~ Le Viêt Nam, aujourd'hui. ~
The Vietnam News

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Survivors describe U.S. army massacres in Vietnam

HANH THIEN - There's not much left besides a patch of brush with a few vines but Huynh Thi Gioi's memory is clear as she describes the day U.S. soldiers called her outside of the shelter that once stood here only to fire a single fatal shot into her six-year-old son.

A recent investigation by the Toledo, Ohio newspaper the Blade, said an elite U.S. army unit killed hundreds of civilians - mainly women, children and the elderly - in Vietnam's Central Highland area during a seven-month period in 1967. After more than three decades, there is little physical evidence left in the tiny, poverty-stricken Central Highland valley to support the allegations but the atrocities live on in the memories of the few surviving villagers. During a Vietnamese government-escorted trip to the area, Gioi and her neighbours clustered around a table to tell their stories. They aren't looking for revenge or even justice - they just do not want to be forgotten.

Gioi recalled her son's death. "I held his body tight and I was crying and later the translator said the American soldiers killed him because he was a boy and the son of a communist soldier," she said Friday. "I was just a farmer and I did not side with the Communists or the Saigon government." None of the Vietnamese villagers know exactly who was responsible for the maimings and killings that spread through Song Ve Valley during those months. They only describe the soldiers as "white" with "big noses" or "tall and big" but most said they were too afraid to look the Americans in the eye during a raid.

The Tiger Force, as the 101st Airborne Division unit was called, was reported to have dropped grenades in bunkers and randomly fired on unarmed civilians during their killing rampage, which was documented in a military investigation closed in 1975, the Blade reported. No one was ever charged after the investigation was initiated by a soldier outraged by the killings. Earlier this week, the U.S. army said it lacked sufficient evidence to prosecute those allegedly involved. But based on interviews with civilians and former Tiger Force soldiers, it was estimated the unit killed hundreds of unarmed people, the Blade said.

Gioi, 67, a tiny woman who stands about four four feet tall beneath her weathered conical hat, insisted she is not bitter. We just want to have peace. It's been a long time, so to put them on trial and send them to jail now, I'm not sure that would help." "So, maybe the U.S. government should pay reparations for the war - I think that would be the best way," she said.

Other survivors said it took a long time to release their demons and forgive. But today, as a circle of children shoot marbles in the yard, there is no talk of hatred. Instead they speak of the future and hope no one else will endure the ugliness war creates. "At that time, we had big hatred toward the Americans because they killed my uncle but now I'm too old so I'm not sure whether I still harbour that hatred," said Tam Hau, 72, who still works the rice paddies with her elderly husband for the equivalent of about $110 Cdn a year. "I wish I could have the money to rebuild the grave for my uncle."

The violence came just months before the killing of about 500 Vietnamese civilians by a U.S. army unit in 1968 at My Lai, another village in the same province. "After each raid, the American soldiers threw all the corpses in one place and guarded it," said Vo Minh Phuong, 47, who still recalls the smell of the defoliant sprayed on the area and the sound of the helicopters flying low over the mountains. "After three days, all the trees died," he said. "Several days later, when we picked up the cassava, it was ruined. It looked like cooked cassava."

Despite living in poverty, many survivors said they are happy to be alive to see Vietnam at peace. The war ended in 1975 when the northern communist forces reunified the country. "They have committed so many crimes in Vietnam. These crimes should be exposed and not go unnoticed," said Gioi, who still mourns for her lost son. "If the world learned more about the atrocities committed in Vietnam, it may help to prevent future wars."

The Associated Press - October 24, 2003.