The Guatemalan Civil War, Kalia Hobbs

Kalia Hobbs
AP World History

My topic within the greater Cold War is the Guatemalan Civil War. To see what the interviews are about and get a little background information about the people I interviewed, please see introductions below : )

-INTRODUCTIONS-

Mario Flores and Aurelio Hernandez are both men I met in Antigua, Guatemala. They are the Guatemalan program directors for Global Visionaries, a social justice and global leadership program that connects high school students in Seattle to high school students in Guatemala. The Seattle youth go to Guatemala and participate in work groups with the Chapin youth to better the situations of people in their country. I went on this trip last spring, volunteered in a hospital there, and met Mario and Aurelio who coordinate everything on the Guatemalan side of the program. They are both in their thirties. I know Oscar Garcia and Sandra Ordonez from the same program trip to Guatemala. They both are in their twenties and work for the program as youth leaders that helped us through our experiences in Antigua and the outskirts. Sandra Ordonez is actually one of my best friends and she is here in Seattle for a year, being a part of Earth Corps. I’m interviewing all of them about their personal and their family’s experiences and perspectives through the Guatemalan Civil War. They were all in Guatemala during the duration of the time they were alive and the war was still going on.



-INTERVIEWS-


-MARIO FLORES-

My first memory about this time were one night, my father was a professor and was teaching at night, that particular day I was like 7 year old when a bomb near a electric tower shouted the power for like an hour, I was really scared, wondering about my father, not knowing really what was going on, and not sure if he was going to come back home, at that time, teachers, professors, open minded people were at risk to be eliminated by the government. I was lucky because my entire family is from Easter Guatemala, were the war didn’t hit to much, the most affected area was western Guatemala (the high lands were the majority of the Mayan communities are).
My memory isn’t that good, because the were the worse of the war was happened, I was 4 or 5 years, I do remember once when I was in 3er grade there was a pacific demonstration in front of my school, that ended up with the police using tear gas and killing some people, we got in the basement of the school waiting for our families to pick us up.
The hardest part was that my father was a well know human right supporter, among our group of family friends, there were a few that decided to support the civil movement that at that time were call guerrilleros, (communist) a lot of friends ended up leaving the country because their lives were in danger, by the government.
Personally I think that the conditions that started the war In the first time, hasn’t changed, and even though that for my family and I we are able to walk around easily. I know that for a lot of Guatemalans in the rural areas the struggle continues. Not much difference in lifestyle from now, a few rich people and a lot of poverty , and now is pretty much the same, without the difference that now, you have a feeling of not being in war.
My experience of the war was since I was born up to when I was 15 year olds with the worse part when I was 4 to 5 years old. To be hones I thought that was going to be a normal person, again I was in a private school in Guatemala city , and wasn’t exposed to it as much as someone kid of my same age from the highlands.
I know that my father hosted guerilla fighters in his home in the city, before he get married, and also organizing school teacher to get in “Sindicatos” ( unions) Yea of cures I was worried that my father and family were going to be killed.
Can’t answer whether I think anything good came out of the war, because I think that there were a lot of lives that ended and no change was made; because in my opinion as a different of what happened in el Salvador the groups of power in this country didn’t share the power at all, and the conditions are pretty much the same.
The worst part was the not knowing when my father or family were going to be killed just because they were educated and opponents of the dictator’s governments.



-SANDRA ORDONEZ-

Well they told me that when the guerrillas arrived in San Antonio Aguas Calientes was very difficult for my parents because all the villagers had to travel to Antigua to go buy the market because there is no market in San Antonio. But it was very difficult to leave the village and one day my parents had to go to old to take my brother to the hospital because he was very sick and were out the guerrillas and the bus fell. They said they had to return to the park because they wanted to talk to all the people and my parents said they had to go to hospital, but can not leave the people returned to the park and listened to the guerrillas. They said they were in favor of the poor and only wanted food and did not say anything to the military when they reached the village after the talks that were forcing everyone to go home and could not talk to anyone and in each block two guerrillas were seeing that all people would live to their homes. They had like 5 minutes after arrived at my parents house when they heard shots in the mountains. They were scared and then when they knocked on the door but was so afraid to open the door and they were the soldiers who were coming from house to house because they thought that guerrillas were hiding in the houses and the soldiers entered the house and moved all things and asked who had said the guerrillas, but my dad told them that they had not gone to hear the talk of the guerrillas because they had a sick child, then to see that there was nothing in the house were my parents were wondering where the guerrillas were gone because the military came very fast, and my dad that the military has killed many children in the mountains because they were all farmers and had their crops and had to work but the military thought that the peasants were in that place to see all the people and tell the guerrillas that the military was getting into town and for that reason they were killed. Some children will die because Lifeguard Mountain dropped because they were killed like animals or with large sticks were beaten on the head to see that the child was dying or just cut their heads with machetes.
And they say that was very difficult life in that time because they knew who were good and that really helped the poor and also all the people could not leave their homes after 6 pm was a government order and if the military found someone on the street after 6 killed. Many people died because they had the need to go to buy something to eat in small shops and this not only happened in my town was all over the country and if they wanted go somewhere else had to carry their documents where there is no military documents and take them became part of the army, and many young people were part of the army but did not want to kill them otherwise.



-OSCAR GARCIA-

What little I remember because at that time I was about 6, 7, 8, or 9 years was very young and older people listened fearful that at some point the gerrilla or military showed up at the mountain since most of Abitante in that time were farmers and had their crops on the slopes of the volcano of water so they feared that some of these the aserles threatened to harm without giving them no food or water.
My family in this time of Gerra and lived in this town called San Pedro Las Huertas. Thank God in this part of the country not suffered much as in the departments of Quiche Totonicapan Chichicastemango and others but always my parents and other community members were very fearful.
My family not affected horribly but was left as in many Guatemalan families fear to see an armed soldier or a person because it doesn’t matter if it is good or bad person you’re going to protect, you will get hurt.
You've got a big fear and I think the time been blurred a little this fear.
One of the hard part now that I think my family is that at that time the army of Guatemala took to the streets of the town in specific areas at 7 pm or so and if they found a man who had an average age of 17 and 40 years they caught him and put it in trucks that transported them to where they were all soldiers and then trained to use arms when necessary to serves the country supposedly against guerrillas.
All this without the consent of parents or wives to people who had families, because the army does not care about this then I remember that all had to carry their identification that here in Guatemala are called identity card.
The concern in my family because my brother was bigger now 36 years, worked at the time of bread (to pan) then working at night and worked in Antigua so every night my mom was worried because people every morning the people said that a son or a father that came to the army.
Of the events I can remember one is that we were always hoping that my father returned from work because it is a farmer and was also afraid that my brother who at the time I was about 17 or 18 years it could lead the army. The lifestyle of the economic point of view I think it has changed a lot because it is having your shortage for most of the country and all the money that was spent for this war could better serve to feed many people and a very good idea. Hahaha food, but I think many people remain poor because the war he killed the parent or parents and destroyed their home or their harvest and troubled to start from scratch.



-AURELIO HERNANDEZ-

My family during the war was living in the same please where we leave now. The hard parts for my family and me was when I wanted to be free and the army said NO everything than my parents said. I remember when the army and the guerrilla was together nearby my village, was available to hear and see how they killed within them. The end of the war was important because we had a little development after that. During the war was a affair life, no free to talk about, after the war we can see and feel the development and more democracy
A normal day was to go to study and be care for the army, because the was under the streets watching youth to take and be part of the army. The war was from when I was 0 to 24 years old. At those ages I felt that my life was going to be terrible, watching many war events, people kill and people die. Everybody was trying to get the paz
Off course I did worry, and the most worry for me was the education specially for my education because on this time I was in the middle of my education process
There are many good things from the war but one of many is that now I really know why the wars happen and who is the author, or who are the people involved, because in the majorities of the wars same peoples are the responsible.
For me the worst part of the war was when I knew that one of my classmate was in the army and he was killed.
I remember many things, especially when the army caught me to be part of the army. My experience when the army caught me was a fear experience. I remember that day was Friday, I went to study like a normal day, when I leaved from the school I usually walked around 20 blocks from the school to take the bus to go back to my house at 7:00 p.m. I went with one of my best friend from the school, when we crossed the street because on the other side was the bus waiting for us, we saw the soldiers walking in our direction behind us and we started to run and tried to come in to the bus but just my friend get to be in the bus one of the soldiers caught me from my feet, my friend said to me “do not worry I am going to go to your house and let you parents know that the army caught you” because we did not have phone in our houses, then the army put me in a truck to go to the government office in Antigua Guatemala when I had to say all my personal description like name, age, occupation, etc. my house is located 5 kilometers away from Antigua and at 6:30 p.m. is the last bus from my village to Antigua you can imagine what my parents do to com to Antigua to see me because around 11:00 pm. My parents was outside of the government office just to say “son, we will do the impossible because you do not have to be in the army” then the army put me again in another big truck to go another place (military base) 20 kilometer away from Antigua Guatemala, I do not know how my parents came back home at this time 11:30 p.m. from Antigua (5 kilometers) they really love me because they did a lot things for me. So when I arrived to the military base the soldiers called us (a group of 50 youth) welcome to your house this is the man house, we did sleep that day because we was fear, at 5:00 a.m. one soldier said “wake up, is time to shower” cold water, everybody together, etc. then we went to take breakfast we make a big line because in this military base there was more youth from everywhere. During the day (Saturday) I saw many soldiers around without arms, feet, eye, etc. and some soldier said this is happened for your country, because they love their country (Guatemala) I was more fear with this….. during the night same thing, big line to take food. Next day around 2:00 p.m. the principal from the army called me and asked me “do you love your country? I said YES, do you want to serve to your country? I said YES, do you want to be part of the Army? I said NO, he asked why, I said because I am studding and I want to finished my school, and he said, you should study here and finished your school with us……. Etc. etc. but I said the type of education that I want is different and I would like to go back to my village, my school, my house, my family etc. then around 5:00 p.m. he said OK go outside but no walking, you have to go like a frog (for 5 blocks) at the entrance was my parents waiting for me without eat breakfast and lunch it was very sad, they (my parents) was making a lot things like contact the principal from my school on weekend, without phone numbers, without address of him…. Etc. I cannot believe what others things they did, because they wanted me back….
-REFLECTIONS-


1) What surprised you in these interviews?

Something that Mario told me before was that his father almost joined the guerilla which is really surprising. He remembers his father mulling over the decision and ultimately choosing to focus on his own family and taking care of his wife and children rather than trying to take care of the whole country of Guatemala. Something that he told me a long time ago was that, even ten years ago, you could still be killed for talking about the civil war. It was, and is, a very, very sensitive topic. Talking with him about it last year, when my group was in Guatemala, made him feel very uncomfortable and nervous because it was still such a fresh topic. I don’t feel like there’s anything in the United States that I fear having a conversation about and so this was an entirely new thought process for me. And it really hit home that he worries about talking about the Guatemalan Civil War due to his safety. It made the war feel so much closer. Which it is – it ended in 1996. Another incredibly surprising thing, from Aurelio’s interview, is that he was caught by the army but ended up getting away. This is such a rare occurrence that I was completely caught off guard and asked him follow up questions about his experience with that. I think the overall regular experiences and sights of the war were surprising, although somewhat expected from what I know of the Guatemalan Civil War.

2) How does what they experienced match – or differ from – what you read in the historical context?

My interviews and what I researched for the historical context definitely seems to match up. Everyone’s personal experience makes the war so much more “real” to me though. I read about all the disappearances, atrocities, killings, etc. but hearing stories from people who I know well and their experiences makes me even more sympathetic and interested in the topic. It seems like a not very well known topic but I truly enjoy learning as much as I can about it because it helps me gain a better idea of why Guatemala is the way it is.

3) If you were to expand this project, who else would be valuable to talk with? What other perspectives would you want to include?

If I was able to expand this project and had more time, I would want to talk with this Guatemalan man that I know in Seattle. He is a little bit older and was living in a Mayan village so I feel like his experience might be more intense. The issue was communication, because his English and my Spanish are both not skilled enough. He also works a lot and didn’t have time. I would also want to find someone that had a distinct role in the civil war. I think that the people I interviewed were very much so affected by the war, but they didn’t have a role in making it better or worse necessarily. I think that talking to someone in the Guerilla or talking to a CIA from the United States would be interesting. But I think the biggest problem is that the CIA tries to deny a lot of their involvement by whiting out certain government documents and such that have to do with Guatemala. So, I really doubt that someone from the CIA would talk to me.

4) What would you have wanted to do differently? Questions you should have asked, different people to interview, etc.

I don’t have any regrets that I could have controlled. I would have liked to interview in person but that just was not an option in any of the cases of the people who I interviewed.

5) In what ways do these interviews shed light on the giant worldwide topic of the Cold War?

These interviews are a personal perspective window and look into the effects of the Civil War and the giant worldwide topic of the Cold War because all these stories are a direct outcome of the communism vs. non-communism movements and rivalries going on around the world. The killings, pain, fear, and atrocities are all things that happened in Guatemala, but really, it was the rest of the world who was so concerned about communism. Mario touches briefly on the differences between the Guerilla and the government (Communist vs. non-communist), and the stories overall reflect the bigger, worldwide issue.


















-HISTORICAL CONTEXT-

The United States got involved with the Guatemalan Civil war, which began in 1960 and ended in 1996, with the main goal of stopping the growth of communism in the world. It was the United States government who originally came up with a plan to stop the guerilla through the CIA and with the financial help from the United Fruit Company (Wikipedia, “Guatemalan Civil War”). The United Fruit Company was a constant support throughout the war for the Guatemalan government, siding against the Mayans and guerilla. In the 1950’s, the U.S. helped with the overthrow of the democratically elected president in response to Nicaragua’s request for assistance (Doyle, Kornbluh, “CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents”, par. 9). The Guatemalan leader had communist tendencies which caused worry in nearby countries. The United States was more than delighted to help changing Guatemala’s political direction by assisting them in taking the president out of power. The United States was committed to countering the spread of communism and sent military support. Declassified CIA documents prove that the United States was a fundamental component in organizing, funding, and equipping the 1954 coup which toppled Guatemala's democratically elected government (Doyle, “The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal”, par. 6). Professor of History, Stephen G. Rabe, writes in his book The Americas, "In destroying the popularly elected government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman (1950-1954), the United States initiated a nearly four-decade-long cycle of terror and repression.”
The Guatemalan Civil War was part of the greater Cold War. There were tensions throughout the world with communist versus non-communist; the United States was trying to stop the spread (Doyle and Osorio, “U.S. Policy in Guatemala, 1966-1996”, par. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9). The civil war in Guatemala was 36 years long ("Geography and Map of Guatemala."). Guatemala was filled with enormous injustice, torture, killings, disappearances, and more that ruined the lives of young and old alike, much of which was at the United States fault (Doyle, “The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal”, par. 6).
The first phase of this war, in the 1950’s and 60’s, was the government against “middle class intellectuals and students”. This group was considered meek in comparison to the Guatemalan army who had been trained by the U.S. Army Trainers and the CIA. The second phase was in the 1960’s and was when “young officers and students of Guatemala’s Military School” started the official guerilla organization. Previous to the third phase, most of the violence stayed in the countryside, however when the third phase came in the 1970’s – there was fighting all throughout Guatemala, in cities and countryside. The fourth phase, in the 1980’s and on, is what changed Guatemala forever. This was a “phase of total war” where the Mayan population was especially targeted by the Guatemalan military (Wikipedia, “Guatemalan Civil War”). There were “countless massacres of Mayans, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings.” (Blanton, “The CIA in Latin America”, par. 9). Tactics and strategy were almost exclusively led by the U.S., based in the Panama Canal Zone. United States supported the government while Cuba and other communist states supported the guerilla (Wikipedia, “Guatemalan Civil War”).
Four main left wing guerilla groups (The Guerilla Army of the Poor, The Revolutionary Organization of Armed People, the Rebel Armed Forces, and the Guatemalan Labor Party) came together to form the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity in 1982, during the fourth phase of the war (Wikipedia, “Guatemalan Civil War”). During the same period as the union of the main left wing groups, extreme right wing groups tortured and murdered students, professionals, and peasants suspected of involvement with the guerilla. There were brutal assaults on civilian population. Tactics and strategy were almost exclusively led by the U.S., based in the Panama Canal Zone. United States supported the government while Cuba and other communist states supported the guerilla. The definition of a proxy war is a war that results when opposing powers use third parties as substitutes for fighting each other directly. With the United States on the government side and Cuba and others supporting the rebels, it seems reasonable to say this was a cold war proxy war with Cuba and the U.S. working through other areas and means to get at each other.
The war went on and on, with leaders coming in and out of power, and most Guatemalans needing to make the choice between the guerilla and the government.
By the end of the war, 200,000 people had been killed. The Guatemalan Civil War is described in the report of the Archbishop’s Office for Human Rights. “The office attributed almost 90% of the atrocities and over 400 massacres to the Guatemalan army (and paramilitary), and less than 5% of the atrocities to the guerillas (including 16 massacres).”
In a different report in 1999, it was stated that the government was responsible for 93% of the humans rights violations committed during the war and the guerillas were responsible for 3%. 83% of the victims were Mayan.
“Victims were not only deprived of their liberty arbitrarily, but they were almost always subjected to interrogation, accompanied by torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. In the majority of cases, the detainees were disappeared or executed.”
The civilians were victims of the acts of the government more often than the guerilla itself. The guerillas goal throughout the war was to fight back against the injustices, discrimination, and lack of opportunity that the Mayan people were faced with. The government wanted complete control and to make sure that the country didn’t turn communist.
The Humans Rights Watch has described the actions by the armed forces, mostly against unarmed civilians. For example, there was the massacre of over 160 civilians by military soldiers in the village of Las Dos Erres in 1982. The abuses included “burying some alive in the village well, killing infants by slamming their heads against walls, keeping young women alive to be raped over the course of three days. This was not an isolated incident. Rather it was one of over 400 massacres documented by the truth commission – some of which, according to the commission, constituted "acts of genocide."” (Wikipedia, “Guatemalan Civil War”). By the end of the war, 200,000 people had been killed, 40,000 disappeared, and around 1,000,000 refugees ("Geography and Map of Guatemala."; Doyle, Ball, Byrne, Manuel, “Guatemalan Death Squad Dossier: Internal Military Log Reveals Fate of 183 “Disappeared””, Par. 4). The Guatemalan Civil War lasted from 1960-1996, but the effects live on in noticeable ways today. Starting in the 1980’s, Guatemala started working towards more democratic politics. Democratic elections occurred in 1995. The peace process started in 1994 and the government and the guerilla signed agreements about human rights, the resettlement of people who had been displaced, the rights of the indigenous, and more (Doyle, “The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal”, par. 1, 7; Short, “The International Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Guatemala”, Page 77, 78). Both the rebel organizations and the government signed documents declaring peace and ending the 36-year war in 1996 ("Geography and Map of Guatemala."; Short, “The International Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Guatemala”, Page 86). It seems that after over 30 years, it was decided by all that there had to be a stop. This terrible war has changed Guatemala forever. People still live in fear of violence and there are people who will be traumatized throughout the rest of their lives from the atrocities they experienced during the war (Short, “The International Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Guatemala”, Page 87). The Guatemalan Civil War is something never forgotten by the people of Guatemala because of the impact it still has today.



-BIBLIOGRAPHY-

"Geography and Map of Guatemala." Geography Home Page - Geography at About.com. Web. 16 June 2010. .

"Guatamala." St. John's College, University of British Columbia (UBC), Residential Graduate College. Web. 16 June 2010. .

"Guatemalan Civil War." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 16 June 2010. .

"Electronic Briefing Books." The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Blanton, Tom. "Electronic Briefing Book: The CIA in Latin America." The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Cook, Garrett W. Renewing the Maya World: Expressive Culture in a Highland Town. Austin: University of Texas, 2000. 118-121. Print.

Doyle, Kate. "The Guatemalan Military: What the U.S. Files Reveal." The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Doyle, Kate, Patrick Ball, Hugh Byrne, and Anne Manuel. "1999/05/20." The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Doyle, Kate, and Carlos Osorio. The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Doyle, Kate, and Peter Kornbluh. "Guatemala '54." The George Washington University. Web. 16 June 2010. .

Manz, Beatriz. Paradise in Ashes: a Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror, and Hope. Berkeley: University of California, 2004. 1-33. Print.

Short, Nicola. The International Politics of Post-conflict Reconstruction in Guatemala. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 72-90. Print.

Vietnam War by Minh Bao Nguyen

The Vietnam War was a major military conflict that started on November 1, 1955 when United States poured troops into Vietnam and ended on April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell to the communists. This war was fought between the communist North Vietnamese, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The Vietnam War created a huge human cost in terms of fatalities, including about 4 million Vietnamese from both sides, 1.5 to 2 million Laotians and Cambodians, and 58,159 U.S. soldiers. So given the perfect opportunity, I decided to interview my parents and my father’s friend to further my understanding of what it was like being Vietnamese people during the time of war.


Mother--- Lan Huong

I was about eight years old when the war started, when American troops began pouring in. My family and I lived in Bien Hoa district of Saigon, which was the South Vietnamese capital city. People felt relatively safe living there because it would be the last city that the Viet Cong (North Vietnamese communists) would attack. Unlike other wars that I heard about, people in Saigon did not evacuate because we were living on the Southeastern tip of Asia and there were communists everywhere around the region. There was no where to run away to.
My father was lucky enough to be part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) airforce. We also got the privilege of living inside the military camp with many other high officials’ families. The camp was very spacious, containing loads of tanks, choppers, and battle planes provided by US. It was strictly walled off with huge concrete walls and barb wires. There is only one single gate for entering and exiting the area, guarded with dozens of heavily armed soldiers. People entering and exiting the area had to get their IDs checked to ensure that no Viet Cong could sneak inside. Relative visits became a frustration as we had to go through many steps in order to get them inside. But we did not live wealthy lives, my three sisters and I had to help our mother run a small laundry business to earn a living. We would wash the soldiers’ clothes because they did not have washing machines back then. Luckily my working hours did not intervene much with my education.
I remember Christmas was the best holiday. Every child in the camp received a card and everyone would gather at this big square to exchange those cards for Christmas gifts from the Americans, usually a fuzzy doll. Those were the only presents I’ve ever gotten in my childhood. But never did any of us complain about our conditions, in fact, we were very grateful to be able to live in such a safe place. The schools outside the area taught kids a lot of English so we can be the interpreters for the Vietnamese and American soldiers. My friends and I would wander the streets and greet the American soldiers in hope of getting ten or twenty cents from them, and that was enough to buy a delicious Vietnamese meal.
I remember hearing artillery from the Viet Cong sent into the camp where we lived. They were aiming at the high officials and the American consulates but the artillery often ended up in the houses, killing many innocent civilians. One got really close to our house and we were freaking out, had to move out for a day. Whenever the alerting alarm went off, we were expected to hide under furniture for safety.
During 1968, the Tet Offensive occurred when I was about thirteen years old. I saw Viet Congs in black pajamas climbing the over the fence and into the camp. Of course the guard soldiers were shooting like crazy and we were hiding inside our homes. But that was really my first experience with the war. Hundreds of North Vietnamese were shot down and piled up on the street for people to witness. I started questioning myself of why the same race of people, Vietnamese, was taking away the lives of other people of their own race. That event made it more difficult for people to enter and exit the camp.
Outside the camp where I went to school, I began seeing these Vietnamese women coming from the countryside looking for a living. Many of them developed relationships with American soldiers and had Amerasian babies. Those children were discriminated because of their different skin colors. Amerasians with white blood though, were not as discriminated as the black children. They were very pitiful; many went through schools in Vietnam without any friend because they were different. Most of them don’t know who their daddies are, and some were even abandoned by their Vietnamese mothers.
I had an aunt who was very beautiful at the age of nineteen. She met a young American soldier while she worked as a bartender at a club. They developed a relationship and were soon madly in love. The soldier planned on bringing her to America but when she was about to get on the bus to go meet him, she stepped on a Bouncing Betty (specialized mine) set up by the Viet Cong. The mine was intended to kill soldiers but instead it broke a love story. The soldier mourned for days at her funeral. It was a love story that I used to admire because it shows how true love has no borders. My father died in battle when I was growing up so I had to work much more to help my mother take care of my five younger siblings. It became rough from there on but I’m sure many other Vietnamese people suffered a much greater deal than me.


Father--- Quyen Nguyen

I was nine years old, living in Saigon, when the war started. My family and I lived by a South Vietnamese paratrooper base. My father was a paratrooper in Division 7. There were many protests and demonstrations against the war in Saigon. I myself participated in a few because we learned that the South government is very corrupted. They had a false freedom of speech law, none of the newspapers were able to express their points or disagree with the government. Basically, the South Vietnamese government treated us like trash; all they wanted was to defeat the North. There were also Viet Congs in disguised, sneaking around the city trying to start these protests to disrupt the government. The police threw gas grenades and would beat the protestors to teach them a lesson.
Before the Tet Offensive, the Viet Congs signed the treaty of no attacking during the three days of New Year. But then they broke the treaty by launching attacks on many major cities. They used the advantage of the loud fireworks to enter Saigon when the South Vietnamese were celebrating. Everyone hid in their homes and you could hear series of gun shots going on every minute of those days. The Viet Cong is famous for their brutalities and tricks. We heard stories of North Vietnamese soldiers being forced onto the battlefield to fight or else they would get killed. The North had the advantage of a huge supportive and determined population at getting rid of foreign influences.
Back in school, there was very little talk about the war, everything proceeded normally. But when boys turned seventeen years old, they were drafted into the ARVN. The North even drafted fifteen-year-old boys because their soldiers were dying rapidly. Luckily, I was an only child in the family and my father was already serving in the army so I did not have to be drafted. My father was often gone for battles and I mostly lived my childhood with my mother. She was able to open a small business so again, I was lucky enough to go to school and not have to join the army.
On April 30th, 1975, South Vietnam surrendered and the Viet Congs began marching into Saigon. That previous night, my mother had already paid a fisherman about US $2,000, all she had at the time, to take me to a new place. The Viet Cong was going to take all of the money they found anyway because Vietnam became a communist country. So I came on board with a boatload of people, literally, and we drove out into the open sea, hoping to get rescue and end up in another country. But unfortunately four hours into our trip we were all captured by Viet Cong’s navy. Those next few months I spent in the communist jail was probably the hardest stage of my life. We were expected to stay there for about three to four years unless we fed the officials some money to say that we’ve served enough time in prison. No trials, no regulations, no fairness, no nothing. The prisoners lived together in several big rooms. The room was crowded, stinking, sometimes rotted dead people that the guards would not clear out. Everyday we would get two meals, each containing only a handful of plain rice with some salt. We could only receive exactly nine cups of water for bath. Sick people were left to die. I myself had a major diarrhea, so bad that I was crawling on the ground groaning for help. I was almost dead and they did not even bother to check. The crazy thing is, they had a medicine bag hanging on the wall to show that they were treating their prisoners but they only used it on the officials. I am still very pissed at the Viet Congs for that. My friends in there were able to sneak in some anti-bacteria medicines and my diarrhea went away. That’s why I always say, “Never believe what the Viet Congs say but instead witness what they do.”


Father’s friend--- Chi Van Tran

I lived in Hue, central Vietnam, when the war first started in 1955. I was already a young South Vietnamese soldier fighting North Vietnamese expansion. We heard great news about how the United States was coming to help us. The Viet Cong was using very effective guerilla warfare against our infantry. It was extremely frustrating to spot them in the jungle so we just fell back and defended the province of Hue. We asked that the residences there must tell us anything they know about the Viet Cong but very few agreed to cooperate. They kept questioning why is it that Vietnamese people was fighting one another. We told them that communism is a very crazy form of government and that the South was trying to get rid of the dictators. Many of them claims that if it wasn’t for the communists that fought off the French we would all still be under French colonial rule.
After American forces made their way to Hue, I was sent back to Saigon where I met your family. Soldiers that were always on the move like me couldn’t manage to form a family because it would just be a mess. I did hit up a few women here and there, you know, soldiers like me. The war provided me the opportunity to meet a lot of new friends, most of them soldiers. We would share stories, go into battles together, experience hardships together. I believe it’s really those times of hardship that people are able to find their true best friends.
The Viet Cong launched 122mm rockets, supplied by China, into South Vietnamese residence areas and we soldiers would have to track them down. Usually a dozen of guys were sent just to find one or two Viet Cong. It was a very frustrating process. I have a friend who went into the Battle of An Lao in Binh Ninh. His unit was surrounded by hundreds of Viet Congs armed with AK-47s. Those guns are better than the M-16s that were supplied by the US because AK-47s can cool faster and has a deadlier bullet impact. The North Vietnamese would always try to outnumber their opposing forces because even with effective tactics, they always end up losing more men in every battle. Anyway, my friend somehow managed to run away from the Viet Congs. But unfortunately the American airforce dropped napalm bombs in hope of killing the Viet Congs. It burned parts of the guy’s body and he could no longer go back into battle. I followed through the whole Vietnam War and I got to tell you, it is definitely one of the worst wars known to mankind.