Vietnam: the Unheard Voices - Refugee Educators' Network

zoo Viet N-The Unheard Voices
the provincc chief to call an air strike. Bombs. napalm, rockets,
cannon fire, and the rattling of so-callcd Puff thc Ilfa_Slc Dra~on
planes fcll into thc village for a \vholc day. The ncxt day the infancry
tried to go in again, only to bc fired upon once morc. Agin
they mllcd in thc planes. Thc next day thc!f rcccivcd only "scatrercd
resistancq" so with the more-or-less automatic approx-aI nf the
province chicf they bmught in thc bulldozers to finish the job. An
American coIonel \vent out an the xcond day of destruction, after
most of the houscs, personal possessions, and food stores had been
dcstroycd, and convinced the officer in charge of rhe operation to
save a few of thc houses and fruit trees. Hut it was roo latc; most of
An My had bem destroyed. The nulirary, particularly- the psychological
warfarc expcrrs, then faced the problem of explaining to tbc
pcoplc what had happcncd. It \\*as dccidcd that the Victnarnesc Infarmation
Service would give the pro\-ince chief, who had visited
the scenc during thc bulldozing, crdt for saving thc fruit trees.
The difference in outlook between the American military and
Viernamese peasants xws demonstrated most acutely in thc aftermath
of an incident that took phce one night ncar Da Kang. When
the Wet Cong came intr~ a refugee camp and n~ortared thc l)a Kang
airport; officials at the airport responded I)?; boxrlbing thc settIement.
The bornling took place, according to the upset villagers, five minutes
after the Vict Cong had left. Yct several houses were fullv or
partially destroyed and sonlc of the inhabitant3 \\-ere killcd. LVhcn
thc futility of the raid was pointed out to one of the oficcrs at rhe
air I-, he replied, "IVell, sclnleday thc villagers \\=ill lcarn that if
they harbor Viet Cong, they hmc to suffer the consequences." Thc
dlagers, on the orhcr hand, asked pIaintively, '"How can we keep
the Viet Cong out? IVe ~ Y no C guns. 11011;' can ~c prntect oursel\?es?"
The final irony of their d2emma lay in the prolmble accuracy
of an American officer's observation: "Yes, and whcn the\?
gct the wcapom they'II turn them over to the Vict Cong."
The war in Vict Nam has placed tremci~dous emotional strains on
Americans, especially on the young enlisted men. For in Viet Nam
thcy are bcing asked to make decisions that \\.ill haunt them for chc
rat c ~ f their livcs. Contrr)versial actions have becomne matters of
coursc. In rhc chronological ordcr of news disptchcs, one can see