We engaged in a couple dozen naval operations. Most of them were bombarding the NVA coastal positions and supporting our ground operations. Several of them were rescue missions to transport our ground troops out of the Communist attacks. I still remember one confrontation with the Chinese Communist Navy near the South China Sea.
During one patrol in the summer of 1973, we identified several Chinese vessels leaving the international waters around the South China Sea and approaching our waters. Our fleet, including two cruisers and one supply ship, sailed toward the Chinese in order to stop a possible violation of our sovereignty. The Chinese fleet, including two cruisers and two destroyers, didn't stop and continued to sail toward us. Around noon, both fleets met each other near the water boundary [twelve miles off the coast]. And then both stopped face to face in close range. Our cruiser crew rushed to their battle positions and prepared for combat. We were ready to destroy our code books, manuals, and other documents. The standoff took about one hour. Then the Chinese warships backed down and pulled out. But I was surprised that, after they sailed away, the Chinese ships turned around and fired on us. We returned fire. Although the exchange of gunfire was intense, it didn't cause much damage since we were far enough from each other. I didn't know what kind of game the Chinese Navy was trying to play. Our commanders reported our victory against an invading Chinese fleet. My guess was that the Chinese probably did the same thing.
This was another problem of the ARVN Navy. The commanders and officers tended to report victories and make up some good news, and not report the real problems or the truth. We lacked the nationalistic spirit in our officers, most of whom didn't dedicate their lives to the cause. Our navy and South Vietnamese armed forces needed a strong fighting spirit so that we could have stayed on our course. The spirit would create miracles. Unfortunately, our enemy forces had a fighting spirit, were dedicated to their cause, and won the war. Certainly, they had an evil cause, which didn't lead to the salvation of the Vietnamese people, but led to Communist control.
Lt. Nguyen Nhieu in the United States in 1998.
After the war, I was jailed by the Communist government from 1975 to 1979. After I was released, I returned to My Tho, my hometown. I was treated as a criminal by the neighbors for many years.
Nevertheless, my mother was so happy to see me back home. After my father died, I was her only surviving family since she lost two of three sons in the war. I looked for all kinds of jobs and worked hard for her.
In 1992, my dream was coming true: I came to America through humanitarian organizations’ programs. I regained my human dignity. I am proud of my service in the ARVN Navy, and American people here respect that. They appreciated our sacrifice and loss during our fight against the Communists. Living in Fort Worth, Texas, I am working hard to try to settle down, and then I can bring my mother to America. She has suffered enough, and I am her only family.
Chapter 4
Communist Regulars
from the North
Although I met many parents from overseas on American college campuses, I have seen few grandparents from Asian countries. As a grandfather, Sgt. Tran Thanh traveled all the way from Hanoi to Florida to attend his granddaughter's graduation commencement at the university. “My son and daughter-in-law work in the government, so they can't take off from their office,” Sergeant Thanh told me. I knew that many Vietnamese officials could only come to America for official business, not for a family visit. Complacent and affable, Sergeant Thanh was very glad to see me and talk about his family story and service in the North Vietnamese Army.1 He did not mind going into detail on the Communist Party organization, political propaganda, mass mobilization, NVA guerrilla tactics, and battles against American soldiers. “I told American friends my story” he said. “They should know more about Vietnam.”
The Vietnamese Communist force was founded on December 22, 1944, during World War II, with a total of five thousand men. In November 1946, North Vietnam, then the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), passed its first constitution and established its Defense Ministry with Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap as its first defense minister and commander-in-chief of the North Vietnamese forces. In 1950, they were reorganized and renamed as the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, or NVA, commonly known as the Viet Minhs during the French Indochina War), with 50,000 troops. By the end of the French Indochina War in 1954, the Viet Minhs totaled 120,000 regulars. In May 1955, the NVA established its navy, followed by its air force in September 1956. After 1958, it formed its armored, antichemical, radar, engineering, and other special forces. The NVA had 380,000 troops in 1964, and 1 million men by 1972.2
Tran Thanh was drafted into the NVA like all the adult males between eighteen and forty-five in the North. He received formal infantry training and learned how to use Russian- and Chinese-made weapons.3 From the early 1960s, North Vietnam sent its NVA regulars to the South to train and support Southern Communist troops, the People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), to fight the ARVN and the U.S. forces in guerrilla operations. From 1964, Hanoi infiltrated an annual average of 100,000 troops, including some of the best units, through the Ho Chi Minh Trail to South Vietnam. The NVA actually provided the main force of the Communist insurgency in the South.
In the spring of 1965, Sergeant Thanh's company was sent to South Vietnam. From April to November, he fought in several battles around the Central Highlands and the surrounding mountainous areas. By the 1968 Tet Offensive, the NVA/PLAF in the South reached a total strength of 400,000 troops. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the NVA/PLAF expanded its operations into Cambodia and Laos. From January 1961 to January 1973, the NVA/PLAF suffered 851,000 military deaths.4 It is interesting to see Sergeant Thanh's views on his South Vietnamese Communist allies, ARVN opponents, and the Americans then and now. His story about life in the NVA is valuable because there is little information on the North Vietnamese Communist forces in English.
Sgt. Tran Thanh
Third Company, 174th Regiment, 316th Division, NVA (North Vietnamese Army)
I love Connie, my granddaughter. Her parents sent her to study in America four years ago. Now I traveled all the way from Hanoi to Florida, attending Connie's graduation commencement in Tampa, and helping her move to New Orleans, Louisiana. This is my first trip to America. Among other things, I like southern weather, seafood, and local Vietnamese restaurants along the gulf coast. Not many complaints, but, as a smoker, it is hard for me to find a “smoking area” by guessing the signs in English and Spanish.
Connie loves Florida, too. Active and dynamic, she participated in many international student activities on campus and didn't miss a local Asian community celebration. But she couldn't attend any Vietnamese Society (Cong Dong Viet Nam) gatherings in the Tampa Bay area, because she is from North Vietnam, or Communist Vietnam, now officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I couldn't believe it when Connie told me what happened to her. There are still two Vietnams in today's America. The war was over almost thirty years [by 2004]. Vietnam and America normalized their relationship about ten years ago. It's history. There is no reason of disliking us, especially our kids. We can become friends. I always start my conversation with an American Vietnam War veteran by saying, “Friends are made after a fight.” Most people here liked it after Connie's translation. We truly know each other after we fought the war. And both peoples have learned that we won't fight again. I just did what the Vietnamese people had to do at that time, including the minorities in North Vietnam.
In 1939, I was born to a Black Thai family in a small mountainous village near Lai Chau, North Vietnam. Among Vietnam's minorities, the Black Thai people are different from the White and Red Thais. With a total of a half million, the Black Thais are so called for our darker skin color and black garb of the women. We dwell mainly in the upland valleys of northwestern Vietnam and northeastern Laos. Our family affiliation determines our