Mid August 1965,
I was posted at a Đà Nàng Air Base flight line gate during the midnight
shift. Around dawn, Vietnamese civilian workers would come streaming
in toward their jobs in the ARVN and VNAF section. Rumors had it that a Village
near the base had been hit by Viet Cong and villagers were killed. I would soon have a
glimpse of what may have happened.
August 1965 - Combined Action Platoons are formed by U.S. Marines utilizing South Vietnamese militia units to protect villages and conduct patrols to root out Viet Cong guerrillas.
The Boy in The Jeep
Nearly two weeks after trucks loaded with bodies drove through the QC flight line gate (Scarlet Ribbon), I was reassigned the VNAF gate duty, and QC Tran, whom I had worked with before, was already there. After greetings, I asked Tran if he knew what had happened to the small boy brought through the gate in a QC Jeep the last time we guarded together. Tran reminded me the NCO in the jeep was a cousin. Tran said his ARVN NCO cousin worked in the QC compound, and had told him the following:
The Boy brought in the compound was interviewed by QC Civilian Intelligence. He did not know why Viet Cong had returned to his small village. He only knew his father's orders that if he saw VC approaching the village he was to run and hide in the jungle near the river and not return until they left. So far, the boy had done so twice without getting caught as the VC had always approached on the same rice paddy trail and were easily spotted.
The first time VC came, they were very friendly and an elder with them spoke about foreigners in South Vietnam. The VC were met with a polite but guarded response from the villagers.
The second time VC came to the village they were a larger group who were polite but openly brandished weapons. They left behind a political officer who was to observe and "assess" village needs. She was friendly and asked a lot of questions and wrote a lot in a small booklet.
The third time the Viet Cong returned, they approached the village from two directions, and the boy barely was able to hide. They were forceful and herded villagers together where an elder with them lectured that disloyal-villagers would be punished. He then summoned the woman who remained behind, whom he called a political officer. She was then wearing a Viet Cong black pajama type uniform and announced that parents and sons called by name would assemble in an unused pig pen, for reeducation.
Seven families, with twelve young sons, were named and grouped in the corral. The elder proclaimed these families were guilty of allowing their older sons to join the puppet government's military. The families were deemed enemies of the people.
At first, the seven family's grass huts were pulled down by the VC. The villagers were all alarmed but too frightened to protest. Then several of the Viet Cong formed an L-shaped line on the pig pen fence. The villagers were made to set down, and the female political officer shouted at them for several minutes about harboring traitors in their village and they should be grateful for their protection from the puppet government. Without warning she gave an order to shoot the enemies of the people. Villagers were then made to bound the hands and feet of the dead, and carry their bodies on poles to a nearby river, then toss them in where the current swept them away.
