My Life In Change
By: Tien Nguyen
Tags: Refugees, Memoirs And Histories, Immigrant Stories, Vietnam, Family

Part 5: Life in the army

Because I was in the army, I had to travel south with my military unit on a French military ship. My wife and sister and their children were immigrants, so they took an American ship; it took the ship three days to bring them to Binh Dong Saigon pier.

When we came to the South, everything was new and strange to us, starting with the dialect. The boat was called “ghe” instead of “thuyen”, the oar was called the “day ghe” instead of “sao day thuyen.” One thing that stood out was how people tore money to make change. For example, if you spent $5 and handed someone a $10 bill, people would tear the bill in half, they would take half and return half to you.

My wife and I lived with the entire unit in a house with a length of 80m and a width of 10m. The house was covered with coconut leaves and rice husks. Anyone who had tarpaulin, plastic, or raincoats, would use the material to make a pallet to lay on; sometimes we laid right next to each other, especially on those nights when we got back from guarding. The price of food in this area was very cheap and the unit gave each family a small lamp for cooking, at first fueled by alcohol and later gasoline. After our time there, we moved to Can Giuoc Tan An district, giving birth to our first child named NGUYEN VAN HIEN, born on December 25, 1955.

Next we were transferred to the Training Platoon. This was where we built houses for families outside of the family camp.

After the day of rural pacification in the Southwest, the units from the North had to train at Quang Trung Training Center. For about 2 months, they had to eat fermented tofu every Saturday. But Northern people were not familiar with the fermented tofu, so when the kitchen provided them with this dish, they piled it onto the unit’s lawn.

After receiving training, we returned to Tam Hiep in Bien Hoa, stationed in the Dong Nai river forest, where the French army was previously based. In the evenings, I rode a bicycle to the High School to take correspondence courses, taking the 10th and 11th grade to earn a diploma to study in the Officer class. The correspondence course did not grant a diploma, only a certification, and the correspondence courses were not recognized by the government; these circumstances were pretty hard on me.

When riding a bicycle down the Tam Hiep river bank, you could see the army camp at Highway 15 called the Tam Hiep junction. The road was full of red rocky soil, and the wind blew dust on my clothes. If you were wearing a white shirt, it would become all brown. If you accidentally fell down on this road, be prepared for a bleeding nose and wounded head.

But after a year of desperate saving, some of us were able to afford, barely, a Mobillet with a gas tank in the back with a chain that was often loose. If the chain loosened on you during a long trip, all you could do is cry. When it was time to go to class, ten of us would call each other to bike together to Phan Chu Trinh School in Bien Hoa, trying to arrive early for the professor’s lecture, especially in math. We made up a song about this: Although we’re tired, we’re all happy, no one could stop a smile.

At this time, President NGO DINH DIEM opened a movement for rural pacification. The Regiment units had to march for the purpose of capturing General Ba Cut to unify the army because the parties and sects all had their own armies. So the President assigned Colonel Duong Van Minh as the commander of rural pacification. Later when he captured General Ba Cut, Colonel Duong Van Minh was promoted to Major General of the Vietnam National Army.

During this time, the Regiment often traveled around the southwestern provinces such as: Tan An Province, Kien Hoa Province, Long Xuyen Province, Chau Doc Province, Phong Dinh Province, Bac Lieu Province, Soc Trang Province, and Ca-ma Province, Rach Gia Province. We were stationed in Ca Mau for the longest time because before the army arrived, most people in the province had fled, with only a few people in the youth committee who remained guarding the gate. When the convoy arrived, one person came out and asked: “Where are you going?”

We told them, “We are here to pacify the countryside. Where are all the people? Why is it so quiet?” They replied that the VC spread rumors that the coming North Vietnamese soldiers would eat people, so the townspeople fled into the forest. The Political War Committee announced on the loudspeakers that people should come back and return to their usual activities.

In 1961, I moved to Kien Hoa, and Uncle Trieu came to visit. He asked if I had brought my wife and children and if we had rented a place, and if so, where it was. I told him: “Yes, Uncle, I rented a place at Nga Ba Thap in An-Hoi commune.”

He told me, “No, you can’t stay there. Last night, the VC went there and caused a lot of trouble; the police struggled with them all night. Come stay with me, it’s safer.”

Immediately my wife and I and Uncle Trieu gathered our things and moved to his house on the shore, next to a brick kiln and a fish sauce store near the church and also near the headquarters of the Regiment.

During our time in Tam Hiep, Bien Hoa, we had two more kids, Thi Kim Oanh and Nguyen Khanh Hung; and in Kien Hoa we had Nguyen Thi Bach Yen, Nguyen Thi Thu Cuc, and Nguyen Thi Kim Huong. After we settled in, Uncle Trieu was transferred to the capital, Saigon, leaving us behind. Afterwards, the landlord reclaimed the house and did not let us rent it anymore. I had to rent a place in Cu-Lao-De, an area that belonged to the church community and was a well-known place for underground VCs since they took advantage of the parish to stir things up. A year later the Regiment moved to Cao Lanh of Kien Phong, then back to Sa Dec and back to Kien Phong, and eventually back to Kien Hoa. We stayed in Kien Hoa province until the Lunar New Year.

Before the Lunar New Year, the Regiment was provided with a new kind of gun, called M16, because the battlefield situation at the time was very dynamic. The communists strengthened the VC with advanced weapons. Barely after receiving our new guns, on the night of January 30th, when the new year started, a VC artillery unit entered and attacked the province. Two days before, my wife and children had gone to Tan Mai in Tam Hiep. Only I stayed with the unit to fight the VC.

When people returned to the province, the Regiment Executive Committee had a doctor examine them and distributed food such as rice, stew fish, salt, fish sauce, and even drinking water because the water in Ca Mau was brackish due to its Melaleuca forests. The regiment gradually worked its way to the VC’s hideout such as U-minh, Dam-roi, and Melaleuca forests through Soc Trang and Bac Lieu provinces. Once we were settled, Lieutenant Colonel, the commander in chief, arranged for soldiers to visit their families in Tam Hiep, Bien Hoa. He phoned the rear base and ordered that the wives of soldiers should wash up and prepare delicious meals since their husbands were to visit that afternoon. After the soldiers’ visiting time was over and they came back to the unit, he said “Now it is my turn to visit my wife and children.”

After the rural pacification in the southwestern region was over, there was an order to move the Regiment Executive Committee to Kien Hoa province. The Executive Committee was stationed in the town of An Hoi in the Trunc-Giang district. To get to Kien Hoa province, you had to go through My Tho town in Tien Giang province, take a ferry called Bac Rach Mieu, go through three isles which would take about half an hour. Once there you would be guided by Mr. Dao and then driven into the province on a road that was covered by coconut trees on either side. The VC would often shoot from the trees with CKC rifles.

Because I was upright person and frankly refused to submit to lies, I was struck by the following during my time in the military:

It took just six months to go from Private to First Class Private, one year from First Class Private to Corporal (Leader), then from Corporal to Corporal First Class (Vice Platoon) to Sergeant would take two years if you had the CC2/BB certification. From Sergeant to Second Sergeant took two years and also required the CC2/BB. If you wanted to be promoted to Staff Sergeant, you would need a BI/BB, because this was the Platoon Leader rank.

I had the CC1-CC2/BB certification, but I missed my chance to become Corporal First Class in 1964 ,because I was blocked by another lieutenant. Here is why he did it:

Sergeant To Van Nhan of the primary army, Battalion 2/10 wanted to apply to go to a base in the rear of the fighting because his wife was about to give birth. So the First Lieutenant, the captain of the 1st regiment department asked me, “Vinh, do you want to go to the front?”

I told him, “Lieutenant, how about you go home and tell your wife that you want to go to the front, and see what she says?”

“How could you ask me such a question?” he said. “Of course she would say no, why would you think to put other people in such a position? Do you not feel guilty in front of the Lord or Buddha?”

I replied that “I am a Corporal in this Company, if I go anywhere, there must be an order from my Company Commander.” He said, “Then what about I send you there because I am the chief of unit P1?”

I humbly answered that he could not surpass a higher rank like that because the Army had a top-to-bottom military system; no one could freely take a shortcut like that. He asked me again, “What if I get the signature from the Lieutenant Colonel and send you out?”

Never before did a superior send out his subordinates without consulting the Company Commander. He ran out of excuses and said, “One of my words would be equal to 100 of your words to your Company Commander.” I fired back, “What if my one sentence is more sensible to my commander than your 100, Lieutenant?”

That evening, the Company Commander sent a person to the unit to ask me to go to his house. I grabbed my documents and went to him promptly. After the greetings, he asked: “Is there something going on?”

I said, “Nothing.”

He said, “Yes, there is. I know. The Lieutenant, chief of the department wants to send you to the front instead of Sergeant first class NHAN of Regiment 2. If you go anywhere, you must have my orders, no one else has the right to send you, even a Lieutenant Colonel, the chief of the Regiment.”

At 8:00 am the following morning, I arrived at work to a quiet atmosphere. I met with that Lieutenant again, but he didn’t say anything, since he knew he had wrongly abused his power.

When the time came that year to promote soldiers in rank, I was qualified to move up in level, to Corporal First Class. My name was already typed on the stencil paper to send to the Division because the Commander had signed the Decision. But someone gave the clerk a bribe to smear my name and replace it with that of the briber, the Lieutenant. Just because he lost to me in an argument, he did such an immoral thing.

Since the Lunar New Year was coming, a friend, who worked in the 4th Department in Supplies, asked for a copy of the upcoming promotion decision to show it to me and inspire me. He held the copy of the promotion papers in his hand but couldn’t find my name. Then he saw that another name had been written over it. He got angry and was swore from the Command/Division in My Tho all the way back to BCH/TRD of Kien Hoa. I thanked him for telling me.

Later, the Lieutenant, who knew that there was a BI/QTNV class in the next few months, asked me: “Vinh, do you want to take the BI class on Staff Management?” I could not say no. I went. At that time there were only me and an assistant at the administration of the Administrative Congress. Back then in Sadec, every Friday afternoon, near the weekend, I had to go back to handle the work for the unit. After finishing the BI/QTNV, I suppose he wanted to please me so he asked: “There’s a class for optional B2/QTNV exam, do you want to take it, Vinh?” I replied yes. So I signed up to go back to Saigon to take one week of exam at the General Manager School, and graduated with the B2/QTNV afterwards. This degree, for Infantry, was equivalent to the level of Company Commander. After I had this degree, I was transferred to the Family Subdivision.