Nationalist in the Viet Nam Wars: Memoirs of a Victim Turned Soldier

27 Prisoner

469 Prisoner June 15, 1975 What we were waiting for came at last. On June 9, the communist military governor of Sài Gòn announced his decision to call all former RVN field grade officers and ranking civil servants, including elected legislative officials, to report for “reeducation.” Everyone knew the rhetoric meant “incarceration” or, to be more exact, “incarceration in a concentration camp.” The ARVN NCOs and enlisted men in the Sài Gòn area had been ordered to attend the three-day reeducation class at the wards in late May. They were then released to live with their families. Communist authorities in the provinces acted differently. In most areas, military officers, civil servants, and other notables were detained right after April 30. The NCOs and troops were subjected to “local reeducation” and released .Inotherareas,theyweresenttoservetheunlimitedtermsinforcedlabor projects that included clearing land mines left from the war. On June 15, 1975, I left home for the reeducation camp. The announcement was composed with words selected to make people think the course might last for one month. It said, “Each must bring an amount of money for one month’s food.” Many of us thought we would be free after thirtydaysinthecamps.Ididn’tthinkso,butIavoidedsharingmyopinionwith my family members lest they should be worry too much about me. I tried to appear carefree but was unable to hide my true feelings from my wife. As if reading my thoughts, she only held me tight and said, “I feel it’ll be long, but be brave, our lives will be brighter someday.” So I began my long journey to an unknown destination. twenty-seven • 470 · After the War The First Concentration Camp Those who were supposed to be “reeducated” by communist authorities reportedtoseveralplacesdependingontheirresidence .InthesmallhoursofJune 16theyweresenttodozensofconcentrationcampsaroundtheareasofSàiGòn, Biên Hòa, and Xuân Lộc. I was detained in the former base camp of the ARVN Fifth Engineer Group inHócMôn,sevenmilesnorthwestofSàiGòn.Thecampheldabout1,500majors, captains,andlieutenants.Officerslowerthanmajorreportedtothecampsaweek after I did. We were detained in groups, each of about fifty officers of the same rank.TheheadquartersofacommunistregimentwithonlyanNVAcompanyran thecamplikeothercampsalloverSouthViệtNam.Eachofthetwentygroupsin turnpreparedriceandfoodfora150-manbloc.Mycamphadmorethan800men in six blocs. A civilian contractor provided raw food in the morning. Communist political officers delivered ten political lessons about great achievements of their regime and “the war crimes of the American imperialists” asmaintopics.Welaughedalotatthemade-upallegationsandtalltales,butmost of the time the “instructors” kept lecturing. We had to write an autobiographical sketch that filled one or two pages. No interrogation or cross-examination was carried out. Christmas 1975 On December 23, the camp command informed us that we would be allowed to celebrate Christmas. But on the afternoon of December 25, we were ordered to conduct religious practices inside houses, not in the yard, as we had requested. At 9:00 pm, ten of my friends and I, all Buddhists, set up a team guarding a covered nook where two Catholic military chaplains were hearing confession. One of my team members acted as monitor, giving a sign to each of the waiting menwhenhisturncame.Thetaskwentsmoothly,andconfessionendedat11:30. Then at midnight, Catholics at each house sang two popular Christmas carols in unison. Communist soldiers stayed outside, watching. During the last months of 1975, we were idling away the time, doing very littleworkexceptfortasksthatservedourselves.AroundthecampsinHócMôn area, there was no farmland available for the prisoners to work on. We spent time learning and teaching one another everything we could (English, French, music, Chinese characters, Chinese horoscopy), and playing cards. Manyofuswithdexterityspenttimemakingsmallartworks,suchascarving pictures on duralumin plates or making combs decorated with tiny drawings. Otherfellowsweresuccessfulinmakingmetallicxylophonesandvariousobjects. Prisoner · 471 Ispenttwentydaysmakingaguitarandachromaticflutewithfive-semitonekeys. Owing to a great amount of equipment of all kinds left by the Fifth ARVN Engineer Group in the large warehouses, we could procure lots of materials for different works: brass and duralumin tubes, aluminum sheets, stainless steel plates. NVAsoldiersbroketopiecesexpensivemachinessuchasbulldozers,levelers , and dump trucks to take their component parts just for fun, out of their ignorance of the value of heavy equipment that cost several hundred thousands of dollars. After they started the destruction, we were free to search the machines for materials we needed. RVN officers and government officials confined in scores of camps in the provinceswerenotasluckyastheirfellowsinSàiGòn.Fromthefirstdays,prisonersinmostprovincialcampsdidforcedlabor ,workinginricefields,diggingirrigation canals, making fish and shrimp farms, and lumbering. At some places, they workedfromeighttotenhoursaday,sevendaysaweek.Inothercamps,theywere forced to clear land mines with spikes and bayonets and suffered a number of deaths. There were even cases of executions upon the...