Читать книгу Voices from the Vietnam War - Xiaobing Li - Страница 14

Surviving the Bloody Jungle

Rose always prepared the green tea in the traditional way before each interview. As a sophomore at University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), she took the Vietnamese language class and History of Modern Southeast Asia. She learned a lot about the country her parents came from, and tried to understand why they could not go back. “I will get a job at LA after my college” Rose told me behind her father. “I want to move my parents from the Twin Cities to California. The weather is much warmer there” Her voice was low but adamant. She continued, “I will save some money and take my parents back to Vietnam for a visit. You can tell they really miss their hometown. It has been twenty-eight years” What a wonderful daughter for the ARVN veteran! Lt. Nguyen Yen Xuan is so lucky!

Lieutenant Xuan is certainly proud of his daughter and two sons. But he did not feel lucky at all, just like so many ARVN soldiers who went through the Vietnam War.1 “We could have won the war.” He said it many times. His story contradicts some Western assumptions that internal reasons caused the weaknesses of the ARVN. Lieutenant Xuan explained that external factors played a major role in the ARVN’s failure. Among these external problems was the attempt, on the part of the United States and ARVN high command, to Americanize the ARVN troops through U.S. aid and training. Thus, U.S. aid came with many conditions demanding the Vietnamese fight the war in an American way. In the meantime, the ARVN became more dependent on the Americans. Moreover, the White House and Pentagon did not design or expect an ARVN victory for the Vietnamese people, but an American victory for South Vietnam's government.

As a soldier in the Airborne Division, the elite forces of the ARVN, Lieutenant Xuan felt like he was fighting the war for the Americans in 1968–1973. After the United States withdrew its troops from South Vietnam in 1973, the incomplete Americanization led to the total defeat of the ARVN. He believed that the ARVN soldiers should have fought their own war, not the American War. In 1968, South Vietnam's government called up every available man for service. By 1969, the ARVN totaled 1 million strong, including 400,000 national troops in thirteen infantry divisions, 250,000 men as regional or provincial troops, and 350,000 local or Popular Troops.2 Among the three forces, the national troops were the best combat troops. They received better weapons and equipment and had American advisers top down to the battalion levels. The national troops, however, suffered the heaviest casualties since they engaged in more battles than other forces. From 1969 to 1971, the ARVN averaged combat deaths of 22,000 men per year, and by 1974 it had a total of 254,256 dead and 783,602 wounded in action.3 Besides the heavy casualties, all of the ARVN units also suffered low morale, poor combat effectiveness, and high desertion rates.4

Lt. Nguyen Yen Xuan

C Company, Second Battalion, Airborne Division, ARVN (South Vietnam)

When the war began, I didn't know anything about it since I was very young. I became aware of the war when my oldest brother enlisted in the ARVN, and then another elder brother. They wanted to protect their hometown from Viet Cong harassment.⁵ I think they did a pretty good job and our family business was growing. I helped my parents’ small shop to sell food and goods.

In the late 1960s, however, my brothers and their unit were transferred somewhere far away from our town. According to my parents, the war situation seemed to be turning bad. I was drafted into the ARVN in 1969 and stayed until 1975, when the South lost the war to the North. During the first three years, I was trained and served in the Infantry Division, and then was transferred to the Airborne Division, one of the strongest units in South Vietnam.

In 1969, I received three-month training, including how to fire a gun, operate small arms, and other techniques on how to fight. After our basic training, we were sent to an ARVN advanced [technical] training base. We learned how to ride on helicopters, drive a light truck, and operate some machines. I found that learning experience fun and interesting. One day, we were told that the Viet Congs were going to attack our base, and we had to be prepared. I was so nervous at that time since it was my first battle. For weeks, there was no attack.

I never forget my first battle, which was a surprise attack on our technical training base. That evening, after dinner, we were lying in our tent and talking to two other guys from my hometown. One of them had shopped in our family store before he joined the army. They came to visit me and shared some of their survival experiences. It seemed to me they were so smart, like big brothers, and not scared of anything, like a role model to me. I hoped I could go home together with these new friends.

Not too long after their leaving my tent, enemy mortars began falling at our base. The Viet Cong launched a night attack. I got ready and followed the others to the defensive trench positions. I couldn't see anything in the dark outside the base, and I fired only twice. That was probably the reason I didn't get killed that night. I learned later that the Viet Cong snipers looked for targets by spotting the gun firing points. The more you fired, the better chance you could get shot. The Viet Cong didn't take over our base that night. After their withdrawal, next morning, we cleared up and gathered the men who died last night. The two men from my hometown were killed when their tent was hit by mortars. I couldn't believed that a night before we were just talking about our families and were looking forward to returning to our hometown together. And now they both died. It was really sad.

After the technical training, I was assigned to the Third Company, Second Battalion, Twenty-third Infantry Division. I made some new friends in the company. Since the company was stationed close to the Viet Cong-occupied areas, we frequently engaged with the Viet Cong troops.

One day, when we patrolled along the road, we were ambushed by the Viet Cong. We took cover and fired back. For fifteen minutes, we couldn't see the enemy, but kept shooting randomly. One of my friends, who was just behind me, got shot and fell down. Everyone thought he was dead. About twenty minutes later, we received air support, which pointed out the enemy positions. The captain reorganized us into small groups to target different enemy positions. Soon the Viet Cong disappeared into the bushes. And, to everyone's surprise, my friend somehow sat up from the ground and waved to us. He had returned to life! I was so happy and helped him get up. He was lucky. Our company lost nineteen men in this thirty-minute battle. We also had thirty-seven men wounded.

There were more American advisers who came to our battalion in 1970. I liked the American advisers. Smart and funny, they were curious to almost everything in Vietnam. I really appreciate their sacrificing their own lives for the freedom and democracy of the Vietnamese people. During the battle, we felt like friends working together. We covered each other, helped each other, and shared food and water with each other. But, after each operation, they went back to their camp and their life, and we returned back to our camp and our life. That was the reality. We realized that the Vietnamese and American soldiers were different people.

The American advisers were very young, younger than average Vietnamese soldiers. In some cases, they didn't have enough experience in the jungle. But they were very bossy and always demanded us to do things their way, the American way. If we didn't follow their instructions, they always threatened us by cutting our supplies, or reducing our rations. They provided us with weapons, ammunition, and aid with so many conditions to make sure we did everything in their way.

Many of our operations were commanded by the American officers. And in an operation, we usually were ordered to “follow the Marines!” or to “cover the Americans!” or something like that. We felt like we were working for the Americans. The Vietnamese officers in our battalion and division commands didn't question the American advisers’ decisions because they needed ammunition, new equipment, and supplies for their troops. They used Americans like their supply officers or warehouse keepers. I can tell you that some of the Vietnamese officers were interested only in how to get money and supplies and tried to avoid the battles. Many ARVN soldiers also lost their interest in the war and left the service. Many of us felt that the war was designed by the American leaders in the White House for us not to win. They were only interested in America's victory, not the Vietnamese victory. We were fighting the American War in Vietnam.

Because of the large casualties and desertions, we received new replacements after each battle. You fought with different men next time. It was hard to know each other and form some sort of brotherhood. We offered cigarettes and candy bars to each other, and talked about our hometown a little bit. Usually, those who were in the army longer played a big brother role since we were pretty much the same age. The officers, medics, and cooks were the older guys in our company. They took good care of us. I remember one day, when they were cooking rice, we received an order to move out. The cooks didn't want to stop cooking and throw away the rice. They had four guys carry the rice cookers to continue their cooking during our march. It was really funny. As soon as we got to the new location, they served us a hot meal. They were nice and hard-working guys. They always cooked some special dishes to celebrate when no one from our company got killed or hurt after a battle. It was the best time.

Then, in early 1972, a group of the experienced soldiers in the Twenty-third Division was transferred to the Airborne Division. I was one of them. We were so happy because the Airborne was the best division of all the ARVN forces.⁶

I was assigned to C Company, Second Battalion. We were sent to Saigon for advanced training for three months. We learned how to ride on the helicopters, engage after landing, conduct night operations, and surprise attack behind the enemy lines. We also learned some new technologies.

We were trained and equipped in the image of our U.S. counterpart. We learned how to do things in the American way. We dressed like American soldiers, operated like Americans, and were treated as an American unit. That was the first time I had to learn English, since some of the equipment instructions and manuals were in English. We moved frequently from one base to another, but most of them in the cities, such as Da Nang, Thuong Duc, Tung Son, Hue, Deo Phu Da, and Phu Tuc.⁷ In many cases, our unit served as a rescue force to save or safeguard the other ARVN infantry troops. We usually stayed at one base for a few weeks, and then we were transported to another base. At Phu Tuc, we engaged against the NVA, the North Vietnamese infantry regiments.

The battle at Phu Tuc was a hard one. The NVA proved a better fighting force than the Viet Cong. We suffered heavy casualties, and were surrounded by the NVA for days. Finally, we were relieved by the U.S. Marines and returned back to Saigon. Then we transferred to other different places, such as Thanh Noi, Dang Thanh, Nam Giao, Deo Nong Nuoc, and Long Khang. Our airborne troops were transported to various bases.

After the American troops pulled out of Vietnam in 1973, the Airborne Division didn't perform as well as many had expected. We were an Americanized division, which had depended upon the American military system in South Vietnam. After the American withdrawal, we lost this highly centralized command and support system, including communication, transportation, and logistics. We suffered heavy casualties and lost a lot of equipment, but there were not much new recruits, nor new replacements.⁸

Memorial service of the Airborne Division in Oklahoma City in 2003.

The toughest battle for me was the one at Long Khang in 1975. One of the infantry divisions was under attack by the NVA at Long Khang. We were sent by helicopters into the fighting zone at night. For three weeks, we fought a tough defense against the NVA attack. I thought we would never get out of there.

After the battle, we transferred to Son Loc, Phuoc Ty, and Dung Tao. When we were stationed at Dung Tao, Gen. Cham Lan and Pres. Duong Van Minh ordered all the ARVN troops to surrender.⁹ We didn't know why, but we obeyed the order and stopped fighting.

After that, our unit just fell apart and everyone seemed on your own. I didn't know where to go. Many of my friends got on the trucks heading South, back to home. My hometown had already been taken by the Viet Cong and I heard about the Viet Cong's policy of punishing those who had served in the ARVN like me. I was afraid of going back home and serving jail time. Like the other men, I burned all of my military papers and photo pictures taken during my service.

I found a U.S. cargo ship and the sailors allowed some of us to board. I had no idea where I was going and what I would do after the war. All I wanted was to leave the country and avoid any punishment, since I didn't think I had done anything wrong as an individual Vietnamese. I had served my country and protected my people. Why do I have to go to jail for that?

After arriving in America, I didn't know where to go and what to do. I traveled with several others to Minnesota and worked on farms. I was kind of like a seasonal handyman and moved from one farm to another. I did anything they asked me to. Then I found a job in a local Coca-Cola bottling company. I have been working there ever since. I missed my parents, brothers, and sisters. I missed my hometown and my country, to which I never returned. The country I loved had disappeared long ago.