Lanh, now 62, is quoted in the article. Another member of Kerrey's unit offered the paper an account that alternately supported both men. The remaining five men would not speak to the magazine in detail about the incident. The Vietnamese government allowed a group of journalists to visit Thanh Phong on Saturday and interview both women. A hamlet of about 200 people on the South China Sea, Thanh Phong has changed little since the war.
Farmers still eke out a living growing rice.
Many live in thatched huts with dirt floors. In 1969, the Americans believed that a Viet Cong leader was operating in the village, and Kerrey's unit planned to take him out. The team arrived by boat in the dead of night and attempted to slip into the village unnoticed. Things began to go wrong when the commandos came across a hooch they had not expected. There were five people inside.