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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-06517 to 363-06526.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-06517 to 363-06526
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Title
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Article about Communist forces celebrating the Vietnamese New Year
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Description
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Keever's title: "Viet Cong celebrate new year on Hanoi's Time and Drumbeat", Article draft about the Việt Cộng's celebration of Tết and some of their plans, for the Christian Science Monitor
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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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Bev - Page
one..
(This lengthy report on spending the short-lived lunar new
Ceasefire
year with Viet Cong cadre and guerrillas was gathered as the Communist
general offensive began in the northern provinces. A day later, Saigon
In the light of
and other major provincial towns were attacked.
holiday
timmam this offensive, this article details the Viet Cong celebration,
organization, activities, policies-and thoughts sn of victory against the
American forces).
A FRENCH RUBBER PLANTATION, SOUTH VIETNAM.
The Viet Cong political cadre and military guerrillas
began welcoming in the unman year of the Mamy Monkey at midnight-
Hanoi time.
Clooks in North Vietnam run one hour later than in Saigon,
which had ik welcomed in the lunar new year an hour earlier.
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Ber- Page 22
We
Shortly before the celebration, the two political max cadre,
a half dozen guerrillas and this correspondent, walked across the yard
of the French owned and managed rubber plantation outside of saigon.
walked several hundred yards down a by road of red dust and past
the double row of concrete homes of the several hundred Vietnamese
rubber plantation workers in the village. The homes resembled those
in rural France and lay nestled ammng amidst a sea of several thousand
acres of the lithe rubber trees.
We entered one of the concrete homom houses, which was auster
austerely furnished with a long table and a dozen chairs along one long wall;
Face the long table was a
a single row of benches along the opposite wall,
smaller one from which several kerosene lamps shed light into the
room. This table was adorned with a small bouquet of plastic asters
in a vase and eight marigolds growing in a Fritos chip can,
Above the table hung the Viet Cong flag-red and blue
horizont horizontal strips with a gold star in the middle-attohod to
Around the flag,
a faded wall-curtain depicting scones of rural France.
arranged pentagon-shpaed shaped, hung five small han paper banners
in pastel colors. The one on top read
"Fatherland before all." To
the right of the flags "Long Live The National Liberation Front of
South Vietnam." below the flag: "In the New Year, we wish President
Ho a Long Life." To the left: "Long Live the Lao Dong Party."
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BPA 33
(The lant Lao Dong Party is the name of the Communist
Party in North Vietnam, Lator, an elder cadre said he wanted to correct
this erroneous wording to read: "Long Live the People's Revolutionary
Party," which is ammmmm the name of the Communist Party
in South Vietnam operating behind the National Liberation Front).
Others began filtering into the room--17 male guerrillas in all
and three fomale ones. The women wore the traditional black pajamas worn
by lomswxhmmmm working class women. Most of the men wore a cloth of
some sorts around their necks as protection against the cold. Most wore
"Ho Chi Minh sandals" made of rubber tires. All carried weapons of
some sort: several American carbinrs, the K-44 "Red Butt" Russian
rifle about two-thirds the size of the guerrilla, equipped with a
bayonet and the strip of a red cloth used for cleaning purposes;
also a Russian-made ✰ AKA A automatic rifle with a banana-shaped
ammunition clip, which they said was better than its American equivalent.
It appeared to be brand new, but "we've had these for a long time," one
said.
The male guerrillas wore bizarre uniforms. One immive
Others
was dress in brilliant turquoise trousers, a bioge an over-sized biege
shirt and a strip of Ex camouflaged parachute puffed around his neck,
along with a webb belt from which packets and a flashlight dangled.
wore black pajamas with checkered towels around their necks; some were
in green fatigues, or a mixture of both. Several were hatless, but
others wore bedraggled, wide-brimmed hats like those sold throughout Vietnam.
Several wore American webb belts for carrying their canteens or ammunition.
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Be Page 44.
The senior political adre, who was the host for the
new yo is celebration, explained the mosting was held--not for all the
villagers--but only for the important representatives and members of
the plantation trade union, The trade union is a South Vietnamese
government-approved one with headquarters in Saigon, in effect,
the meeting namanenimism
or supporters
was attended by those Viet Cong
nympathizers who had pentetrated the government's union. The senior
Gadre hosting the affair represented the government trade union, the
National Liberation Front and the Communist Party.
and set at the table;
Pour xxx oivilian trade unionists also saundered in;
one wore blue pajamas; an elderly one wore a sea-blue traditional
Vietnamese robe reaching to his knees with the * accompanying
a black turbar-type hat! the two others wore regular street dress.
Along the opposing wall,
several village women and children ant on
the bonoh, The lact to enter for the gathering was the Vietnamese
overseer of the one section of the plantation,
He also wore a royal-blus
traditional dress. The host cadre made a point of seating the civilian
trade unionists
villagers at tad table in courteous manner.
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J
55
Three guerrillas had brought their radios, plented
them on the table. One tundma was tuned in to Radio Hanoi, while the
other were playing the Liberation Radio of the South.
cacophony resulted for a few minutes. Thenk Then, all three switched
to the sons of songs of Liberation Radio. One, in high-pitched
tones:
"The Americans are making useless sacrifices in Vietnam;
History will show our resistance will continue;
American weapons were famous in Hiroshima, but not in Vietnam;
The year of the Coat was grilled by the Front; ±
Pho yoex of
Now we'll make the (year of) Monkey go back up the tree.
Phon,
the host officially, but informally opened the
celebration by rising his chair and saying they would the new year by
listing to Ho Chi Minh's annual message. As welcomed the presence of
fo Western journalists, a weapon behind him clatter to the floor and
several guerrillas scrambled after it.
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66.
Then all three radios were switched to the Hanoi station.
A female soloist x was singing "Song on the Thoughts of Ho." All
two dozen persons in the room stood up as the chiming olooks struck
midnight in Hanoi (1 a.m. in saigon). For several seconds, firecrackers
reverberated from the radio; the North Vietnamese national anthem was
played in crisp martial beat and Ho Chi Minh began to speak in loud,
strong tones with precise enunciation. In simple words he began:
Against the American Imperialists; To Save the Fatherland; My
Fellow Countrymen. He recounted the victories of the past year-
the Year of the Goat--with more than 2000 American planes shot down
from Northern skies and thousands of his enemy killed in the South.
Then, as cumstom customary, he read the four-line poem
he had composed for the occasion:
This spring is different from others;
More victories are coming;
North and South are competing in fighting the Americans
Forward complete victory will be on our side.
Then the radio broadcast brief speeches of the Vice
President of North Vietnam followed by Nguyen Huu Tho-head of the
National Liberation Front.
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Bev - Page 77
After 15 minutes, the radios were turned off.
The host-cadre served fivo saucer-fuls of candy:
Vietnamese bon-bons, glazed peanuts and pink coconut strips.
Several
guerrillas brought in rice bowls and tea cups and hot x tea to ench
from amigam a made-in-Hanoi canteen. Several noisily slurped their
tea from arice bowl.
Then, the host began the hour-long sonfest by introducing
In antimated tmnaam beat, he sang of the
the first guerrilla-singer.
union between the North and South Vietnam. A second guerrilla, a
Montagnard tribesman, laid his carbine against the wall a stood
between
up to sing in Vietnamese about unity for the tribes and the Vietnamese
to save the country. A third, a 17-ye r-old youngster,
sang in traditional
the tre style about a son's letter to his mother of the sufferings
under Keo Dinh Diem, the late president of South Vietnam, z The
guerrilla wore green fatigues and a splotched gree-b green-brown
camouflage wide-brimmed hat. He carried a silver pencil and notebook in
his front pocket, while his friend nearby / wore a gold watch with a face
the size of half a dollar.
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Ba
88.
Then a young girl-guerrilla, and a Extra Viet Cong cadre
in thegovernment's trade union sang:
"I give flowers and a handkerchief to my husband who is
going to thew war. I tell him not to worry about his parents. I shall
look after them." Halfway through the son, she forget some of the words,
laughed, hid her face against the masonry wall. Others laughed with
her but not at her. She was 19 years old and wore black pajamas. Earlier
in the evening she had worn a blue scarf twirled around her head head
turban-style. She said she just got the idea to wear the scarf that
unusual way "for decoration." She dis described her soldiering marches,
she said they began at 6 in the morning and ended at 6in the evening,
with ten-minute halts each hour, averaging four kilometers anx hour.
Asked what kind of man she would like to marry, E she replied #
most
"A soldier because he fights agan against the Americans,fimmmm
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Bev-page 99
Next, her 18-year-old girl fri friend, another guerrilla,
walked to the head of the table to sing-and for promptly and completely
disappeared.
she had follon k fallen feet first into a bunker, deep enough
to hide her head. Unhurt, she stood up staunchily and began to sing.
she forgot the words, clasped her hands over her
After one stanza,
mouth and giggled.
The host-cadre, who had been circulating with
low-level guerrillas in the back of the room, laughed too. she began again:
"I go to the market to buy material for a handkerchief and with red threat
I shall embroider flowers and two swallows to give it to my lover. When
he uses it to wipe away the sweat or when he eats rice, he will think
of me.
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Deepe-page 10
0100.
The last song was in allegro tempo, sung by a young male
guerrilla in black pajamas. "Before I was a buffalo boy-"he forgot
the rest of the wards and squatted in the corner of the room in embarrassment.
The host-cadre pulled him up and he sang again. Again, he forgot the
words and the host prompted him. "I used to be a buffalo boy-buy now I'm
driving my truck to the South to fight the Americans. They suffer MAN
under the Americans.
The trucks are driven to save the South. /
The host then moved to the head of the table, facing the
National Liberation Front flag. He said he brought good wishes for
the new year from the Front and the trade union to the representatives
and
foreign Journalists.
"This year will see victory," he told the guerrillas, trade
unionists and other oadre. "Cost hat what it may-in accordance with the
order of the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front. Thanks
in the name of the trade union and the Front."
The celebration ended at 1:15-Hanoi time.
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Date
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1968
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Mặt trận dân tộc giải phóng miền nam Việt Nam; Vietnamese New Year; Armistices
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Location
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French Rubber Plantation, near Dầu Tiếng District, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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11.3489; 106.4641
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Size
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20 x 26 cm
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Container
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B9, F11
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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, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
