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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04792.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04792
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Title
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Coming of Age in Viet Nam's Jungles
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about Le Phan Hung, a defector from North Vietnam, page 4
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Date
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1964, Aug. 10
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, Vietnamese (Democratic Republic); Defectors--Vietnam; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Container
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B4, F6
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
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extracted text
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THJS IS LE PHAN HUI"t-G, a 23-year-old North VietdJ:ai o ·lw left th Gom,n-imist orbit involuntarily, but i.s happy about it. I11filtrated into South·
1'iet Nam as a guen illa, he 1cas captured in his first
engagement. The first part of a Herald Tribune interric1c with him was published Sunday. Here, Le Phan
Hung tells what it is to be a private in a Communist
army and a captive of anti-Communist forces.
-,n~rn.<;e
.:,:,tikerald Tribune photo by BEVERLY DEEPE
r
•
'
r? r, u
~
Prisoner Le Phan Hung
'-
-
Coming of Age in Viet Nam's Jungles
I never finished my schooling because I was drafted
into the army in April, 1963. Young men can be drafted at
any time between ages 18 and 27, depending on the decision
of the government. They used to be drafted for three years
but in 1960, changed it to two years.
I could not apply to be trained as an officer because
that depends on the cultural standards of the student and
mostly the origins of the person. Even unirnrsity students
cannot apply to be officers if they come from landowner or
reactionary classes. Officers have to be from the poor peasant class and recommended by the Communist' party.
When I went to the army, my family was sad and even
cried, ~t it's impossible to avoid it since I'd be ~rrested
and jailed and driven out of school. Before my leavmg, my
family gave me a farewell dinner and my mother cried and
complained: "I've raised my son up to twenty years of age;
I've sent him up to the 9th class; now the government takes
him from me. It's impossible for me to keep him."
I was first taken to ·a training center in Thanh Hoa.
There were 2,000 draftees there, and for three months we
went through basic training-like marching in t.he ranks
and shooting at targetf,. We always had enough to eat there
and stayed in the training-school barracks. At the end of
three months, we were given green fatigue uniforms and
were then sent to different units. I was sent to Division
324, along with 200 other privates. I went with 90 other
privates into one compa'J.w-Company 6, Battalion 7. of
Division 324. This division was stationed in Nghe An: (250
miles south of Hanoi-American intelligence experts are
aware of a North Vietnamese 325th Division but not th e
324th).
GUNS AND POLITICS
We worked with the division eight hours a day, and two
nights a week we had night training and we we,nt out on
maneuvers at tli.e end of the year. I specialized in 81 millimeter mortars.
But when it rained, we took political studies-on the
military tradition of the army; wmetimes we'd have the
studies eight or nine days in a row when it rained, and then
sometimes we wouldn't have them for 2 or 3 months. We
could send letters to our family whenever we wanted; a
stamp cost .12 dong.
Each company had one company commander, one deputy, pne political cadre, but no staff officers because they're
only with batta1ions. Most of the officers in my company
and battalion were about 30; officers at division-level were
about 35-40, but we didn't see those, very often. Most of the
time all officers wore rubber tire sandals like mine, but occa~
sionally they wore boots.
I knew about 10 or 15 of the other privates pretty well.
All were North Vietnamese. All 200 in our group spoke in
North Vietnamese dialect.
After nine months of this training with the division, I
went with one battalion
for 20 days in April, 1964, to work
\
on roads and build dil{es on the River Lam. We were then
sent back to the division. I'd been in the army a year by .
then (April, 1964) but I was not allowed to see my parents.
We're supposed to have seven days leave a year.
Then in May, I went with two companies-180 menby nine trucks to the south-to Dong Hoi (350 miles southeast of Hanoj.; 100 miles north of Hue). Each truck carried
20 men. The trucks were new, Chinese-made Molotovas,
some with four wheels, some with six.
We stayed overnight at Dong Hoi.
At 6 a. m. the next day, we were taken to the airport
in Dong Hoi to board a helicopter for Laos. I'd never :i.een a
helicopter before, but I felt normal. Others in the company
were surprised at it, and just stared at it. No one protested
when we were given or<iers to go south.
There were only two helicopters at the airport, but 2030 airplanes with two propellers. There were no foreigners
there and the pilots for the helicopters were Vietnamese.
The two helicopters could carry 20 men each. They were
Russian-made-they had Russian characters on them-and
were painted black. Each trip to Laos took 40 minutes and
each helicopter made five trips.
Of the 180 men I went to Laos with, about 100 had been
in basic training with me. About 80 came from other provinces. But all 180 spoke North Vietnamese. I never heard
any one speaking another dialect.
We landed somewhere in the jungles of Laos and got
out the helicopter and had to march all day for 10 days. On
cadre from the south met us in Laos and took the whole
group to the western border of Thua Thien province (in
South Viet Nam). He didn't have a uniform and we called
him chief of the group. There were othe1· local cadre too,
without uniforms, and we called them simply chief.
When we arrived at the western border of Thua
Thien, we stayed there two months, clearing the jungle
and planting manioc (similar to sweet potato). During
these two months we ate more manioc than rice and we
had six southern officers for the two companies. These
officers had a different accent and were more difficult for
us to understand.
NO LETTERS HOME
In this jungle area, we had no classes; ;no camps or
barracks. We worked in the jungle and slept in hammocks.
.When I got on the helicopter I carried with me my rifle,
hammock, bag of clothes, 80 bullets. I was in uniform on
the heli_copt·e r and also in the jungle; I had three u 1!? ms
of good fatigues of thick cloth and one wool coat. Nobody
was allowed to have a diary or to write letters to their
families. I couldn't even write my mother I was going
south and she doesn't know where I am.
In the jungle we saw planes and helicopters and the
southern cadre said they were American. We were all homesick, and we talked about our places at home. I had headaches and caught malaria-all the nurses were men
and they didn't have enough medicine-only anti-malaria
drugs and some penicillin for injections.
Then one day we were told to march. We were given
no explanations except it was secret and could not be revealed. A southern officer gave me black shorts and shirt
to wear. I left two uniforms in the jungle and put another
uniform and khaki hat in bag along with a piece of nylon
one meter by two meters to serve as a raincoat. I also had
my rifle, which fired five shots, one at a time, and 80 bullets.
We left the. jungle and marched four nights to the
lowlands. In the daytime we went into _the bushes. We
followed one trail, man behind man. in single file. We
were organized in platoons of 22 persons each, and we
traveled through the trail one platoon at a time. Each.
platoon had a southern leader and one deputy-making
nine platoon leaders and nine deputies, all southerners.
,
After four days we came to one .village and made an
attack about 7 p. m. But I and three others got lost before
the attack about one kilometer from the village. I .;aw
many people but I dare not ask them for food because it
would reveal I was a northerner and I had no money.
On the second day two of the four were killed, one
escaped but I was wounded and later captured. I was
caught by regular forces of more than 40 men. I got
wounded in the knee.
South Viet Nam. is different from the north. Here
the villages have trenches and spikes around them (strategic hamlets), but in the north, they have no defenses.
In the south you can have anything you want if you
have the money-you could buy radios and bicycles. But
in the north, even if one had the money, he could not
buy a radio. Only the cadre can-and radios cost 700 dong.
I don't know what will happen to me now. I hope
the government will be lenient to me and let me go free.
I'd stay in the south and work. But I wouldn't join the
South Vietnamese Army. I've had enough of army life.
-
THJS IS LE PHAN HUI"t-G, a 23-year-old North VietdJ:ai o ·lw left th Gom,n-imist orbit involuntarily, but i.s happy about it. I11filtrated into South·
1'iet Nam as a guen illa, he 1cas captured in his first
engagement. The first part of a Herald Tribune interric1c with him was published Sunday. Here, Le Phan
Hung tells what it is to be a private in a Communist
army and a captive of anti-Communist forces.
-,n~rn.<;e
.:,:,tikerald Tribune photo by BEVERLY DEEPE
r
•
'
r? r, u
~
Prisoner Le Phan Hung
'-
-
Coming of Age in Viet Nam's Jungles
I never finished my schooling because I was drafted
into the army in April, 1963. Young men can be drafted at
any time between ages 18 and 27, depending on the decision
of the government. They used to be drafted for three years
but in 1960, changed it to two years.
I could not apply to be trained as an officer because
that depends on the cultural standards of the student and
mostly the origins of the person. Even unirnrsity students
cannot apply to be officers if they come from landowner or
reactionary classes. Officers have to be from the poor peasant class and recommended by the Communist' party.
When I went to the army, my family was sad and even
cried, ~t it's impossible to avoid it since I'd be ~rrested
and jailed and driven out of school. Before my leavmg, my
family gave me a farewell dinner and my mother cried and
complained: "I've raised my son up to twenty years of age;
I've sent him up to the 9th class; now the government takes
him from me. It's impossible for me to keep him."
I was first taken to ·a training center in Thanh Hoa.
There were 2,000 draftees there, and for three months we
went through basic training-like marching in t.he ranks
and shooting at targetf,. We always had enough to eat there
and stayed in the training-school barracks. At the end of
three months, we were given green fatigue uniforms and
were then sent to different units. I was sent to Division
324, along with 200 other privates. I went with 90 other
privates into one compa'J.w-Company 6, Battalion 7. of
Division 324. This division was stationed in Nghe An: (250
miles south of Hanoi-American intelligence experts are
aware of a North Vietnamese 325th Division but not th e
324th).
GUNS AND POLITICS
We worked with the division eight hours a day, and two
nights a week we had night training and we we,nt out on
maneuvers at tli.e end of the year. I specialized in 81 millimeter mortars.
But when it rained, we took political studies-on the
military tradition of the army; wmetimes we'd have the
studies eight or nine days in a row when it rained, and then
sometimes we wouldn't have them for 2 or 3 months. We
could send letters to our family whenever we wanted; a
stamp cost .12 dong.
Each company had one company commander, one deputy, pne political cadre, but no staff officers because they're
only with batta1ions. Most of the officers in my company
and battalion were about 30; officers at division-level were
about 35-40, but we didn't see those, very often. Most of the
time all officers wore rubber tire sandals like mine, but occa~
sionally they wore boots.
I knew about 10 or 15 of the other privates pretty well.
All were North Vietnamese. All 200 in our group spoke in
North Vietnamese dialect.
After nine months of this training with the division, I
went with one battalion
for 20 days in April, 1964, to work
\
on roads and build dil{es on the River Lam. We were then
sent back to the division. I'd been in the army a year by .
then (April, 1964) but I was not allowed to see my parents.
We're supposed to have seven days leave a year.
Then in May, I went with two companies-180 menby nine trucks to the south-to Dong Hoi (350 miles southeast of Hanoj.; 100 miles north of Hue). Each truck carried
20 men. The trucks were new, Chinese-made Molotovas,
some with four wheels, some with six.
We stayed overnight at Dong Hoi.
At 6 a. m. the next day, we were taken to the airport
in Dong Hoi to board a helicopter for Laos. I'd never :i.een a
helicopter before, but I felt normal. Others in the company
were surprised at it, and just stared at it. No one protested
when we were given or<iers to go south.
There were only two helicopters at the airport, but 2030 airplanes with two propellers. There were no foreigners
there and the pilots for the helicopters were Vietnamese.
The two helicopters could carry 20 men each. They were
Russian-made-they had Russian characters on them-and
were painted black. Each trip to Laos took 40 minutes and
each helicopter made five trips.
Of the 180 men I went to Laos with, about 100 had been
in basic training with me. About 80 came from other provinces. But all 180 spoke North Vietnamese. I never heard
any one speaking another dialect.
We landed somewhere in the jungles of Laos and got
out the helicopter and had to march all day for 10 days. On
cadre from the south met us in Laos and took the whole
group to the western border of Thua Thien province (in
South Viet Nam). He didn't have a uniform and we called
him chief of the group. There were othe1· local cadre too,
without uniforms, and we called them simply chief.
When we arrived at the western border of Thua
Thien, we stayed there two months, clearing the jungle
and planting manioc (similar to sweet potato). During
these two months we ate more manioc than rice and we
had six southern officers for the two companies. These
officers had a different accent and were more difficult for
us to understand.
NO LETTERS HOME
In this jungle area, we had no classes; ;no camps or
barracks. We worked in the jungle and slept in hammocks.
.When I got on the helicopter I carried with me my rifle,
hammock, bag of clothes, 80 bullets. I was in uniform on
the heli_copt·e r and also in the jungle; I had three u 1!? ms
of good fatigues of thick cloth and one wool coat. Nobody
was allowed to have a diary or to write letters to their
families. I couldn't even write my mother I was going
south and she doesn't know where I am.
In the jungle we saw planes and helicopters and the
southern cadre said they were American. We were all homesick, and we talked about our places at home. I had headaches and caught malaria-all the nurses were men
and they didn't have enough medicine-only anti-malaria
drugs and some penicillin for injections.
Then one day we were told to march. We were given
no explanations except it was secret and could not be revealed. A southern officer gave me black shorts and shirt
to wear. I left two uniforms in the jungle and put another
uniform and khaki hat in bag along with a piece of nylon
one meter by two meters to serve as a raincoat. I also had
my rifle, which fired five shots, one at a time, and 80 bullets.
We left the. jungle and marched four nights to the
lowlands. In the daytime we went into _the bushes. We
followed one trail, man behind man. in single file. We
were organized in platoons of 22 persons each, and we
traveled through the trail one platoon at a time. Each.
platoon had a southern leader and one deputy-making
nine platoon leaders and nine deputies, all southerners.
,
After four days we came to one .village and made an
attack about 7 p. m. But I and three others got lost before
the attack about one kilometer from the village. I .;aw
many people but I dare not ask them for food because it
would reveal I was a northerner and I had no money.
On the second day two of the four were killed, one
escaped but I was wounded and later captured. I was
caught by regular forces of more than 40 men. I got
wounded in the knee.
South Viet Nam. is different from the north. Here
the villages have trenches and spikes around them (strategic hamlets), but in the north, they have no defenses.
In the south you can have anything you want if you
have the money-you could buy radios and bicycles. But
in the north, even if one had the money, he could not
buy a radio. Only the cadre can-and radios cost 700 dong.
I don't know what will happen to me now. I hope
the government will be lenient to me and let me go free.
I'd stay in the south and work. But I wouldn't join the
South Vietnamese Army. I've had enough of army life.
