Then our company was assigned to consolidate and strengthen the liberated villages in the mountainous area not too far from the South Vietnam-Laos border, or the tri-state region. As a mountain unit, the Third Company was good at hillside defense work, village underground tunnels, antitank positions, and antiaircraft outpost construction. We worked very hard during the spring of 1965. We built the village defense work day and night. We also tried to share our defense tactics with the NLF/PLAF villagers. But I don't think they trusted us. There may be a couple of reasons for that.
The first reason was a political one between the NVA in the North and PLAF in the South. We had a civil war between the North and South. Then, we had a war against America. The Southern Vietnamese wanted us to help them resist America, but didn't want us to take over the South. They saw the NVA and PLAF as separate entities. We considered them as the one Communist force.
The second reason may be an ethnic one. They are the Vietnamese people, the majority. Some of them were kind of stuck up and didn't want to ask for help from the minorities like the Black Thais from the North. They saw us as the “barbarians.” The Vietnamese people, farming the central highlands, coastal lowlands, and the deltas of the Red and Mekong rivers, make up 85 percent of the Southern population.
Through the spring of 1965, the Third Company worked on defense work one village at time. After turning each into a fortress, we moved on to another village. From time to time, we engaged with the ARVN troops in small scale. In many cases, we launched an attack on the ARVN-occupied village in order to expand our territory. A typical battle began with a charge on the ARVN defense point by a squad from the Third. The ARVN defenders called in their reinforcement, or actually their rescue troops, from the nearby town. The rescue troops usually provided firepower strong enough to stop our attack and cover the defenders’ withdrawal. During their retreat, we just waited for the ARVN defenders to get on their vehicles and run away from the village.
Sometimes, however, the ARVN came back and tried to retake the village. One day in 1966, the ARVN attacked one of our well-built defense works in a village. The Third Company got the information ahead of time and put together all of its men to defend the village's underground tunnels. Our captain tried to send a message to the enemy troops that we would not easily give up our territory. After a two-day fight, the Third and local Viet Cong guerrilla troops successfully defended the village by a joined force. Although we won the battle, I lost one of my best friends in it. Waong was badly wounded when the ARVN soldiers destroyed part of the underground tunnel and threw several grenades into the section where he was. When I saw him after the battle, he was covered by blood. He couldn't move at all. We were family friends, and like brothers. I couldn't help my tears while holding one of his hands. “Don't,” he shook his head, “We are the mountain tigers.” These were his last words. We buried him and other comrades who were killed in the battle in the village cemetery. Lieutenant Ngu told us that we had destroyed one enemy armored vehicle, killed nineteen, and wounded thirty-six ARVN soldiers.
In 1968, when our company moved back into Laos, I was promoted to sergeant. In Laos, we engaged with the American troops for the first time, although most of the battles were in small scale. In 1971, I served as a Black Thai combat training master, or a drill sergeant. We stayed in Laos until 1973. Our company entered South Vietnam again in 1974 and participated in several major offensive campaigns to liberate our country.9 After we won the war in 1975, I retired from the army with honor.
I did what everybody had to do during the war. We did what we felt was right for our country and for our family. We did it so they [our kids and grandkids] don't have to go through it. The war should be remembered as it was. It's over, and it's history. The war can't go on forever. People and things are no longer valued on the basis of whether they are “ours” or “yours.” Connie is right. Let's get over it and move on. Well, many Southern Vietnamese have left their homeland. They have a home there. They like to express their grievance and justify their residency in a foreign country like America. We should understand why they are here. They love America, but they don't have to hate Vietnam. I love my country, and I don't have problems with America. Connie loves both countries. I know why she wants to find a job here and stay in America after her graduation. My son and I don't have any problem with her decision.
Chapter 5
People's War against Americans
Nicely framed family photos covered the small living/dinning room wall. A full-size bed made the room even smaller. Inside an old two-room house in the middle of a Southern village, no air conditioning and no computer, I couldn't help but wonder whether Capt. Ta Duc Hao was happy living like this as a war hero.1 Excited and a little nervous, Captain Hao showed us the enlarged photos on the wall. “This is my father, a two-star general,” he said as he proudly pointed to an old man in a NVA uniform with many medals on his left chest. Pointing to others, “They are my children” Captain Hao told me their stories one by one in the same complacent way. All three of his kids went through their colleges on government scholarships. Two of them worked in Ho Chi Minh City as engineers, and one at Da Nang as a lawyer. Satisfied and smiling, Captain Hao sat down with me. He was happy indeed. That's probably what he had fought for: carrying on the legacy and pride from the last generation and bringing new opportunities to the next.2
As a young North Vietnamese, Ta Duc Hao was drafted into the NVA in 1965 and sent to South Vietnam that summer via the Ho Chi Minh Trail. From 1964 to 1968, North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong by sending more NVA regular troops to fight a guerrilla, or “people's,” war against the American and ARVN forces in South Vietnam.3 In 1964, the NVA sent infantry regiments to the South. In early 1965, the 325th Division entered South Vietnam. In May and June, the 305th Division had entered the South via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.4 By the end of 1965, the NVA had ten infantry regiments in South Vietnam. After 1966, the Northern regular troops joined Viet Cong guerrilla troops and became the main strength of the Communist forces in the South. When the Tet Offensive campaign took place in early 1968, the number of NVA regulars in South Vietnam had reached 400,000 men.5 Both the NVA and the PLAF suffered heavy casualties. Captain Hao's story describes the engagements with the ARVN and U.S. troops in the Central Highlands in general, and emphasizes the Battle of Ia Drang. The details provide some insight into the NVA military strategy, combat tactics, and operational problems during the mid-1960s. It may explain why the NVA and PLAF suffered heavy casualties during these battles.
Capt. Ta Duc Hao
First Company, Thirty-first Battalion, NVA (North Vietnam)
I joined the People's Army of Vietnam [PAVN, or NVA] in early 1965 because I needed to. First of all, the American air raids [Operation Rolling Thunder] against North Vietnam were so intensive that we couldn't go to school anymore. I felt very sad when I saw that our neighborhood was burning, and that many people died during the bombings. I agreed with our government that we should keep the war and Americans in the South. All the teenagers joined the army at that time. Second, my father served in the army for most of his life and ranked as a two-star general.6 All of my older brothers had joined the services. I must follow the family tradition. Third, in the North, service was something necessary for your career development, like a college degree. No military service, no good job for you in the future. You need to earn it by fighting the enemy and showing your loyalty to the Communist Party and Uncle Ho. After an infantry training for a couple of months near Hanoi, I reported to the First Company, Thirty-first Battalion, of an infantry regiment. In the company, I learned more about small arms, demolition, and basic defense engineering. During that time, I also heard the men in my company talking about going down to South Vietnam and fighting a war against America. I was excited about participating in the ground war that had been going on in the South for years.
In