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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-01565 to 363-01576.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-01565 to 363-01576
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Title
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Article rewrite on the Cheiu Hoi hamlets
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Description
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Original title: "Open Arms." Article rewrite by Keever about the Cheiu Hoi Open Arms hamlets
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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Beverly Ann Deope
64A Hong Thap Tu
caigon, Vietnam
July 17, 1967
Open Arms-page 1 (rewrite)
SAIGON, VỊ THAN
On a stuffy, hot day in 1964, Nguyen Xuan Lien sewed
orayons of red, yellow and blue into the cuffs of his trousers. He
tuoked a three-inch dagger and silent-firing pistol, made in Communist
China, under his belt and x his simple cotton shirt. Then, pretending
to be a construction worker, he sneaked onto the strategic, ultra-
secret Bien Hoa airbase, 18 miles northwest of Saigon, where silvery,
U-2 spy aircraft touched down and refueld between missions for the
American Central Intelligence Agency.
Lien a 25-year-old North Vietnamese intelligence agot
agent stayed for three months on the base, measuring off and counting
the length of the runway, the number of Vietnamese soldiers, kinds
of weapons, petroleum dumps and defense bunkers. He slept on the
base, under the nose of American-advised Vietnamese guards, persuaded
other construction workers to buy food for him and pick up his weekly
paycheck. Each night, he turned on his Dick Tracy-type, mini-radio,
hidden in his wrist watch, and gave a progress report to his North
Vietnamese superiors.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arme-page 2 (rewrite)
When he left the airbase, he drew to a scale larger than the
top of a cardtable a detailed map of the installation. Weeks later,
Viet Cong guerrillas, using the map, mortared with surprising accuracy
the airbase, touching off the prelude to the American escalation
of the Vietnam war. The next year, Lien-his name means Spring Lotus--
sneaked three more times onto the airbase, even though a
5000-man American airborne brigade protected it, and several times
he roamed around Saigon's giant Tan Son Nhut airbase to make more
maps for the Communists.
✓ost, today, Lien has laid down his pistol, ended his James Bon
Bond adventures, forsaken the Communist cause--and is now a law-abiding
citisen living in a peaceful village situated midway between the two
major airports he had so carefully sketched for the Communists.
"After 11 years as a soldier, including four years as a
Communist Party member, I decided I was tired of fighting," he
explained simply. Thus, ended his intelligence and reconnaissance
work, for which he has studied five years in Communist China.
former second lieutenant in the North Vietnamese Army, he was the
youngest and lowest-ranking of eight sons--all military officers-
of a North Vietnamese carpenter in Nghe An province, the birthplace
of North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh situated
above
the 17th parallel separating the two Vietnams.
(More)
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'Deepe
Open Arms--page 3 (rewrite)
Lien is one of the 66,000 ex-Communists who voluntarily switched
sides to join one of the most promising programs implemented by the
American-supported Vietnamese goverment in Saigon. The program is
appropriately called "Open Arms" or "Chieu Hoi" in Vietnamese. Its aim
is to "weloome back home and forgive past sins" of the "misguided"
Vietnamese who once fought with or supported the North Vietnamese
Communists or the Southern-born ones, commonly called the Viet Cong. The
program promises the Communists an amnesty, full citizenship rights and
resettlement in South Vietnamese society in return for voluntarily
giving up their war against the Vietnamese government.
Since the program was initiated four years ago, 66,000 Communists
voluntarily came over to the Vietnamese government side--the equivalent
more than
of six Viet Cong divisions.
divisions-defected from the Communist ranks. In 1967, the figures are
expected to double to more than 40,000. Open Arms officials view the
program as a short-out to victory. First, it saps the political and
military strength of the Communists; an estimated 3000 Allied soldiers
would have been killed attempting to eliminate the 20,000 returnees
in 1966 on the battlefield with purely military means.
goldmine of pinpoint intelligence information from the ex-Communists
adds to the capabilities of the Allied troops to prosecute the war
more effectively.
In 1966 alone, 20,000-or roughly two
Second, the
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 4 (rewrite)
Most of the Viet Cong dropout to the government side because
of the rugged hardships in on the Viet Cong side-rather than any
over-riding political attraction of any of the saigon governments.
Colonel Pham Anh, who runs the open Arms program throughout Vietm
Vietnam, explained this negative reaction this way: "The high rate
of Viet Cong defectors has been attained prooisely because of unrelenting
military pens pressure, which has increasingly convinced the Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese forces that they are losing the war. If the
Viet Cong thought they were winning, the number of returnees would
have been much fewer."
While statistically the number of defectors is impressive, one
once the defectors fling themselves into the "open arms" of the Vietnamese
government, they often become disillusioned. It is not that the
Vietnamese government has failed to fulfill its basio promises of
resettlement and aid-it's that the goverment has only succeeded
half-way in most of their projects attempting to help the defectors.
An estimated one per cent of the defectors became so disappointed
with life in the government sone they have returned to Viet Cong
areas. Last year, thirty North Vietnamese defectors were so
disgruntled they exampa boldly escaped from the National Chie
Open Arms Center in the heart of saigon.
Some defectors complain LST GEAR
that government officials, who run the centers, engimin indulgod
in gambling and mis-conduct, rather than working hard to runt sports
operate the Open Arms centers effectively.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 5 (rewrite)
One serious shortcoming of the program-like most government
programs is the lack of talented, dedicated government administAdios
administrators to make th p, the program function well. The corruption
some of
and inefficiency of the Open Arms officials of the Vietnamese government
is openly criticized by some American advisors. Some Vietnamese
officials neither like nor trust the Open Arms returnees and are
apathetic, if not antagonistic, towards the program. Some Vietnamese
officials claim--and a few American advisors are beginning to fear-
that the Viet Cong may be slipping "double agents" into the Open
Arms program.
One of the most ineffective senior Vietnamese
officials runs the program in the five northern pror provinces where
American Marines have suffered such heavy casualties. But, American
and Vietnamese officials have failed in their numerous attempts to
have the inept official removed-for he is the relative of the Vietnamese
general commanding the corps,
In other cases, government officials were, according to
official reports, conspiring with building contractons to cheat
on the funds for the construction of Open Arms centers and villages;
one favorite trick is to dilute the U.S. suppi, US-supplied cement
with too much sand, which allows the remainder to be sold as profit
for the officials and contractors.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 6 (rewrite)
one
Once a Communist such as Lien defects to an Allied unit or outpost,
he is taken, usually by helicopter, to the nearest Open Arms Center,
of which has been constructed in each of Vietnam's 44 provinces. There,
he and his family life fo live for 45 days; they are given at government
expense food, clothing, rewards for weapons brought in.
Some defectors
complain government officials are not paying them fully their promised
funds; in a few cases, the provincial government official would get a
kiokp kick-back from the local tailor contracted to sew clothing for the
defectors. The returnee is screened, interrogated and classified
into military or political categories and is then given political
indoctrination couses courses "so naive they must have been written
by a M. I. T. professor," one American advisor complained.
After 45
days,
the defector, or returnee as the Vietnamese government calls
him, is free to return to his home village, if it is relatively secure
from Communist domination, or to find jobs in the cities. Most prefer
to return to their village. Roughly 20 per cont serve the Vietnamese
government in either military units or in paramilitary duties, such as
psychological warfare, intelligence or police work. Most chose to serve
the government reluctantly and only as a means of livelihood; they
are given only a one year exemption from the Vietnamese armed forces.
As one of them explained: "I quit the Viet Cong because I was tired
of war and wanted to lay down my weapon. But, now I must continue to
fight on this side."
(More)
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'Deepe
Open Arms-page 7 (rewrite)
Returnees such as Lien who have no relatives living in South
Vietnam, or whose home villages lie in the Communist zone, are given
the opportunity to live in one of eighteen hamlets especially built
for them. A total of 50 of these hamlets, housing 5000 families,
are to be completed by the end of this year in one facet of the prof
program that is receiving increasing attention by Vietnamese government
officials and American political advisors.
HAMLETS
Yet, the government is faced with a severe dilenna about thevillages
HAMLETS
for the & Open Arms returnees. Most of the Open Arms villages lack more
than a garden plot-size of land for each family--and even that is generally
sandy soil which will produce little. In Quang Tri province, for example,
where American Marines are fighting, the hamlet woman pointed to her
white sandy soil and said: "This soil is so bad even our sweet potatoews
HAVE
wouldn't grow potatoes and so we had to eat the sweet potatos leaves. A
few of the villages villagers have pigs--but only if they have enough
capital to buy food to raise them, which I don't." Most government lands
which could be offered to the Open Arms returnees are in Viet Cong-controlled
areas the little land that can be found for the hamlets are not
productive enough or big enough to magnetize future Open Arms returnees.
The imaginative idea of using American engineering units to develop new
MA
lands and scouret them has thus far been ignored by American commanders.
"If we had enough land to offer theViet Cong, they would come in by the
hordes," one frustrated American advisor explained.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms--page 8 (rewrite)
Some of the Vietnamese government's administrative and economic
bottlenecks and dilemnas exist in the National Open Arms hamlet named
EAGLE
Phuong Hoang (Golden Phoenix), where Lien lives. The hamlet houses
82 returnees, 17 wives of returnees, 44 children, three mothers-in-law,
23 American-imported Is peis and countless ducks and hamsters.
The
hamlet lazily sprawls amid sugar cane fields and mangoustin groves to
the rear of a brand-new, but still u un-opened agricultural technical
school.
The hamlet is precisely patterned as though a giant cookie-cutter
Each of the 28 duplex
rather than surveyor's tools fashioned the design.
houses has been carefully constructed on a plot the size of a tennis court.
A cement floor-the current status symbol in rural Vietnam-has been laid
for each. Villagers then erected a lattiework of bamboo frames which are
Each building is
packed with mud, sand, cement and straw for the walls.
topped with 36 sheets of corrugated tin. All supplies-tin roofing, cement,
nails, bolts and lumber--are donated by the Vietnamese government from
American stookpiles of goods used for the economic development of Vietnam.
The villagers are given certificates that they own their own homes-
which they calculated to be worth roughly US$230 each.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 9 (rewrite)
Yet, the ex-Communist are beginning to grumble. In the hamlet, the
government has promised to distribute 200 square meters of land per
returnee for vegetable growing. The returnees complain that the government
Alum
has yet to do so--but even if it does, the soil contains so much um not
much could be produced.
The government also promised that 50 of the returnees would be
SADS
formed into special designed to propagandize nearly villagers about the
Open Arms program; but for four months no paychecks have been received.
"This is a very hard life; we lack alot of material things and we need our
paychecks," one returnee explained.
In 1966, the government paid each returnee 56 piastres (4/gents)
a day for building the hamlet houses, but this year the funds have been
out off. Currently, each returnee receives roughly 11 cents a day for
a food allowances; this was adequate last year, but rising food costs
means that the sum is now barely enough on which to subsist. For the
hamlet's pig cooperative, the government donated forty American-hybrid
Yorkshires (17 of them died), plus American-imported corn to feed them,
but only a few returnees have been given pigs to bring in individual
incomes.
Once month an American military medical team stops in the village
to assist the sick and an American dental team occasinally visits to pull
aching teeth. But, there is no drinkable water near the village. The
canals and ditches are filled with bitter alum water; the river with salt
water requests to the government for a daily tank-load of purified water
have gone unheeded. Toilet facilities, as in most villages, consist
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- Page 10
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 10 (rewrite)
of walking out for enough in the field so the hamlet doesn't smell bad",
as one returnee explained.
Many villagers complain they and their children are legal onon-persons.
The school-age children were born in the Communist zone and hence only
a few have birth certificates, without which they are unable to enroll
in a nearby Roman Catholic parochial school or any government-run school.
While Open Arms officials bless the increasing number of marriages in
the hamlet, there are no marriage certificates from the proper government
bureau. And, as one newly-married returnee explained, "If I don't
have the proper marriage papers, my future kids won't have the papers
certifying they've even been born--and then they won't be able to go to
school or ever get a job."
And
Because the hamlet lies within the defense perimeter of Tan Son Nhut
airbase, it is relatively--but only relatively--secure. One Open Arms
returnee complained: "The Viet Cong can attack our hamlet anytime. It's
a miracle they haven't done it yet. We have only six rifles here.
we have only one magazine (twenty rounds) of ammunition for each rifle.
That's not enough to defend ourselves--it's just enough to delude us into
feeling safe."
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms-page 11 (rewrite)
One especially bitter returnee was 26-year-old, Hanoi-born
Do Quoc Hungwhich means "The national Hero." A former accountant
in an Hanoi textile plant, he serves as office clerk on the
hamlet council for a monthly salary of 2000 piastres (US$18). Sent
from North Vietnam in July, 1965, Hung, the son of a steelwork: DKY:CBDBD:D:D:D:D:D:
served in a special heavy weapons battalion operating in the mountains
north of Saigon, where he regularly fired anti-aircraft at American
planos and Chinese-made .82 mm. mortars at government installations.
"A North Vietnamese village would be ten times better than this
village," he said bitterly, referring to the Golden Eagle hamlet.
"In the North, if you want to go to a movie or a soccer game, it is
free. We have no entertainment in this hamlet in the South. In the
north, if the children get sick, there's a medic in the village to take
care of them free. The schooling is free-even the children's
notebooks. Here, the children in this hamlet can't go to school--
you can see this hamlet here lacks everything."
hamlet.
Hung is one of the sixty North Vietnamese returnees living in the
Slowly, these bachelors are choosing a normal life with roots
in South Vietnam-four recently married and more oui weddings in the
hamlet are scheduled. Hung married a Southern-born returnee who once
served as a Viet
Cong production worker, growing rice and vegetables.
Another Northerner married the widow of a government soldier who had been
killed by the Communists. In many cases, the Vietnamese government
donates 10,000 piastres (US$84) as a wedding gift for the couple to
buy household items.
(More)
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Deepe
Open Arms--page 12 (rewrite)
The ex-Communists-like other Vietnamese citizens in secure re
HAM LET
areas have the right to vote in both village and national elections.
In the Open Arms hamlets, the six-man hamlet council are all former
Communists. In the Golden Eagle hamlet, the chief is a vizen-faced,
40-year-old former Viet Cong pt deputy battalion commander named
Ho Cong Thanh--his name means "Public Success." A Communist Party
member since 1951, Thanh defected in late 1965 because "I was so
tired of the war. I started fighting in 1948 (against the French
colonialists). I had been fighting for a long, long time." Born in
South Vietnam, he lives with his wife and four children in the hamlet
where he receives a monthly salary of 2500 piastres (US$21).
One frustrated American official, explaining the plight
of the Opon Arms program, said: "It's great we're getting so many
returnees it means the Communists are in trouble. But we have so many
problems taking care of them, it's a miracle they don't go back to te
the Communists."
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Date
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1967, July 17
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Chieu Hoi Program; Villages--Vietnam
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6297
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Size
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21 x 26 cm
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Container
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B8, F5
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Format
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dispatches
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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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Collector
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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
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Language
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English
