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Associated Press Archives: Duc Duc Resettlement Village Massacre
March/April 1971 Pictures and Stories
To Whom It May Concern,
I'd greatly appreciate details of how I can get copies of the
above subject line.
I heard from an eyewitness and participate of the battle that the Associated Press covered the massacre
well, but for various reasons, the news outlets did not choose to cover the story in depth; or not at all.
I'm interested in the Associated Press stories and pictures, because I lived
(24/7) in the Duc Duc Resettlement Village from April 1970 to mid-August 1970. Many of those people were our actual
friends. I left seven months before, the village's massacre by the Vietnamese terrorists.
I served in the Marine Corps' CAP 2-9-2, which was (mobile) stationed in the
village. Back in 1968, the CAP Team was known as NOVEMBER 3 and was stationed in the village in a small defensive
compound.
As I mentioned earlier, many of these people were friends of Americans. Personally,
I strongly feel the village was attacked, because of this friendship and support of Americans, while we lived in the village.
(They kept us a live just as much as we kept them a live. The terrorists hated us both.) Even back in 1968,
the peasants were being beaten and killed for supporting Americans in the village. The next link has an interesting
1968 story of our village: http://home.earthlink.net/~americancivilactions/sapper_attack_003.htm
Although the massacre happened over 34 years ago, it is an example of what could happen today
across Iraq, when we withdraw our troops. By posting details about the Duc Duc Resettlement Village Massacre on
the internet, hopefully it will cut back the chances of it being repeated in Iraq.
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http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$36067Montagnards violently forced back to Vietnam
Guest View
Mike
Benge
The Augusta Free Press
Ninety-four Montagnard Christians
who sought asylum in Cambodia were recently forcibly and violently returned to Vietnam, while United Nations High Commission
on Refugees personnel stood by and did nothing. Cambodian police set up roadblocks in order to block journalists and human-rights
monitors from the building where UNHCR housed the Montagnards and the area where buses were waiting to take them back to Vietnam.
The Montagnards, fearing for their lives, pacifically sat on the floor
of the UNHCR building holding hands and praying. Uniformed storm troops with AK-47 assault rifles slung over their shoulders,
wielding heavy batons and high-voltage electric cattle prods, waded in among the Montagnards, indiscriminately striking and
shocking men, women and children who offered no resistance. According to a Human Rights Watch report, "The police made no
attempt at negotiation. ... Instead, they began to beat and drag people out, one by one."
Eyewitnesses reported that
the Montagnards were dragged out of the facility by their arms, legs and, in several cases, by their hair with their heads
striking the concrete floor. Police beat at least one woman with a baby strapped to her back, and kicked other women repeatedly
in their stomachs. They beat individuals with batons and used electric prods to inflict shock, both as they were boarding
and after they were seated on the buses. The screams and wails of the injured Montagnards were overwhelming.
It is
unknown if the troops were Vietnamese or Cambodian, but an eyewitness said they heard commands being given in Vietnamese.
Since Phnom Penh's police chief, Hok Lundi, is a Vietnamese, and Hanoi maintains a large contingent of special forces in a
compound next to that of Cambodia's communist prime minister, Hun Sen, it would not be surprising that the troops were Vietnamese.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, stated, "The use of unnecessary force shows just how little the Cambodian
government cares about police discipline and about the well-being of the Montagnards. Moreover ... the police's use of excessive
force violates an agreement Cambodia signed with UNHCR and Vietnam in January 2005. The agreement provides ... that UNHCR
will work with the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam to 'bring back (to Vietnam) in an orderly and safe fashion' and 'in
conformity with national and international law' those Montagnards who do not agree to either resettle abroad or voluntarily
return to Vietnam. Cambodia, through the behavior of its police, has violated international human-rights principles, its own
laws, and the agreement it signed with UNHCR and Vietnam. ... This was not a safe return; it was an unnecessarily violent
one."
Nevertheless, some, but not all, of the Montagnards who were forcibly returned had called relatives in the United
States and said they wanted to be resettled. However when the Montagnards first arrived in Cambodia, they had been misled
by agents within the camp and were told the only way UNHCR would let them stay is if when interviewed they must say the reason
they fled Vietnam was they belonged to the Dega church and were being persecuted because they wanted their ancestral land
back.
The Vietnamese communists have banned the Dega church, claiming that it isn't a true religion because it mixes
land issues with religion and is a separatist-political movement. Under communism, all land belongs to the state, and the
Montagnards have been relegated to such small parcels of nutrient-poor land that most often they cannot grow enough food to
feed their families. Even these small parcels are taken from families of refugees who flee to Cambodia and have been resettled
in the U.S. These misinformed Montagnards were then rejected because they didn?t fit UNHCR's perceived criteria.
Many
of this group had fled their villages in the Central Highlands in Vietnam after a communist crackdown on what started out
as a passive prayer vigil last Easter weekend that soon become became violent when Vietnamese police and troops waded into
the praying Montagnards and indiscriminately began clubbing men, women and children. Reportedly scores of Montagnards were
killed, and hundreds beaten, some senseless, with shovels and clubs with nails in them resulting in serious injuries. Many
fled into the jungle, and an unknown number died of starvation and disease in an attempt to gain sanctuary in Cambodia. Many
more were captured and killed or sent to gulags in Vietnam. Crossing the Cambodian border and seeking asylum in Cambodia is
considered a crime by the Vietnamese communists, a violation of national security and national unity, and is punishable by
prison sentences up to 15 years.
One boy fleeing to Cambodia with his father got separated from him and caught by
the Vietnamese. He was taken to a police station and tortured for several days in an attempt to get him to reveal the names
of those who were helping the Montagnards cross into Cambodia; something he did not know. He was later released and escaped
to Cambodia and was able to rejoin his father. Both were in the group of 94 that were refouled back to Vietnam and will inevitably
be tortured, and if they survive, will be given long-term prison sentences or disappear into one of the many gulags in Vietnam.
The refoulment of refugees, who fear repercussions, without a viable independent monitoring system in place to ensure
their safety after their return violates UNHCR's mandate. Such a system does not exist. This isn't the first time that UNHCR
rejected Montagnard refugees and sent them back to Vietnam and an unknown fate. In a sorry attempt to provide a thinly disguised
veil to claim that a monitoring system exists, Hanoi allowed a UNHCR employee, Vu Anh Son - a Vietnamese - to go to the Central
Highlands and visit some of the returnees for a very short time, but only in the presence of communist police. Out of utter
fear of repercussions toward themselves and their families, the Montagnards have no choice but to say they are being treated
well. Their fear in only reinforced when the UNHCR representative is a Vietnamese citizen - seen by the Montagnards as a fox
in the henhouse. Even then, Vu Anh Son was only allowed to visit about two-thirds of the returnees, and UNHCR no idea if the
others are dead or alive.
A chorus of senators and congressmen protested to the State Department and to the American
embassies in Cambodia and Vietnam in an attempt to stop the Montagnards' forcible return to Vietnam, but this seemed to have
fallen on deaf ears. After the Montagnards' refoulment, State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said that the U.S. raised
"objections to this involuntary repatriation with both the governments of Cambodia and Vietnam" and is "disappointed that
these individuals were repatriated before an internationally-staffed monitoring program was in place in the Central Highlands
of Vietnam and before other solutions could be considered for these individuals."
Vietnam?s prime minister, Phan Van
Khai, was recently honored by with a meeting with President Bush at the White House. He was also wined and dined by representatives
of American companies doing business in Vietnam, where unions are banned and Hanoi provides them with cheap labor. Prior to
and during his visit, Khai promised the State Department and President Bush that Vietnam would ease up on religious persecution
and human-rights abuses. How could anyone believe this when the Vietnamese communists have never honored an agreement they
have made with the U.S.? The recent happenings in Cambodia prove that history repeats itself - empty promises once again.
The Montagnards were among the U.S.'s most loyal allies during the Vietnam War, and it is estimated that one-half
of the adult male population were killed fighting for the Americans. Without them, there would be scores more American names
on that somber black wall - the Vietnam Memorial. This is shameful treatment of our former allies, and don't think for a minute
that the world isn?t taking note.
The author spent 11 years in Vietnam as a Foreign Service officer, and
worked closely with the Montagnards during that time. Of those 11 years, five were as a prisoner of war. Upon release in 1973,
the author returned as a volunteer to Vietnam and continued working with the Montagnards until the communist takeover in 1975.
The author continues to work with the Montagnards in the U.S. and on behalf of those remaining in Vietnam as senior advisor
to the Montagnard Human Rights Organization based in North Carolina. The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily
reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press.
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See A Current Satellite Picture
And MAP of the site of the Duc Duc Resettlment Village Massacre.
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AN UNKNOWN PIECE OF HISTORY
FROM THE VIETNAM WAR.
(A great topic for a history term paper.)
The Vietnamese communists must have felt there would be a reaction in
America. Even during the Vietnam War, a massacre of hundreds and hundreds of peasant men, women and children would
trigger a negative response.
The Vietnamese communists were taking a big chance that such a massacre
could turn the American People against them.
http://www.capveterans.com/the_duc_duc_resettlement_village/id7.html
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WHETHER INTENTIONAL OR NOT...
Back in April 1971, as John Kerry was appearing on television
talk shows around America condemning his brother and sister Vietnam vets for being Baby-Killers and Village-Burners, he was
helping cover up the Duc Duc Refugee Village Massacre. Learn the details at:
WHAT
DID JANE FONDA REALLY DO (In Short)
JANE FONDA
AND JOHN KERRY WORKING FOR AMERICA'S ENEMY TOGETHER
A MESSAGE
FROM JANE FONDA ABOUT HER VIETNAM TRIP
I might be pissing in the wind, but I have to do something...
Please press the link:
TODAY'S BRAVE AND HONORABLE MILITARY
IS TOMORROW'S VETERANS
Is it fair that the Federal and State's Governments turn
their backs on Veterans, when they ask for Equal Rights...
The below New Jersey Herald News Article is about the Duc
Duc Resettlement Village.
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A PIECE OF FORGOTTEN
AMERICAN HISTORY
THE BATTLE OF MINISINK.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO BELIEVE
THAT JANE FONDA IS A NATIONAL HERO, AND FOR THOSE OF YOU
WHO DON'T BELIEVE SHE IS, PLEASE PRESS THE BELOW LINK:
----- Original Message -----
Check out the Viet-Myths website. We're another group
working on trying to get the truth out on the Vietnam War.
Regards,
Mike Benge,
Former VN POW '68-73
Examining the Myths of the Vietnam War
A Conference,
under the auspices of The RADIX Foundation,
which
took place at Simmons College,
300 The Fenway, Boston MA, 26-29 July 2004
"The Vietnam War was mis-reported by the Media, mis-recorded by the Historians, mis-taught in
our schools and mis-applied in addressing policy decisions.
MMMM should replace UUUU as our recognition symbol."
Stephen Sherman
http://www.viet-myths.net/OSession01.htm
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It wasn't Jane's fault. It
was because her former husbands made her do it.
(SHE MUST BE TRYING
TO MAKE A COMEBACK.
SHE THINKS AMERICANS ARE STUPID...)
DISNEY made
it big on good, moral, honorable, American family stories. It's when DISNEY changed their format that the Corporation
started having problems.
Wal-Mart made
it big; because they advertised everything sold in the store was American-Made.
Boy,
how things change!!
Jack http://www.CapVeterans.com
| The Last Americans, Who Lived In Duc Duc |
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| The Last Americans, Who Lived In Duc Duc |
CAP 2-9-2 / NOVEMBER 3
Surrender Was Not An Option
 |
Local Heroes
December 20, 2004
By Andrew Borene
"I think that there is no greater gift than for a man
to be willing to risk his life for the freedom of
strangers." |
Op-Ed Contributor: Local Heroes
December 20, 2004
By ANDREW BORENE
Minneapolis - IF the Pentagon hopes to start bringing American troops home
from Iraq while also increasing security there, it will have to find a way to do more with less. One approach could be expanding
the Marine Corps combined-action program, an initiative that was successful in Vietnam and has shown early promise in Iraq.
The concept behind the program is that if American and foreign troops operate
together, each will gain knowledge from the other as to the best way to counter an insurgency. In Vietnam, platoons were created
that combined marines and Vietnamese militia members. The Americans were handpicked, chosen because they had shown particular
respect for the local culture. They were expected to live in the villages they were assigned to defend, striving to "work
themselves out of a job" by training their Vietnamese counterparts in police work and security operations.
The most striking success of the program was a rapid increase in actionable
intelligence. Living in Vietnamese hamlets for months, the marines got a chance to get to know the locals, who in general
had kept a careful neutrality in the war. This helped to humanize the American presence and reduced the passive support many
civilians had been giving to Vietcong guerrillas. For many, their respect for (or fear of) the communist guerrillas waned,
and they broke their silence about intelligence leads.
In the long run, it was one of the few efforts that managed to win some "hearts
and minds" in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the top brass lost interest in the program in the early 1970's and, well, the rest is
history.
Last year, under the leadership of Gen. James Mattis, members of the First
Marine Division in western Iraq began adapting the program to aid poorly trained Iraqi National Guard and police forces. Although
it is too soon to declare success, reports from the military and the news media suggest that Iraqis in the combined-action
program perform better in combat, have higher morale and are considerably more reliable than their regular Iraqi military
counterparts.
Expanding the program would be best accomplished by teaming coalition troops
with Iraqi security troops, or even paramilitary groups as in Vietnam, and placing them in cities along the main supply routes.
This would significantly bolster the coalition's ability to gauge popular sentiment and gather intelligence leads on the pursuit
of enemy leaders. It would also reduce the high profile of the coalition forces.
While the situations in Vietnam and Iraq are not identical, when it comes
to battling insurgents it is always vital to erase their advantages in popular support and local knowledge. A few good marines
learned how to do that during Vietnam; perhaps trying it again in Iraq can bring about a different ending.
Andrew Borene, a law student at the University of Minnesota, was a first lieutenant
with the Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. He is an adviser to Operation Truth, a veterans' advocacy group.
*******************************************************
http://www.CapVeterans.com
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