Читать книгу Voices from the Vietnam War - Xiaobing Li - Страница 15

Electronic Reconnaissance

vs. Guerrillas

Humble and shy, Lt. Nguyen Nhieu always used a low voice during the interviews and our conversations. Sometimes my recorder failed to pick up his words.1 That day, however, I couldn't believe my own ears when he told me that he was getting married the next weekend. “Congratulations” I loudly shouted, trying to overcome the background noise in the Chinese restaurant. “Tell me about the bride” I was excited and curious. “Her name is Nguyen Nhi” Lieutenant Nhieu said, still keeping his voice low. He showed me her photo. Big eyes and round face, Nhi is a nice looking and happy woman. Lieutenant Nhieu told me that she was well educated and had written a few books in Vietnamese. He gave me three of her recent publications at the dinner table.2 “All about the war” his voice got even lower. “You may like them. Not me. She is part of it. She lost her legs in the war, and she is in the wheelchair” I was shocked and became speechless. It was hard for me to imagine such a happy and intelligent woman rolling down the aisle in a wheelchair at her wedding.

Lt. Nguyen Nhieu received his college education and was admitted to a law school in South Vietnam. But the ongoing war interrupted his higher education and made him an intelligence officer in the ARVN Navy. He received his formal reconnaissance training both in South Vietnam and in the United States from the best instructors with the most up-to-date technology.3 The U.S. Navy provided technical support and trained Vietnamese officers for their intelligence mission.4 Lieutenant Nhieu's story is notable for its details in naval intelligence collection of the South Vietnamese Navy. As one of the largest navies in the world, the ARVN Navy had more than 1,400 ships and gunboats, with 42,000 soldiers and sailors—seemingly everything needed to fight against the NVA and Viet Cong along the coast and in the rivers. According to Lieutenant Nhieu, however, the ARVN Navy failed to play any significant role in fighting the Communist forces and defending South Vietnam during the war. He believes the navy had problems similar to those of the other ARVN services, including political activity, personal networks, and careerism, which weakened the morale of officers and soldiers alike and distracted them from their military missions.

Lt. Nguyen Nhieu

Chief, Electronic Reconnaissance Team, Giang Doan and Ham Doi Naval Bases, ARVN Navy (South Vietnam)

During my college years, in the spring of 1968, a law school in Saigon accepted my application. My mother was so happy since she thought I didn't have to serve in the military, as my father and two elder brothers were doing at that time. She also planned for me to apply for the further study overseas in the Western countries like the United States. In the fall, however, I found out that the war was everywhere and affected everybody in the college. Neither the students nor the faculty members were allowed to travel abroad. All the professors talked about the war in their classes. Antiwar flyers and rallies flooded the cafeteria and dorms. The students were guessing who the secret Viet Cong members were and who the undercover South Vietnamese government agents were on the campus. Some students disappeared from my classes and never came back. Rumors followed them. These students either left the capital city for the Viet Cong guerrilla force or were assassinated by the secret agents. Everybody worried about the outcome of the war, not about their grade in the class. Certainly, your career and your future depended upon which side you were on, not how well you were educated.

I just couldn't learn any more after I had finished my general education in my first year as a freshman. Toward the end of the fall semester in late 1969, a couple of naval officers visited our classroom for recruitment purposes. After their propaganda and offer briefing, I signed up for the ARVN Navy without much hesitation. My decision almost blew away my mother, who cried and yelled at me, complaining why I didn't talk to her before my enlistment. She didn't understand why I volunteered when everybody else tried to avoid the draft.

I explained to her that I believed it was a very good offer. First of all, the ARVN Navy promised one year of training in a naval academy. All the courses I would take were considered as college credits to fulfill my degree requirement. That would include a six-month study in the South Vietnamese naval academy and six-month training in a naval school in America.⁵ My mother felt better after she knew about the training opportunity in America. Second, after training, I would be a naval officer working in the office, not a soldier on the front line. Third, I had to serve in the military before my graduation or before I would start to look for a job. You can't get any government position or any decent job in a law firm without a military service record in South Vietnam. Eventually, my mother agreed with me.

In January 1970, I joined the ARVN Navy. For the next three months, I received some basic training at a naval base in Saigon.⁶ There were about two hundred naval trainees in our class. We drilled every day and learned how to use small arms. We visited various ships and gunboats and took part in several naval exercises off the coast. I still remember that one day we got on board an American warship outside the Saigon harbor. The American ship was equipped with new technology and powerful weapons. And, American sailors and officers were very friendly.

After the basic training, they sent me with forty other officer-students from our class to a naval academy in Nha Trang City for advanced training. For the next four months, I studied electronics engineering, radar operations, and electronic detection technology at the naval school. Some of the instructors were American naval officers. Patient and kind, they taught us everything from the books to their combat experience. All of us studied very hard. We were told that only the top ten out of forty officer-students would go to America for further training and study. I worked very hard during these months. My strong English background and solid core curriculum at the college had really helped me all the way to the top of the class. By the end of this advanced training, I knew that I was going to America for further study, and that I would become a petty officer first class.

In August 1970, I came to America with eight of my classmates from the Nha Trang Navy Academy. We went to the U.S. Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island. We were divided into two groups, four of us studying naval intelligence.⁷ I studied electronic interception and detection of enemy signals, radio messages, and telegraphs. Even though they cut our training from six to three months, I learned a lot at the U.S. Naval War College. We traveled a lot during this period, including trips to New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Norfolk, and Miami. That was an eye-opening experience, and I began to dream of coming to America after the war.

Saigon and Surrounding River Bases, 1964–1975

Upon my return, I was promoted to lieutenant by the ARVN Navy in November 1970. The ARVN Navy had two main branches: the offshore sea fleet and the inland river fleet.⁸ I was assigned to the river operations at the Giang Doan River base. I served two years in the river unit, and two years with the sea fleet at the Ham Doi Naval Base.

From 1971 to 1973, my assignment was electronic information collection along the rivers for the ARVN Naval Intelligence Center. I led an intelligence team of about forty naval officers and sailors. We were traveling on a small reconnaissance boat equipped with new electronic devices. We were sailing along the rivers with six or eight officers, about three or four days for each trip. We collected electronic information by intercepting radio signals of the NVA and Viet Cong. These Communist radio operators and communication officers must have been very well trained. It was very difficult for us to break their codes and to figure out what they were talking about. After each trip, we analyzed the information and reported the Communist troops’ movements and deployments to the navy intelligence center.

As the collection team chief, I knew my mission and tried to avoid any engagement with the Viet Cong and NVA in order to protect my team members and electronic equipment. On several occasions, however, we had to fight our way out of a dangerous situation.

In February 1972, for example, we were sailing along the Go Quao River near Rach Gia. On the third day, we discovered information of a large-scale movement of the NVA troops. When the Communist troops moved, we followed them for two days. On the fourth day, however, we lost their radio signals because they had marched too far away from the river. In order to find out their destination, I decided to land our team and follow the NVA movements. Before we could relocate these troops, we were ambushed by the local Viet Cong from a village. One of the officers was killed, and two were wounded. I had a minor injury. It was so sad to see your men get killed or wounded because they followed your orders. I still feel sorry about those officers today. But at that moment you are sure that these men are loyal to you and to our government.

I knew that the Communists considered the U.S. and ARVN intelligence the most dangerous and that our intelligence would be fatal to their victory. Thus, they tried everything they could to neutralize our operations and destroy our units. As a team chief, I was told from time to time by my superiors that our security wasn't perfect and there could be inside VC agents, that you needed self-protection and trusted nobody, and that you were always prepared for the worst. My officers were transferred frequently, and we changed our team base several times.

In the spring of 1973, after the American troops withdrew, I was transferred to the sea fleet and led an intelligence collection team on an escort ship. This was a big gunship, but I had a smaller group, about ten officers, working under my command most of the time. I had a similar assignment: collecting electronic information and intercepting radio signals of the movements the Viet Cong [PLAF] and NVA forces.

I was unhappy about this transfer, not because of the new assignment, but because of a missed promotion opportunity. I was supposed to be promoted to lieutenant commander during this transfer. But somebody else got the promotion. That was the problem of the ARVN Navy, in which honest people didn't get promoted or awarded, but those sneaky and dishonest people would get all they wanted. I served as a lieutenant for four years with the Navy. I never got a promotion.

Nevertheless, we had better electronic equipment and a longer range radar system built in the escort ship, which had been operated by the U.S. Navy and then was transferred to the ARVN Navy.⁹ It had an up-to-date weapon system with many new technical features. When it patrolled and engaged, we sailed as part of its crew out in the seas. We conducted coastal and oceanic information collection and analysis.

We engaged in a couple dozen naval operations. Most of them were bombarding the NVA coastal positions and supporting our ground operations. Several of them were rescue missions to transport our ground troops out of the Communist attacks. I still remember one confrontation with the Chinese Communist Navy near the South China Sea.

During one patrol in the summer of 1973, we identified several Chinese vessels leaving the international waters around the South China Sea and approaching our waters. Our fleet, including two cruisers and one supply ship, sailed toward the Chinese in order to stop a possible violation of our sovereignty. The Chinese fleet, including two cruisers and two destroyers, didn't stop and continued to sail toward us. Around noon, both fleets met each other near the water boundary [twelve miles off the coast]. And then both stopped face to face in close range. Our cruiser crew rushed to their battle positions and prepared for combat. We were ready to destroy our code books, manuals, and other documents. The standoff took about one hour. Then the Chinese warships backed down and pulled out. But I was surprised that, after they sailed away, the Chinese ships turned around and fired on us. We returned fire. Although the exchange of gunfire was intense, it didn't cause much damage since we were far enough from each other. I didn't know what kind of game the Chinese Navy was trying to play. Our commanders reported our victory against an invading Chinese fleet. My guess was that the Chinese probably did the same thing.

This was another problem of the ARVN Navy. The commanders and officers tended to report victories and make up some good news, and not report the real problems or the truth. We lacked the nationalistic spirit in our officers, most of whom didn't dedicate their lives to the cause. Our navy and South Vietnamese armed forces needed a strong fighting spirit so that we could have stayed on our course. The spirit would create miracles. Unfortunately, our enemy forces had a fighting spirit, were dedicated to their cause, and won the war. Certainly, they had an evil cause, which didn't lead to the salvation of the Vietnamese people, but led to Communist control.

Lt. Nguyen Nhieu in the United States in 1998.

After the war, I was jailed by the Communist government from 1975 to 1979. After I was released, I returned to My Tho, my hometown. I was treated as a criminal by the neighbors for many years.

Nevertheless, my mother was so happy to see me back home. After my father died, I was her only surviving family since she lost two of three sons in the war. I looked for all kinds of jobs and worked hard for her.

In 1992, my dream was coming true: I came to America through humanitarian organizations’ programs. I regained my human dignity. I am proud of my service in the ARVN Navy, and American people here respect that. They appreciated our sacrifice and loss during our fight against the Communists. Living in Fort Worth, Texas, I am working hard to try to settle down, and then I can bring my mother to America. She has suffered enough, and I am her only family.