Such a united Vietnam under democratic flag would launch a tiger in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese economy would rival South Korea and Japan. Vietnam would be a strong US ally; and America would continue to use huge military bases to station her armed forces including the vast Cam Ranh Naval Base and Da Nang Air base.
Satellite image of the Cam Ranh Bay Naval Base in 2013.
Da Nang Air Base: International Airport, current view.
US Navy would patrol the vital sea lanes for commerce. Oil wells in the East Vietnam Sea would help stabilize world energy market. Products can be manufactured in Vietnam for her low labor cost, industriousness and high literacy.
A collateral benefit would the prevention of the domino theory collapse of Cambodia and Pol Pot genocide.
VPA-led forces defeat Khmer Rouge forces and take Phnom Penh in 1979
There would be no reeducation camps in Vietnam and no boat people, where many lives were lost. A strong Vietnam would check PRC aggression against all ASEAN countries. Vietnam would also be able to buy military hardware and actually pay the US for military assistance.
This is the scenario that many Southerners dream of. What’s wrong with it?
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- Vietnam: The Real War – in pictures (The Guardian - A photographic history by the Associated Press)
- VietnamWar.net
- 1972 Easter Offensive
- 1975 Spring Offensive
- Paris Peace Accords
- People's Army of Vietnam - PAVN
- Army of the Republic of Vietnam - ARVN
- Black April: The Final Hours (Five of the commanders who chose to end their lives in the final hours)
- The final day of General Le van Hung written by Pham Thi Kim Hoang (General Le van Hung's widow), translated by Tran Thi My Ngoc and Larry Engelmann
Brig. Gen. Lê Văn Hưng standing to the right of President Nguyen Van Thieu after the rout of PAVN by ARVN forces during the Easter Offensive in 1972.
Order of Battle Jan 1, 1968 American, ARVN and PAVN forces in MR I-IV
Map of Military Region IV, HQ at Can Tho
The Final Day of My Husband's Life April-30-1975
My husband was stationed in the Delta in Cần Thơ in the spring of 1975 where he was vice commander for Military Region IV (MR IV) under Major General Nguyễn Khoa Nam.
In March, when the North Vietnamese Army attacked Buôn Ma Thuột, I was in Biên Hòa. My husband told me to move to MR IV. He said the Communists would march on to MR III, which included Saigon from Ban Me Thuot, and he did not think that MR III would be able to resist. All along, my husband knew the American government would abandon us. He had no faith in them. I had our two small children with me at Bien Hoa. My husband told me to hurry and move to MR IV before the National Road 4 linking Saigon with the Delta would soon be cut. So on the 2nd of April 1975, I left for Can Tho by car.
I stayed in a house near the corps commanders headquarters in MR IV. After the fall of Ban Me Thuot, Major General Phạm Văn Phú (Commander of MR II where Ban Me Thuot was located) was isolated and he could not accomplish anything. And the same was true for Lt. Gen. Ngô Quang Trưởng in MR I (comprising the northernmost provinces of South Vietnam and the cities of Danang and Hue). As for General Nguyễn Văn Toàn in MR III (the area around Saigon) and Cao Văn Viên, the chairman of the Joint General Staff, my husband had no faith in them. Just by looking at Toan's character and his military life experience, one can't have any faith or any hope for such a person.
Major General Phạm Văn Phú (Commander of MR II) among many ARVN soldiers who ended their lives on April 30, 1975
My husband knew that Saigon would fall because after the loss of MR I and MR II, there was no able leadership left. Military and political survival meant retreating to MR IV region and establishing an enclave.
Lt. Gen. Ngô Quang Trưởng (Commander of MR I)
Truth be told, in 1975 the number of people in the South who were honest and ready to fight was negligible and very few of the country's leaders could be trusted. Some members of the Hòa Hảo, for example, came to my husband and expressed their willingness to fight. They asked for arms and ammunition. My husband, however, was unsure of their reliability and suspected treachery once he gave them supplies.
Then, on April 21, 1975, President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned and handed the government over to Vice President Trần Văn Hương. I remember still his words: "Losing a President Thieu, the military still has a three-star General Thieu. The people still have a soldier, Nguyen Van Thieu. I pledge to fight side by side with my brothers, the soldiers." Thieu's announcement moved me very much. But then his words became meaningless when high-ranking commanders ran away to seek safety for themselves and their families, abandoning their countrymen just as we were being caught up by the final bloody hurricane of the war.
News of the loss of MR I, II and III arrived in Can Tho. We learned there were places where no fighting took place, important places abandoned to the enemy. Yet there were also places where intense and determined fighting was waged to the last man. But too often the losing troops ran for their lives like hunted ducks. The army became confused and demoralized. President Thieu, Prime Minister Trần Thiện Khiêm, General Cao Văn Viên, ran like scared rabbits. The soldiers who remained watched their commanders flee. They began to whisper, "quot;All these years, were we fighting for our country or for a horde of corrupt individuals?" Without the commanding generals, the troops were like a snake without a head, all broken up and in disarray. They started asking, "What do the generals know about fighting in battles? It is the soldiers who fought and the generals who reaped the benefits." Those comments came from unhappy and dissatisfied elements, whose point of view who were like frogs sitting in the bottom of a well -- they saw very small part of the developing situation.
When my husband heard that President Thieu had resigned and said he would stay in the country, he knew right away that Thieu would flee. And Thieu did. My husband also knew the whole Thieu administration would flee, and they did. But my husband decided to remain. And he did. How could my husband predict? He looked at their past activities and at their records. Everything were there. They lacked character.
When President Tran Van Huong resigned and General Dương Văn Minh took control of the government, my husband knew there would be no peace settlement, no last-minute agreement between the North and the South. There were rumors of what General Minh might do to stop the advance of the North Vietnamese Army. There were rumors that he would arrest all of the generals in the Army. But my husband was not afraid of General Minh or of the rumors.
Despite the chaotic situation in Saigon and nearby regions, MR IV was relatively calm. The calmness was generated by local leaders-- like Major General Nguyễn Khoa Nam and my husband. They decided not to flee. And the personnel under their command did not want to flee either. There was, of course, a small number who did run away. This is always true.
Please know also that as soon as the Central Highlands were lost, I decided that I would not leave the country. My husband never asked me to leave and never told me to leave. I would not leave because I knew that my husband would never leave the country. I made up my mind to stay and die, if that should be our fate, together.
On the 29th of April, over the radio on the Voice of Saigon, Prime Minister Vũ Văn Mẫu and President Duong Van Minh ordered all Americans to leave Vietnam within 24 hours. Around that time, the secret plan for military operations by General Nam and my husband was finalized.
In those last hours of the Saigon regime, General Nguyen Huu Hanh, the replacement for General Nguyễn Phước Vĩnh Lộc (Chairman of the Joint General Staff) made countless phone calls to Can Tho. He tried to persuade my husband to cooperate with General Minh and to surrender. He stressed the concepts of military brotherhood and comradeship. But my husband suspected that he was merely examining the attitudes of the two commanders of MR IV. Many times during these telephone conversations, my husband was decisive and said that he would not cooperate with Minh, he would not surrender and he would fight to the death.
On April 30th, General Duong Van Minh surrendered unconditionally. Remember he twice destroyed the country (He led the coup against President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 and ordered the murder of Diem and his brother.) He stained its history and debased himself to sign the treacherous document that offered his country to the enemy. When Duong Van Minh's unconditional surrender speech was broadcast over the radio, a number of soldiers quit and went home. But I still can recall the large number of officers and soldiers who broke into tears. They embraced the flag, they kept their weapons and they cried.
Young Lt Col Nguyễn Khoa Nam
Prior to the surrender, my husband and General Nam made contingency plans. Even should Saigon fall, they and their troops would withdraw into the secret hideouts in the jungles of the Mekong Delta. The plan was drawn before General Minh surrendered. However, they were kept secret to only a very few people. My husband and General Nam carried out their routine duties and made plans for regular military exercises and operations. The plan to retreat into the jungle hideouts was ready to be executed at the proper moment. My husband and General Nam never thought they would receive any military aid from the US Government. They never planned on it and they never even considered it.
Three times their American advisor offered to evacuate General Nam and General Hung. And they refused each time. They decided not to abandon their men and their country but to stay and defend it to the death. Their American advisor continued to prod them, but finally he left in desperation and sadness.
The plan for a secret operation in the Delta was ready. Weapons, ammunition and food were prepared. All were readied for the troops to be redeployed. The Operation Code name was LINKING HANDS. Military Region IV had good strategic points and a hidden army could hold out for a long time. By the 29th of April, not a single stronghold or town had fallen into the hands of the NVA or the VC. But in Can Tho, in the early morning of April 30, 1975, people were confused and frightened. What led to the collapse of morale in Can Tho was a Communist infiltrator on the radio station who instead of broadcasting the order of General Nam, for everybody to stay put and fight, they broadcasted the message from General Minh telling everyone to surrender and to lay down their arms. So people became disoriented and didn't know what to do and many became despondent. Some military people deserted.
Major General Nguyễn Khoa Nam
Right in town the saddest scene of chaos took place. Some criminal elements seized the confusion to loot American offices and buildings. They disregarded warnings shots fired by the police to maintain order. The civilians fled. Some people were paralyzed by fear. They sobbed and screamed. Some people looted and destroyed like a bunch of madmen. There must have been a number fifth column people in the crowd who tried to create disorder and to terrorize the people and to destroy the morale of the soldiers.
The plans for Operation LINKING HANDSs were kept secret to only a few close staff members of my husband and General Nam. The other people under their command were not told of the plan because there existed an atmosphere of mistrust among the officers and others in the military. The withdrawal was planned to begin at noon on April 30th, 1975. The troops would be withdrawn into the jungle hideouts. My husband gave the orders to begin the troop redeployment to the colonel who was chief of the security office. The colonel was supposed to relay the orders to the troops, but this colonel delegated this responsibility to his captain and then fled the country with his family. And so what happened to that captain? Nobody knows! He just disappeared too. But we did not know that yet.
The order to begin Operation LINKING HANDS was issued. But when we contacted the commanders of the units in the area, they knew nothing about the plan. They had not readied their troops as they should have done in the morning. When we tried to locate the colonel who was in charge of distributing maps and orders for the secret redeployment, we realized that this officer had had fled with his family, after passing the duty to his captain, who then disappeared right on the heels of his commander. And all of the maps and the orders for Operation LINKING HANDS had disappeared with them.
Generals Nam and Hung were filled with anger, frustration and disappointment. Their feelings cannot be described adequately with my words. As for myself, I cannot help but cry today when I remember the torn expression and the pain and the disappointment that showed on my husband's face when he realized that the plan to fight was hopeless. The lines of veins appeared in his forehead and his teeth were clenched. He expressed his deepest and utmost inner pain upon hearing the news of the treachery. He pounded on his desk. The careful and well-arranged plan was now suddenly foiled because of an act of betrayal and cowardice.
My husband lifted his eyes to look at me and said, "Victory is what we have always aimed for. But what if we fail? Then what do you want to do?" I responded, "Then we will all die. Our children do not want us to be in the hands of the communists either. I will stay with you. I will not abandon you now." And to deflect the possibility of being captured and falling into the hands of the enemy, I methodically and calmly planned for the death of my children--the final rescue of all of us.
A small number of despondent people who only thought of themselves, and who did not want to fight, were there. But others, who were close to my husband and to General Nam, and were trustworthy, stuck close by and said they would follow the Generals' orders. Let me tell you about this first. My husband and General Nam planned all their military operations from their headquarters building. My husband divided this place into two sections. One was where General Nam planned the military events. And the other section my husband designated as the secondary headquarters. It was to this place that my husband called me to tell me of the betrayal by his colonel. And as soon as he heard of the betrayal he developed new plans and discussed them with General Nam.
At 4:45 PM, my husband left his office at the Corps headquarters to return to the headquarters office where we lived temporarily. He returned home because there was a rumor that the Communist representatives would come to General Nam to demand his surrender and to ask him to sign over the troops and control of the region. My husband did not want to witness the shameful transfer between two-star General Nam and Viet Cong Major Hoang Van Thach.
At 5:30 PM, my husband radioed General Mach Van Truong to order him to deploy two units of tanks to protect the Command Office of the 21st Division. After that he contacted troops that were still fighting nearby. Alongside national road number 4 from Cai Lay and My Tho to Long An, heavy fighting continued until May 2nd, 1975.
My husband called a meeting of his officers for 6:30 PM. But when all these officers arrived at the gate, there were also ten townspeople standing there waiting. They asked to meet with General Hung in the name of representatives of the people of Cần Thơ. They then made their request. "We know General Hung will never agree to surrender. But we beg you not to counterattack. With only your order, the Viet Cong will shell the town. Can Tho will be destroyed completely, just like the ruins of An Loc [which General Hung had successfully defended in 1972]. For the sake of the people, please put away your daring and pride." It would be better to accept shame than to go on fighting, killing and dying.
Listening to them, I felt both pain and discomfort. I was not surprised at their request because one week earlier, the Viet Cong had heavily shelled Can Doi, creating great loss of life and property. The people of Can Tho were horrified that the same thing would happen. My husband was expressionless as he listened to their request. It took a long time and he forced a smile and replied, "Please be at ease. I will try my very best to minimize our people’s loss and damage."
When this group left, my husband turned to me and said, "Do you remember the story of Mr. Phan Thanh Gian? When three eastern provinces were lost, he had to bend himself to let go of three more western provinces to the French because of his care for the people. He could not bring himself to make the people suffer and he could not surrender, for this act would bring shame to his country and his soldiers. He went on a fast and took poison. I would rather die than have my hands tied and watch the invasion of the Vietcong." Because representatives of the population of Can Tho came forward to make that request, my husband could not refuse. They made the request on behalf of themselves and not on behalf of the communists. My husband did not want to hurt them and he decided to honor their request.
At 6:45 PM, General Nam called my husband to check the situation in various places. My husband told Nam of what the representatives of the people of Can Tho had requested. Hung also let Nam know that the newest secret order would be given to a trusted person to be distributed. Genral Nam said to Hung that he had recorded a message to the people of Can Tho and the message would be broadcast by the radio channel in Can Tho. One more time there was a failure. The channel of Can Tho was taken over one hour before by infiltrators. The director was forced to broadcast the message of Vietcong Major Hoang Van Thach. They broadcasted General Nam's message ten minutes later. And it was too late. It was impossible to regain the trust of the civilians and the soldiers. More men deserted.
My husband had one major worry. He worried about the safety of our family. And he asked me what I wanted to do. Deep in my heart, I had made the decision that when my husband and his troops were to withdraw into the jungle hideouts, my children and I would not go with him. I had made the decision that I would kill myself and our children so that my husband would not carry this burden, this worry, that would divide his attention away from the fighting.
I am a Catholic. And Catholicism forbids taking one's life, but there are exceptions. For example, to kill oneself for one's country, and for one's military forces, is acceptable. I did not change my mind. I did not change the decision of killing myself and my children, but when the plans for the withdrawal into the jungle collapsed, my husband thought of killing himself. The children and I wanted to die together with him. At the beginning I did not tell him of my plan of killing myself and the children. When the plans for withdrawal collapsed and my husband talked of killing himself, we discussed a plan of dying together as a family. Initially my husband agreed that the whole family would die together. I would inject the children then myself with sleep medication, and my husband would then shoot himself. But then my husband changed his mind. He did not want me nor the children to die. But he wanted to go ahead with his own plan to die.
At 7:00 PM, my husband called me up to his office. We were alone. He recounted for me all the failures up to that minute. Then, looking at me with his fiery eyes he told me slowly and gravely that he was going to kill himself. And he said, "You have to live to raise our children." I panicked, "Oh, my husband! Why did you change your mind?" He said, "Our children are innocent. I could never bring myself to kill them." "But we could not let them live with the communists. I will do it for you. All I need to do is to give them a very strong dose of sleeping drugs. Wait for me. We will all die at the same moment," I begged him. "Impossible! Parents cannot kill their children. I beg you, Hoang, please try to bear this shame. Try to live and replace me to raise our children into good people. Try hard to live, even if you have to bow and to bear a heavy burden of shame." "If this is for the children, for your love of the children, then why can't we leave for a foreign country like the others?" I asked him. He narrowed his eyes and with a severe look at me said, "You are my wife. How could you utter those words?" Knowing that I was clumsy with my words and had said the wrong things that disturbed him, I hastily expressed my excuses. "Please forgive me, my husband. It's only because I love you so much that I said these words."
His voice was so calm and so serious. "Listen to me. People can run away but I will never run away. There are thousands of soldiers under my command and we have lived and died together. How can I at this minute abandon them and seek life for myself? And I will not surrender. At this moment, it is too late to withdraw into the hideouts because we do not have the supply of weapons, ammunition and food. We will not be able to withstand the enemy for long. It is too late. The Vietcong are coming. Don't let me lose my determination. Continuing to fight now will only bring trouble and loss not only to our family but to soldiers and civilians. But I don't want to see the sight of any communists."
I shakily asked, "But what about me? What should I do?" Holding tightly to my hands he said, "Our marriage has been full of love and respect and that makes us understand each other. Please try to tolerate this, even though you will have to bear many shameful and disheartening things. Go in disguise, change yourself so you can stay alive. I trust you. For myself, for our children, for the love of the country, you must bear it. Listen to me. I beg you. I beg you!" I could say nothing before his gaze and his bittersweet words. "Yes, my husband, I will listen to you," I promised him. But he was afraid that I would change my mind, so he continued to press on, "Promise me! Promise me that you'll do it!" "I will, I promise. I promise to you, my love. But please let me have two conditions. If the communists make me live away from the children and if they rape me. Then do I have the right to take my own life?" My husband thought for a moment and then nodded his head in agreement. He stood and embraced me and wept. Finally he said, "Hurry up and ask your mother and children to come in to see me."
When my mother and the children came into his office, he said goodbye to them and kissed the children. He explained to my mother why he had to die and why I had to live. Then obeying his command, I invited all of the officers and soldiers who were still present for their meeting to go into his office. Everyone lined up and waited for the new orders. The atmosphere was so solemn and yet so moving. This was the moment of saying farewell between the living and the dying, of people who had fought closely together for so many years. My husband said that there were no new orders to go to the hidden places to fight back. The fighting was finished. He said, instead, "I do not abandon all of you to take my wife and children to run away overseas. As you all know, the operation failed midway, and I did not counterattack because of the people. Now I cannot bear the shame of surrender. You worked with me and when you did something wrong I scolded you. But when I scolded you, it was not because I hated you. I scolded you because I wanted us to help one another. Even though our country is being sold out to the communists, you are not to be blamed. Those who hold the fate of the country in their hands are to bear the blame. Please forgive any mistake I may have made. I accept death. A commander who cannot protect his country, his position, should die at his position. He cannot abandon the people and the country and seek safety for himself. When I die, go back to your families, your wives and your children. And remember clearly my final warning: you must not let the communists put you in a concentration camp under some deceptive pretense. Goodbye, my brothers."
General Hung saluted and shook hands with his men one by one. When he came near Major Phuong and Captain Nghia, he said, "Please help my wife and children." Everyone stood still. Nobody was able to say a word. My mother rushed over to him and asked to die with him. My husband comforted her and asked her to look after the grandchildren. He then ordered everyone to leave. No one wanted to move. He had to push them out one by one. I then pleaded with him, "My love, please let me stay to witness your death." But he refused. Captain Nghia left. My husband returned to his office and locked the door. I heard a loud shot from the other side of the door. The terribly loud shot startled me.
It was 8:45 PM, April 30, 1975. It was the final day of Vietnam; and the final day of my husband's life. Someone said, "General Le Van Hung is dead!" I thought, "Oh, my husband, you are no more!" When I entered the room my husband lay across the bed. His arms were open wide and he was still trembling hard, his whole body shook in waves and convulsions. His eyes were wide open and filled with anger. His mouth was open and his lips were moving. I threw myself at him and embraced him. I knelt beside the bed and put my ear to his mouth while asking, "My love, my love. Do you have anything else to say to me." But he could no longer answer me. I held him in my arms and he died there.
General Nam was unaware of my husband's suicide. When I tried to call him on the radio I could not get hold of him because the communists jammed the frequencies. I didn't know where General Nam was. He was probably a mile or so away. My husband did not leave a message for me to contact General Nam and to tell him of his death. But I wanted to let General Nam know. My husband did not talk to General Nam about killing himself because on the 30th later in the day, they lost contact. And besides, my husband did not commit suicide until the communists invaded the town of Can Tho.
At about 1:00 AM the phone rang again. This time it was General Nam. "Hello, sister Hung?" he said. I cried when I heard his voice, "General Nam!" Nam's voice was filled with sorrow. "I heard the news of what happened," he said. "I share with you the sorrow. My condolences, sister Hung." I continued to sob. I asked General Nam what he planned to do. I heard him sigh on the telephone. And then he said to me words that I will never forget until the day I die. "The fate of this war is so miserable. Sister Hung, your husband and I planned everything so well, even to the most minute details, and in the last moment we were betrayed. That's it, sister Hung." Then his voice came back to its former calmness and strength. "Try to be brave, sister Hung. You have to live because of your kids. If there is anything urgent or dangerous, call me."
"Thank you, General, " I said. After my talk with General Nam, I stepped out onto the balcony and looked to the courtyard below. The officers and soldiers were all gone. The gate was open. The wind moved the doors making a noise that was sad and tragic. I just stood there and cried for a long time.
The next morning at 7:00 AM I had just finished my prayer for my husband's soul when I heard a sob behind me. Turning around, I saw Lt. Col. Tung, the chief of staff of the military hospital in Can Tho. He came to visit my husband one last time. He told me that he had to return to the hospital right away because General Nam had just committed suicide. His body was still in the hospital. General Nam shot himself in the temple at 6:00 AM, May 1st, 1975. After our phone conversation, I had a premonition that it would happen. However, when Tung gave the news, I was still shocked. I knelt down facing the military hospital where he lay and I prayed for his soul.
The people of Cần Thơ knew me and would have pointed me out to the communists so I had to leave Can Tho on May 2nd for Saigon. I stayed at one major's home for only one night and then I had to go find another place to live, people were afraid to house me, and I also was afraid for them if something happened.
During the next years in Saigon I had to change my residence countless times, up to the time I left the country, which was in September of 1981. Why were few people willing to help me even though my husband was a hero? You have to live in a communist society to know. How could they help me? If they helped me they would be dead. They would be blacklisted, they would be punished. Therefore I had to be on the move all the time. The children stayed with me most of the time, but whenever the search by the communists got too close, I would give them to my mother until things calmed down and then they would live with me again. I got some help also because not many people in Saigon knew I was the widow of General Hung. I hid that fact from everyone. Between 1975 and 1981, I did not think of committing suicide, but if I was captured, I would have to die, I was willing to die in a brave manner and not be tortured nor would I lose face nor dishonor my husband.
During that time period who could be happy? I could not be happy. Who could ever be happy living under Communist rule? In the aftermath of the war, the first few years, I had high hopes there would be a coming back, a return, because there were news and rumors of the resistance forces fighting, and I never thought of leaving the country. I was still thinking and hoping that the communist would be booted out of the South. However, as time went on and I recognized that I knew the situation was not rosy and advantageous to us, to the South Vietnamese people, I decided that the only way to be able to do something for the country was to go overseas and maybe from a base I would be able to affect the situation. There was no way I could become an activist in Vietnam because they were always following me, like a shadow. They followed me that close. They followed me day and night.
When my husband was alive he never told me to leave the country nor did he have the idea of leaving the country. But at night, in my dreams, when my husband came back and he told me the communists were near and that I should flee again and so he saved my life so many times. I left Vietnam finally by boat. I was in a refugee camp with my children for 11 months in the Philippines. Then I came to the United States. Besides freedom, I wanted to make a life for my children, to raise them and to continue to follow the path of my husband. I tried to do as I promised my husband before he died. I dream about Vietnam all the time. It is in my mind and is always with me. I always dream about being back in Vietnam and being chased and being hunted down by the communists. And my children can still remember their father.
General Lê Văn Hưng and General Nguyễn Khoa Nam are dead. But their heroic spirits will not die. I will always remember and honor them.
https://www.quora.com/Could-Vietnam-win-a-total-war-with-US-without-nukes-in-1975#
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