was called near the end of the list. He was stunned and shocked, staggering to join the group of to-be-released inmates. To him and me, it was far beyond our hope. A dozen others classified as “slow progressive and reactionary” prisoners were also released. Meanwhile, some who collaborated with the camp guards as informers and those whose parents and siblings were ranking communists were not on the list. Many of them stayed ten to thirteen years in prisons without the least idea why their close relatives’ faithful service to the communist cause had failed to help them get out of jail earlier. Before leavingthe camp,Iwentlooking forapublicsecuritysergeanttosay good-bye. He tacitly sided with us, allowing us rest more than compelling us to work whenever it was his turn to guard my group working in the fields. I shook his hand and thanked him for his kindness. After half a minute of silence, he said to me with a sad tone: “I am sure many of you do understand me. I was very sorry I have not been able to help you more than what I could.” Then without smiling, he shook my hand, wished me good luck, and said, “You are leaving the smaller prison and will begin to live in the larger prison with me and our 70 million compatriots.” The expression was not new, but it was a surprise to me when it was said by a twenty-eight • 518 · After the War thirty-year-old communist, son of a hardcore communist district leader in Thanh Hóa province, North Việt Nam. After a ten-day fattening period, as is often done in communist “reeducationcamps ”whenprisonerstobereleasedwerefedwithhigherrations,onJanuary 20, 1982, at 1 pm, I walked past the camp main gate, ending the long term of six years, seven months, and five days in the “smaller prison camps.” Like other released fellows, I lost no time walking away from the barbedwire gate a few seconds after a jail clerk handed me the release certificate, not waiting to receive the bus ticket fee from the financial office. Many prisoners whohadbeeninCampHàmTânsince1977advisedustoleavethecampassoon as possible after walking out of the gate. They said that one day in 1978, more than 100 prisoners of that camp received release papers and were lining up waiting for bus ticket fee. When half of them received the money and walked out of the gate, a telephone call from somewhere ordered those who were still inside the gate to give back their release papers and return to the wards. Those who werealreadyoutsidethemaingatewenthomewithoutanytrouble.Theunlucky guys remained in the camp for more than two years before being released in 1981. No reason was given, even to the jailers. So I was released four days before Tết 1982. The communist authority freed thousands of prisoners in camps all over the country during that week. At a small rural hamlet beside Highway 1 to Sài Gòn about a mile from the camp, two farmer families invited everyone of the released group into their poor housesbuiltwiththatchedroofsandearthenwallsandtreatedustoaspecialdinner .Thetwooldmenaskedustostaytoenjoytheirhomemadericewineandpork noodles. They said they had killed two hogs for the “happy and well-wishing occasion.” Abouttwentyofusjoinedthefamiliesattheirdinnertables.Theothersjust droppedinforcupsofteaandthankedthefamiliesfortheirfriendship,butthey had to catch the earliest bus for a long trip home far away in the Mekong Delta. One of the old men said, “We didn’t care much about you before 1975, even hated some of you. But now we realize that you really had been good members oftheformerrepublic’sarmy.Wefeelatruehappinesswhenseeingyoureleased from the camp. This dinner is a sign of profound sympathy to all of you. Please drink a toast to the good health of all of us.” I stayed with the old men for an hour, then got on a small bus to Sài Gòn. All of the bus owners offered us a free 100-mile ride to the capital of South Việt Nam. I arrived home at 5:30 pm. The kids who were old enough to know me when I left the neighborhood on June 15, 1975, cheered loudly when I stepped down from a cyclo in front of my home. My wife...

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