Vietnam- Impressions of a People's War

7/29/2019 Vietnam- Impressions of a People's War

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by Rae Murphy10 cents


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Rae Murphy. editor of the CanadianTribune. spent the last two weeks ofOctober in the Democratic Republic ofNorth Vietnam. This was the second timein 22 months that he visited that wartorncountry. This pamphlet is a compilationof his articles in the Canadian Tribune.the first three were cabled from Hanoi.the others written on his return to Can-ada.Rae Murphy was born 32 years ago inthe coal mining town of Blairmore. Al-berta. Educated in Vancouver. he be-came an electrician. and was at v,arioustimes an active member of the Interna-tional Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.the United Electrical. Radio and MachineWorkers of America: Oil. Chemical andAtomic Workers' International Union.Before becoming editor of the Tribunehe worked for a number of years as thesecretary of the Young CommunistLeague. and as editor of the youthmagazine Scan.Published by: Canadian Tribune, 924 King St.W., Toronto 3, Ont., November, 1967.


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Calamity has tempered andhardened me,And turned my mind into steel.

These lines are from a poem byHo Chi Minh, written as he languished in prison. In a very real sense theysum up the feelings of the people inVietnam today.The calamity they face is etchedin the shattered families, the brokenand twisted buildings built with somuch sacrifice and labor in thatperiod of hope, years ago now,when they set on a new path of in-dependence and national construc-tion.Of course these buildings will bebuilt again, bigger and more beautiful, when the war is over. Newgenerations will heal the scars and\ wounds of today. But now the horror of destruction has been broughtto every city and village in thatcountry.But to see only this side of thewar, is to miss the real story of Vietnam today. Everywhere and everyone I spoke to, from members of themilitary and government to waitresses in my hotel, people young andold, the feeling is always the same-conf idence and the sense of vic-tory.The confidence is based on thetangible results of the air war in theNorth and the ground war in theSouth. They have fought the Americans to an impasse.Hanoi has changed in many waysin the interval between my twovisits. There is a great deal of devastation, but there is evident economicstability, and there is a defensivecapacity that is unparalled.North Vietnam will never be


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"bombed to the conference table."As the bombing increases and t h ~war escalates the determinationgrows and the country becomesmore united.The issue of negotiations andpeace are stark and simple in Viet-nam, and are not as complicated asthey are made to appear in theWest. There will be peace in theNorth when the Americans stopbombing. There will be no surrenderand there will be no blackmail.

When they say that they are pre-pared to fight on for twenty moreyears, they mean it. When they saythere is nothing more precious thanindependence, they mean it. Theyhave tested independence and theyhave tasted war. They know of what

t h i ~ ~ h : a = ~ t i c l e s reprinted in thispamphlet, I have not attempted anyanalysis of the war. I am not an his-torian, economist or military expert.I have merely tried to present myimpressions of Vietnam last Oc-tober, and convey my feelings as Iobserved these heroic people andstood with them as they faced theair onslaught. during one brief pe-riod of the war.I identify myself completely withthe struggle of the Vietnamese, andI hope this feeling is conveyed inthese articles. In a different context,the words of another poem by HoChi Minh express many of mythoughts.

On the crest of the Westernmountains, my heart stirs asI wanderLooking towards the Southernsky and dreaming of oldfriends.


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THECITY LIVESTHE Red River, swollen withthe" fall Monsoon, is an im

posing sight as we crossfrom Gia Liam into Hanoi proper. A huge steel and concretebridge spans the river at thispoint - here is the lifeline between Hanoi an d th e North. Thebridge was largely destroyed onAugust I I th but was put backinto service at the end of September by that indescribablecombination of engineeringmagic, determination and sheerbackbreaking toil that has confounded the American militarystrategists since they first attacked the Vietnamese.The long Bwen bridge, which

was built around the beginningof the century an d originallynamed after a French governor,Paul Douner, has probably always been everybody's first impression of Hanoi. I t has a twolane road an d a railway trackrunning down the middle. As Ipassed over it last night, I waspart of an endless convoy moving in each direction. I t now appears to be hung together withwooden planks, wire, and allshapes of nuts an d bolts. Although the bridge creaks andgroans with every passing vehicle, i t functions an d it hasproved indestructable.

North Vietnam is a land ofbridges that cannot be destroyed. Because the Vietnameserefuse to see their countrysevered, there are suspensionbridges that allow heavy trucksto pass and are then rolled upan d put away during the daylight hours, and there are pontoon bridges. When all else givesway, there are barges but thegoods are delivered.This night, as our car madeits way along the darkenedstreets approaching the bridge,I could see the hollow structuresthat were once apartments. Ialso saw the locomotive repairshops which are now completelydestroyed. In No rt h V ie tn am today there is not one factory orworkshop that has not been atleast part ially destroyed. Thereis a lot of rubble here that represents the dreams and sacrifice of the Vietnamese workers.Yet one ca n se e at e ve ry c or ne rworkers huddled around oillamps repairing bicycles andtrucks, and through open storefronts one ca n also see youngwomen having their hair done.I t is war, but it is also Vietnam.The permanent wave is replacingthe beautiful long black braids.

My hosts inquired about theh eal th o f Tim Buck. I said he ap-

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peared to be in better healtheach day. " It is the same withPresident Ho," one answered,"but he is very busy now. Justlast week a battal ion of veteranguerrilla fighters, the youngestof whom is sixty-five, shot downan American aircraft with rifleand machine-gun fire. ComradeHo visited them to offer his congratulations. I t is wonderfulthese days, the older one gets,the more determined he becomes."

To my right a group of youngmen and women painfully lift arailway track into place and ourcar lurches forward over thebridge to Hanoi.They say in Canada thatHanoi itself has not been bombed, only the suburbs. Thiswould be quite true if one wereto consider Toronto proper to be

Queen and Yonge and that Toronto's City Hall were to be considered part of the suburbs. Ihave seen much destruction inHanoi, including the wreckage ofthe eye and ear hospital whichadjoins the Catholic cathedral.By daylight the city looks almost at peace. Hanoi has not

been bombed since late August.The movies and theatres operateas usual. In spite of all, therehave been bumper harvests forthe last two years, and the lightsin the city are on- the voltage issomewhat irregular but they areon and the city lives.Haiphong is the target now. I

was told the workers face airraids day and night. They mustsleep, work and defend themselves. The constant bombingsare causing serious problems.But in Haiphong, as in the restof North Vietnam, the Americans have not suceeded in eitherdestroying communications, halt-

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ing production, or in terrorizingthe people. After twenty-fourhours in Vietnam I believe this,but I will not write about thingsI have not yet seen. I have beenpromised a trip to Haiphong although the travelling conditionsare difficult.Across the street from myhotel there are a few weavingmachines. All the existing factories in North Vietnam havebeen dispersed-and these machines work around the clock.At the same time a large bomb

shelter is being dug around themachines, so they can be movedagain, underground.But that is another story initself.

Workers repairing Long Bienbridge.


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AWESOMESPECTACLEW ; h e ~ ~ ~ ~ s S ~ ~ f t i : r g a c f ~ ~ e ~ / ; _utes ago discussing how it hasbeen found necessary to teachthe militia a few words in Eng-lish. Words such as "hands up,""surrender" and "f or w ar dmarch." The subject came up inthe interval between raids whenword reached us that one downed pilot was discovered in theWest Lake and hundreds of peo-pIe were converging on the scene.Actually the problem of cap-tured pilots is not an easy question here. Great care is taken toensure the safety of these pilotsand this entails sometimes muchpersuasion with people, especial-ly in the vIllages, to see that theAmericans are looked after andbrought to the military for ques-tioning.Ye3terday eight planes weredowned in Hanoi and today sofar five. I have seen two come

down myself. This is indicativeof the situation here. The cityhas been pounded for two daysnow. at the suburbs but thedowntown area. The first daythe main bridge was put out ofoperation and today the powerplant has been damaged but thecity is still supplied and mostplants and institutions are equip-ped with auxiliary units. Thebridge is again closed but the

workers are repairing it .I have been in Haiphong dur-ing several attacks and now Ihave witnessed several seriousbcmbardments here. They ,re :mawesome and serious :>pectacleen all counts. For the most partthe Americans strike at popul-ated areas. On the first day ofthe bombardment here the Lakeof the Restored Sword was thecentre which is roughly comparable to attacking Toronto bycentering the raid on CentreIsland. Today the area aroundthe power station was hit, andwith the beautiful sunny andclear weather everybody is ab-solutely certain they will beback later.The bombs that have beendropped on Hanoi so far are ofthree types, explosive, timebombs and anti-personnel. By farthe most used are the time andanti-personnel. Thus after a raidis over visible damage appearsquite light and I have seenplaces where merely superficialchip marks in the concrete showwhere bloody carnage tookplace. The pellet bombs are ex-t remely dangerous and have theeffect of thousands of rifle bul-lets fired in all directions.

The time bombs are also adeadly weapon. They are set toexplode either within minutes,

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hours or days after impact andthey make rescue operationsnext to impossible. Such bombsare also in essence anti-personnel.The bombing is directedagainst the people, not as Johnson has often said against "steelano concrete." Steel and concrete are impervious to the pellet bombs, but they tear the ;1eshand organs of the human body.That also I have seen.The main impression l,oweverone has of the air raids is thereaction of the people. Withinminutes after the all-clear signalthe lineups form at the moviesand the flower shops open. Thegladiolas are in bloom now :mdthe profusion of colors is indescribable. Perhaps they aremore of an emotional experiencethan visual one. There can be nomistake about it: the raids disrupt all aspects of life here, butthe main point is that the citylives, and I believe shall liveforever.The spirit of Hanoi, or the spiri t cf Haiphong is confident andserene. This infects all the foreigners here. There is no antiAmericanism among the peopleand there is no militarism. I

have found myself stopping onseveral occassions to witnessand woncer 'It ,his fact.The confidence (hat oermeatesthe atmosphere is based now ,)nthe prcven ability of the city todefend itself. The artillery missiles and the new orth Vietnamese Air Force defend 'chiscity and its population. The realproof of this is the manner ofthe American attack. The mightyAmerican airforce cannot nowsustain an attack on both Hanoiand Haiphong at the same time.Last week Haiphong was underthe hammer, now it is Hanoi.While it is clear here that Johns::n has escalated the war again,the unanimous feeling is that itis an act of desperation. I washaving a drink with a friendwhen the warning signal washeard and he said: "My GodDean Rusk must have made anappeal for peace." The girl whowas serving us :mswered:"These raids in the North onlymean our brothers in the Southare scoring victories."

Whatever the raids mean, thebombing will never defeat NorthVietnam, although suffering,death and destruction surroundsus .


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AWARFOR LIFEIN 1 ~ E c ; ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ a r s E ~ ~ r ~ :

dreamed she gave birth to achild. The child was sleeping ona lotus leaf. The Emperor as heheard of his wife's dream, ordered the construction of abeautiful pagoda - the Pagodaof One Column. Today this famQUS pagoda stands as it did then,in a small pool of lotus flowerssurrounded by banana and thedelicate filao tree.

I t is not the original pagoda.As the last missionaries of western culture and civilization tovisit this land withdrew, theydynamited the original shrine.Today the role of the French hasbeen usurped by the Americans,and each day the Vietnameseprepare to receive their bombsfrom the sky. Thus not far fromthe pagoda, on the shores of thecity's West Lake, the mobileanti-aircraft units are being setup. In the quiet warmth of thelate afternoon we make our wayto the lake.The park that adjoins the lakeis called Youth Park. I am toldit was named this for two reasons: it was the young people ofHanoi who built the park and itis also the favorite place foryoung Vietnamese couples to sitand spend their evenings. Thepark that afternoon presented a

strange scene but one that cangive an insight into this city andthe war its people are fighting.On every bench sat a youngcouple, arms about each other,looking out over the water; perhaps watching the several smallsampans fishing on the quietlake. Perhaps they weren'twatching the fishermen, but theywere oblivious to the hurriedmovements of the army aroundthem, as temporary communication lines were being s trung andthe sophisticated anti-aircraftweapons were brought intoplace. On the opposite side ofthe road, other citizens sataround outdoor tables drinkingbeer and lemonade, eating bantom, (shrimp rolled with spicesin a bean cake patty and deepfried). At times the noise fromthe laughter at the buffet appeared to drown out'the rumbleof the convoy of half-trackersand troop carriers.

The war in Vietnam is a warfor life, and the people seem intent on living and enjoying lifeas they can; at the same timethey fight. I have been told bypeople who know, that Hanoi isnow protected with a ring ofconcentrated tire power that surpasses the defences of Moscowin 1941. One can see this everywhere and that which one can't

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see is no doubt the most impressive. The Americans are payinga high price in their attempts todestroy this city and kill itspeople.

I have now met a few of thesepeople.Hoag Lien, is a heart doctorwho seems to be scarcely intoher thirties, but who foughtagainst the French and whosehome city is Dalat in the south."Dalat is three t imes as beautifulas Hanoi, but I haven't seen itfor over 20 years. My parentsare there and so is a sister, butof course I haven't been in contact with them. Not even a picture." Hoag Lien, which meansyellow lotus, has three sons studying in different schools, allevacuated, and her husband is inthe south fighting somewhere.She fondles a little child whomshe looks after while the girl'smother works. "Life seemsempty for me with my familyaway, but there is my work andI keep busy."

I asked when she thinks thewar will end. She merely shrugs- "maybe five, maybe sevenyears. I think longer though."We talk of wages, rents andrations. President Ho is the highest paid citizen-240 dong eachmonth. One dong is roughly 30cents and rents are fixed at onepercent of wages.

"You mean President Ho onlypays about two and a half dongrent for that palace in which helives . . . pretty cheap rent" Isay. She laughs: "I pay one dongfor my quarters. That's cheapalso." Clothing, rice and meatare rationed here. Eggs andfruit among other staples arenot. The quantity of rations varyaccording to age, and occupationand seem quite enough. Most of10

the agriculture is organized incooperatives and there are markets where the farmers can selltheir surplus produce withoutregard to ration restrictions. Nobody I spoke to could recall theprice of rice on the free market,which is a further indication thatthe ration of food staples areadequate.

My discussion with Hoag Liendrifts on until she says she musttake the child home to her emptyhouse.The girl who serves my tablehas a beautiful oval face, withalmond eyes; perhaps she weighseighty pounds soaking wet. Thismorning with others of the hotel,she was practicing rifle firing inthe courtyard behind the building.She picked up her rifle, restedherself on the ground and firedthree shots in rapid successionat a target about one hundredyards away. The first shot waserratic, but the other two cameclose to the mark. Later I offered my congratulations.

"1 am a poor shot, my friendsare much better," she said. "Iserve the revolution mainly byserving guests at the hotel. InVietnam, everyone's work is important."There are two wars in Vietnam. There is the air war here,which I was reminded of as Iwas interviewing somebody hereto the accompanyment of thesound of bombs and artilleryabout ten miles away, and thereis the air and land war in thesouth.

I have had a long and interesting discussion with the head ofthe South Vietnam LiberationFront mission in Hanoi. Hespoke mainly of the struggle inthe south in relation to its political and military aspects. The NLFrecently held a congress which


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Murphy examining a bombedbuilding in Haiphong.

adopted a new political program.This remarkable document isbeamed in particular to the citydwellers in the south, the workers in the first place but alsogreat attention is placed on themiddle strata in the urban areas.I was told that in the few weekssince the program has been incirculation a sensation has beencaused, and many over tures towards national reconciliation arebeing carefully tended. As allvestiges of authority of the puppet regime crumble, the politicalstruggle will grow and assumeimmediate importance.

The military situation is morecomplex. The NLF has grownstronger and has the initiative onthe battlefield, although American fire power and tactical mobility is an awesome force. TheAmericans, being forced on thedefensive, cannot police thecountryside. They are forced to

commit many of the mistakesmade by the French. One canstill see, all over the north, theFrench pill-boxes and defensivepositions. These monuments tomilitary futility are well constructed. ever-the-less theweeds and trees are forcing thebrickwork to crumble. In theirown way they look like shrinesto forgotten religions.

I was told to be careful drawing too many analogies betweenthe French and Americans. Americans control the air; their savage use of defoliants and toxicchemicals and their mobility aremade possible by the helicopter.I was also told on several occasions that the Americans don'tfight like the French did either.The French had roots in Vietnam that went back over onehundred years. They knew Vietnam and they knew the Vietnamese; they especially knewhow the Vietnamese fought andmany of the French fought tokeep something they felt wastheirs. This is not so with U.S.soldiers who know nothing aboutVietnam and really care only toget home alive. This naturallysaps the morale.I asked about possible negotiations and used the term, "facesavers." My friend just smiledand said, "there will be a timefor such things, but the American's know they still have manycards to play."On my mind constantly arethe prospects for peace. I amsure it is on the minds of mostof you who read this. The answer to that question howeverdoes not lie in Vietnam but ratherin Washington.

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AHEROOF VIETNAMF O ~ a ~ r i ~ e ; ~ l ~ - \ ~ ~ ~ ~ ; : ~ ~ : ;

village was first attackedby planes from the 7th fleet. Shewas 17 then, living with her parents in the small coastal villageof Don Hoi in Quan Binh province. Her parents were fishermen and she would help themeach morning as they set out intheir small home-built craft tofish the bays and inlets alongthe rugged coast.Prior to the bombings, DonHoi was a new village in thesense that over 90 percent of thehomes were built of brick and anew economy was being developed to supplement the fishingcooperative. A small mat weaving factory was in operation andthe villagers were building bedsfor the extraction of salt fromthe ocean. Aside from workingwith her parents, Thi Ly workedin the mat weaving factory andin her spare time she trainedwith the local militia preparingfor the day the bombs would fall.She said she was too smallthen to carry a gun and was aliason girl. Her duty was to carry messages from one defensiveposition to another and from onevillage to the other. With thefirst American air attack onNorth Vietnam, Thi Ly's workbegan and, along with everyJ

single man, woman and child inQuan Binh province, her life waschanged.For over three years now hervillage has been pounded dailyby air, from artillery fire, fromhovering crusiers of the 7thfleet and now napalm, phosperous bombs and defoliants. Thereis not a single building standingin the village, and this holds truefor just about every other village in the province. I t has beenestimated that there have beenfour tons of bombs dropped forevery square kilometer in QuangBinh, or one ton for every man,woman and child.During this whole period thepeople have fought back, notonly in the military defensivesense of manning anti-aircraft,emplacements, building bombshelters and living facilities underground, but also in maintaining the economy. The fishingcontinues, at night now, andtowards dawn the small boatsare sunk in shallow water onlyto be brought to surface the nextevening and made sea-worthyagain. The salt extraction process continues, the school functions and somehow life goes on.For Thi Ly, who is now 20 andstill appears to be too fragile tohold a gun, the past years havebeen one of military exploits and


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courageous actions in defense ofher village. She has ferried ammunition across the river thatdivides her village while underfire and she has been buriedalive in a trench, rescued, andcontinued to fight. In March1966 she was given her own rifleand in December 1966 she wasawarded a medal as "Heroine ofthe Armed Forces."I had a discussion with her inHanoi during an interval in thebombings. Dressed in the blackloose fitting slacks and an embroidered white blouse with ared flower setting off her longbraided black hair she lookedlike pordain. ,She spoke in asoft straight-forward yet modest voice of her role in bringingdown four airplanes. " It isalways best to wait until yousee the plane diving towards youbefore firing, it is more dangerous personally but much moreeffective.""I had more fear when I wasa liason girl than now that I ama gunner. I was young then andfeared ghosts and did not liketo run through the jungle myself."We spoke a long time thatafternoon in Hanoi. She told ofthe spirit of the people, and oftheir suffering, she told of mutilated and murdered children, ofnapalm and pellets and B-52's."When the first air-raid wasover," she said, "there was notmuch damage, but several fishwere killed by the concussion ofthe bombs as they hit the river.The village organized a fish barbecue that evening, and spiritswere very high. But the chairman of our village warned usthen that such raids were ~ o i n gto continue and increase and thatwe must be prepared to fight together for several years'" She

smiled, with only a slight traceof bitterness, as the story wastranslated.I asked about her plans forherself after the war. She start-ed to say she didn't have anybut was interrupted by a companion and I was told that shewas just elected to the Villagecommittee and would be verybusy after the war organizingthe reconstruction. For the firsttime Thi Ly blushed.Thi Ly was in Hanoi to participate in a recently concluded"Congress of Heroes of NorthVietnam." Later, when I was describing my interview with TranThi Ly with another journalistwho covered the Congress ofHeroes, he remarked: "Imagine,they gather a large hall full ofpeople like Thi Ly in this situation in Hanoi and have a meeting' that goes on for a couple ofdays. That's the way things arein this country."There are a lot of heroes inVietnam now. There is a popular song here, with the roughtranslation of the title being "ICannot Leave My Gate WithoutMeeting a Hero."

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TERRORBOMBINGIF i ~ H ; i S 0 1 ~ 0 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ : ~ i : : : ~ : ~

his bed, he gave no sign. Helay on his back with the sheetdrawn tightly around his neck,his eyes closed and silent. Thedoctor who accompanied us onthe rounds in this hospital inHaiphong took the opportunityto take the man's pulse while hedescribed his injury.He was a fisherman, who waswith his orphaned grandson inhis small sampan when the attack came. His grandson, whowas the old man's only knownrelat ive was killed instantly, andthe man's injuries while notfatal were quite extreme.

"He knows his Grandson is. dead." The doctor said. "He alsowants to die. I t is sometimeshard enough to save those whowant to live." Without any further exchange we left the ward.I thought back to the eveningbefore in Hanoi, when a fewVietnamese were telling me oversupper of the traditions of national resistance to foreign domination that has etched itselfso deeply in the history of thatcountry. I had proposed a toastto the effect that I felt this moment in Vietnamese historywould be recorded as the finest.My companion replied that per-14

haps it will be so recorded inhistory and in a rather flat voicecontinued: "history will not letthis generation rest or die untilthe war is over."There were three pat ients inanother room in the hospital. Alltogether there were less than 50patients in the whole 700-bedbuilding, which had been underincreased bombing and wasnow being dispersed around thecountryside. Only those tooseriously injured to be movedremained.The patient I was introducedto in the ward had close croppedhair which I assumed belonged toa young boy. I t was as I wasshown the wounds on the backand legs that I realized it was

the mangled body of a teenagegirl. There were several pelletburns on her, and bandagescovered inflamed areas wherepellets had been removed."She is completely out of danger," the doctor said, "and willbe evacuated this afternoon."In Vietnam I learned something of the effects of the pelletbombs, which is only one of theseveral varieties of anti-personnelbombs used by the Americans.They are small bombs packedinto what is called the motherbomb. The mother bomb isdropped and explodes on im-


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The 'Mother bomb' drops, releasing hundreds of smallerbombs in all directions. Theseexplode sending thousands ofpellets into everything living. Anti-personnel bombs have no effect on structures but are designed strictly as terror weaponsagainst population ~ e n t r e s .

pact. The first explosion scatters the smaller bombs over awide area in all directions. Thesmaller bomb explodes in turn,driving small balls with rifleforce, again in all directions.In the bombing raids I witnessed in Hanoi these pelletbombs were widely used andthey caused many civilian casualties. A further grotesque feature of these weapons is that themother bomb has often a timeddetonator. When a street istime-bombed, rescue work cannot properly begin until the areahas been cleared by army sappers. Sometimes a bomb is buriedin the debris or is overlookedfor some other reason and theycan explode within hours oreven days after the raid.One afternoon I wandereddown a street that had just beenthe centre of an attack. In onecompound, the two story homewhich fronted on the street hadreceived a direct hit and was

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Other anti-personnel bombswhich rain daily from the skies."One can imagine the ingeniousAmerican scientists who designsuch weapons returning home,patting their kids on the headand going to a community meet-ing."

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completely gutted. The smallcourtyard behind the house wascovered with debris and peoplemoved through the damagedbuildings piling furniture andclothes and cleaning the rubble.A blood stained child's hatwas discarded beside a tree, andto one side the area was beingwashed with a strong ammoniadisinfectant. An old man whohad crouched beside the wallduring the raid was torn apartin that spot. Beside me a groupof women were squatting in asmall circle talking among them-selves. Obviously in shock, shealternately caressed her childand pat ted her own head.Nobody in the courtyard wascrying, there was too much ac-tivity. Through one doorway Isaw a casket laid out on thetable. It was draped in red bunt-ing and beside it stood bouquetsof gladiolas. My attention wasdistracted by my interpreterasking me to photograph an old-er woman with a bandaged childin her arms. The child was nottoo severely injured and put ona bit of a smile.We left shortly after this. Thesky that day was cloudless, andnot a breeze stirred on theground. I t was still early enoughin the day for many more raids.Such fiendish weapons asthose dropped on Hanoi do notbegin and end with one type ofpellet bomb. They come in allsizes, shapes and descriptions.One can imagine the ingeniousAmerican engineers and scient-ists who designed such bombs,returning at night to their split-level bungalow, having a mar-tini, patting their kids on thehead and then going off to acommunity meeting.


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FROM HANOITOHAIPHONG

W E f r ~ ~ G ~ ~ ~ ~ i T 7 ~ ~ ~ ~ p ~ ~ ~ ~one night in late October.Haiphong a nd e nv ir on s had beenu nd er c ea sel es s Americ'in bombardment since late August . Thestrategic aims of t he A mer ic an shere were quite clear: the roadsto Haiphong were to be destroyed and perimeter of devastation created around 'he dockswhich would make th e movement of supplies impossible.These strikes against the communication transportation network were supplemented bys ca tt er ed t er ro r b om bi ng a ro un dthe clcck designed to sap 'heenergy and morale of the popul

ation of the city.I was to see direct evidence ofthis later this night in the citymyself, yet our journey ,0 Haiphong was for the most part uneventful.There were many hair-raisingmoments as either the drivingskill or marksmanship of ourdriver allowed us to evade oralmost evade the bomb craterson the road, the twisted wreckage of destroyed trucks and theoncoming traffic. The Vietnamese drivers who ply the HanoiHaiphong route seem determined not to let either Americanbombers or approaching trucks

deter them from their appointedrounds.The distance from Hanoi toHaiphong is less than 100 miles.I t took us six hours to make thetrip and it was the most interesting and instructive six hoursI spent in Vietnam. The roadwas clogged with all manner oftrucks carrying all types ofgoods in both directions. Movingsouth-westward towards Hanoithe trucks were loaded with warmaterial; towards Haiphong thetrucks c ar ri ed V ie tna mes e export items, mainly hemp. Alongside us marched, or strolled,units of the army, full-packweight less than 15 pounds. During one of the waits fo r a bargewe talked and joked with someof th e soldiers, and my interpreter said that he heard thatthe Americans tote about thatmuch weight in chocolate bars.Aside from the soldiers wesaw many groups of youth voluunteers moving along the roadside. These are young boys andgirls who are responsible fo r 'hemaintaince and elementary :epairs to the roads. Their duty isto keep the roads open and th etraffic moving. They could betaken fo r any group of teenagers enjoying themselves at anout-door party. In the moonlight

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of the warm night we could seethem encamped in the fields andwe could hear the sound oflaughter and singing about us.Beside the road, at times onlyseparated by two or three yards,are the manhole bomb-shelters,and beside these are cratedgoods, oil and gasoline drums.These are scat tered all over ',hecountryside as a concentrationof fuel makes too ready a targetfrom the air. The crates usually bear Russian markings, andcne can only guess what theyare. Then there are the SAMrockets awaiting their destina-tions, only thinly covered by tar-paulins. In Vietnam one is constantly aware of the enormousamounts of military and economic aid received in Vietnamfrom the Socialist countries.Making the trip from Hanoi toHaiphong, one is overwhelmedby it.The journey to Haiphong includes many detours and alter-nate roads. As soon as one section of the road is attacked, a18

detour is built and repair workbegins on the destroyed section.With the railway it is not ::;0easy but the task is coped withby scattering extra ties andtrack along the route and repairsare almost instantaneous. Thetrains were running betweenHaiphong and the South in lateOctober although they have beenunder constant attack for several months.Meter traffic to Haiphong isalso forced to cover endlessvarieties of makeshift bridgesas well as several barge trips."It is a beautiful part of thecountry here, with all theserivers", my guide told me as wesat on the hood of a jeep smok-ing while our barge cut acrossthe river. "But very difficult todefend." Haiphong was in frontof us. To our le ft stood the hollow skeleton of the cement factory and to our right the welllighted port was humming. Fora moment I was reminded ofcrossing the Vancouver harboron the old ferry. Although con-


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Rae Murphy in Hanoi

siderably upstream from theocean, in Haiphong there is thatsame ~ a l t - w a t e r tang in the airand in the warm evening it washard to believe there was a warand that if there was an American raid now we would be inone hell of a fix midstream ona slow moving barge.There was not much to see inHaiphong that night, except tonotice the downtown streets,cluttered cargo and the movements of mobile cranes nowloading one truck and now unloading :mother.After a short supper weagreed that we would go to thedestroyed areas of the city justbefore dawn and then spend therest of the day visiting hospitals,the docks .'md factories.Then I experienced my firstdirect .'\ir-raid.I stood by the entrance to theshelter trying in vain to see

what was happening while myhosts were continuing their discussion as if they were waitingfor a subway train. Suddenly ',hesky lit up with star shells andthere was a rapid and continu-ous pounding. My interpretermust have caught the look on myface. "That's ground fire", hesaid, "When the crash and vibrations seems to come from under-neath you and around you, that'sbombs. When the noise is likethis. overhead, that's our groundfire.""Oh." I said.That night and continuouslythereafter in Hanoi, I had manycpportunities to listen to the

sounc's, but I don't think I everreally learned to tell the difference.

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RGA IZINGFOR WAR

P R ~ ~ : e ~ ~ V i ~ ; ~ 5 t o ~ ~ : n g ~ ~ e ~ ~ ~ment of North Vietnam thatthe war was going to be extended into the North, plans wereput into operation to militarydefend the North as well as topreserve its industrial and economic base.In the years between 1954 and1964, a period which is sometimes referred to as the "tenyears of peace", North Vietnamwith assistance from the socialist countries rapidly developedits industry and agriculture.When I was in Vietnam in 1965I could see the fruits of the tenyears of peace in the number ofliving quarters that had beenbuilt, the schools, training institutes, hospitals and factories.The coal industry in the Northwas becoming highly mechanized, with many working condi-

tions that coal miners in Canada could well envy.The textile industry was ndvancing, an important by-product of which was the opportunities presented to a new generation of Vietnamese women tobecome full and equal partnersin the building of a new society.A machine - building industrywas also built. This industrydeveloped in accordance withthe needs of North Vietnam, inthat the bulk of its productionwas geared to the necessity tomodernize and make agriculturemore efficient.By most Western standards,North Vietnam was still an economically backward country in1965. But the progress it hadmade in 10 years was breath-taking and inspiring.Then came the war in the air,and with it the de-centralization

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Rae Murphy inspecting a bombed-out housing complex in Haiphong.of industry. This one plan, perhaps more than any other singledefensive measure taken, hasresulted in the economic miracleof North Vietnam. However, historians will judge that. I willlimit myself to what I saw andheard.

Over peanuts and beer withthe trade union secretary andthe director of the Haiphongdocks, I was told something ofthe traditions of the Haiphongworking-class. "The longshoremen here are like longshoremenin every port of the world, andour traditions of struggle goback to the building of '(hesedocks. During the darkest daysof the underground struggleagainst the French and againstthe Japanese, whenever our leaders had to travel abroad we 5awthey got there. When the timecame to strike and take over,our men were in the forefront.Just as now the longshoremen

load and unload the ships, defend the city, and go out into 'thewater and destroy the mines.The working class of Haiphongcannot be conquered."I saw much of this spirit inHaiphong. Earlier I visited theengineering plant which wasbuilt in 1960. This plant manufactures lathes, automatic drillsand presses, milling equipment,pumps and other irrigationequipment. The plant is beingde -centralized and exists inseveral buildings throughout thecity with elements scattered invillages around the province andindeed throughout the country.This is true in the physical aswell as in the administrativesense. In all of North Vietnam,production is being localized andits administration and control isin the hands of local authorities.The basic products of the Haiphong engineering works appeared to be irrigation equipment and a type of portabledrill-press which was designed

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The beauty of Vietnam. Ha Long Bay, north of Haiphong on theGulf of Tonkin.by the chief engineer of theplant. The drill has an electricmotor mounted on its frame, islight enough to be transportedby bicycle, and when the situation arises, it can have the rearwheel of the bicycle mounted tothe drive shaft and can be operated with two workers, onepeddling furiously on the bicycle.

There were about two hundred workers left in the operation of the plant in Haiphong,another thousand are scatteredin feeder and assembly plantsaround the province. For thosein the city, production goes onin spite of air attacks. The machines are encased in bombshelters of their own and theworkers are protected by individual shelter beside the machine.The whole plant is honeycombedwith connecting tunnels andtrenches, which in case of heavyattack can lead the workers tosafety almost a mile from the22

factory. "We're diggers in Vietnam," the young plant directortold me as I admired the network.For the workers in the plantall aspects of life continue.There is a song and dance ensemble whose slogan is: "Thesound of our songs rise higherthan the bomb's explosion."There is a self defense unit, amedical unit, and above all ' ~ h e r eare night schools. Fifteen of theworkers have reached collegelevel in education and is also theworker has passed the gradeseven level.

I t would be pointless to tryand illustrate the competitiveproductive spirit in the plant, thenumber of medal winners andthe honoured production teams.Typical of the workers I metwas Nguyen Thi Vieng, a 23year old girl, who emigrated toVietnam from Thailand after1954. She is a model worker,who has now reached- college


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level in education as is also the planes based in Thailand, Southbest rifle shot in the plant. Of Vietnam, and the 7th fleet. Ame-the total work force, 31 percent rican crusiers also range theare young women like Thi coast and shell the land from 35Vieng. miles out at sea.The plant's Haiphong opera- Some industries cannot be dis-tions have surpassed this years persed. Every home and buildingplan, month by month, and so in the surrounding coal fieldshave all the scattered operations. have been destroyed. The work-The dispersal of industry has ers now live in caves but pro-a two-fold effect. I t protects the duct ion goes on and the shipslives and families of the workers are unloaded in Haiphong. Theand maintains production in cement plant, which was thespite of the heavy bombing. pride and joy of Haiphong, isSecondly, it introduces the destroyed and casts only a gro-working class into villages ~ n d tesque silhouette on the skyline,serves as a uniting, cohesive d- but cement is still produced infeet among the population as a small factories in several vil-whole which is overwhelmingly lages, and is transported along apeasant. network of roads that defy any-As evidence of the success of thing the Americans can seem wthe industrial dispersal in Viet- throw.nam, I was told that in the pro- In the city life goes on. Morevince of Haiphong, industrial children are enrolled in schoolsproduction in the first six around the city than last year.months of 1967 is 6 percent There has been a 27 percent in-higher in this period in 1966, crease in night school attend-which in turn was 10 percent ance, and in the Haiphong en-higher than 1965. gineering works the song en-All this in spite of the inten- semble raises its voices highersive attacks which come from than the sound of bombs.


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SONGS AREWEAPONS

" I f we are not the pQrentsof little Vietnam, then surelywe are the godparents. Wepresided at its birth, we havegiven assistance to it:; file, wehave helpe dto ~ h a p e its fu-ture."-Senator John F. Ken-nedy, June I, ]956, at a meet-ing of the Association ofFriends of South vietnam.

A SIDE from everything else,this crude and arrogantstatement denies history. I tignores the fact that 1,800 yearsbefore the leaders of 13 coloniesorganized themselves into ',heUnited States of America, ',hepeople of Vietnam, from itsscuthern most tip La the ~ r e e nmountains that form its borderwith China in the north, unitedin a war of national resistanceagainst Chinese Mandarin rule.The national identity, traditions and culture of the Viet-namese go back through thecenturies. I t is rep,'esented inthe poets they celebrate, thesongs they sing and the delicateand distinct ive art of the peo-ple.Even in the midst of ,his bru-tal war, the cultural ,raditionsof the past blend with the pres-'24


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ent. Public education at all levelsdevelops and has priority over.all else. Thousands of youngVietnamese are being trainedabroad, and amateur and professional cultural ensembles tourthe cities and villages.One night in Hanoi, I attendeda performance of the NationalFolk Ensemble. The orchestrasection of the old opera housewas jammed and an overflowclustered around the back. Thebalconies were empty, they aretoo hard to evacuate during anair raid.The music that evening wasa combination of traditionalfolk dances and songs withseme contemporary pieces aboutthe war.For the most part the melodies had that delicate lilt thatone grows to associate withVietnamese music, yet the mostimpressive aspect of the concer tto my mind was the relaxed atmosphere of the audience andtheir enjoyment of the performance. During ene song ,here wasan especially appreciative audience. With each chorus therewas an outburst of laughter. Thesong was sung by a girl soloist,and she did a little pantomimeas she sang. At first I took itto be a love song, but with thelaughter I began to have mydoubts. I asked my interpreterfor the message in ',he music."Well," he said, "It's about agirl who gets all dressed up ona holiday to go to the pagoda,but she is more interested in oneof the bonzes (Buddhist priest)than in the pagoda, and she istrying to get the bonze ,0 go offwith her."

"How does she make out?" Iasked."Not too good," he replied.Sure enough, with the last

chorus she moved from thestage rather dejected, to thethunderous applause of the audience.A few minutes later, she appeared again, this time backedwith a group of female singers.Again, a similar melody began,with the same audience reaction.

"How does she make out thistime?" I asked the interpreter."This is a song about shooting down American airplaneswith a machine gun.""Oh," I said, and looked again

at the stage and the group ofgirls in their long floweredtunics which swept down almostto their ankles. They were smiling and their harmony almosttim;led in the auditorium.It is not only in the musicthat one detects a warm and

open-hearted culture. On silk,delicate pens and brushes describe the landscape. The filiaotree, beautiful reminder of thepine, almost always present.Many the scene includesa boy atop a water buffalo or atypical cottage. At times onehas to look rather closely atthese landscapes to see the barrel of an anti-aircraft gun, alsodelicately penned, emergingfrom the cluster of trees.This also is part of the landscape today.Thus the traditional love ofbeauty in Vietnam expresses itself in the midst of war. Trees,shrubs and floral arrangementsadorn the sides and tops ofbomb-shelters. At one anti-aircraft battery I visited, the dykesthat encased the guns were allterraced with shrubs and flowers.In a folio of sketches produced by the South VietnameseLiberation Front. the followingexplanation is given.

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"Against one of the mostcolossal war machines everknown in history, people's waris being fought with valianceand creativeness, combiningbamboo spears with anti-tankguns-a war in which a youngmother's persuasive voice justas a ten-year-old boy's inquiringlook, also are weapons.

"No less effective weapoi isart with i ts colors and melodies.For this is life which is grappling with death, the forces of abright future with the evil forcesof a rotten past of oppression.Here heroism goes hand in handwith beauty: the fighting peopledemand poems and songs anddrawings as urgently as riflesand bazookas."In our country there are not

only bomb explosions and the'smell of napalm-charred corpses,but -also-everywhere, even inblitzed villages and rice fieldsscorched by chemical productschildren who dance, men andwomen who sing, cameramenand painters busy filming anddrawing, all of them convincedthat their enthusiastic mettlewill not die down although theyknow that they risk their livesat any moment."

I t is this spirit, and perhapsthis aspect of the people's warin Vietnam that impresses andmoves the foreign observer morethan anything else in that embattled country.

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UNBREAKABLOPTIMISM

T H ; a ~ u a r ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ s ~ ~ ~ ~ I ~ h O : ; : : ~ ;11th century. I t was a uni-

versity then which specializedin the humanities. In the centreof the compound there is a smalldelicately carved pagoda liketower. Here I was told poetscould sit and contemplate. Thetower is designed so that thepoet could have an unrestrictedview of the moon or the shim-mering pond of lotus leaves, andstill be alone and above thebustle of the earth.Around the gardens of thetemple are stone tablets restingon figures of tortoises. On thesetablets are engraved the namesof all the graduates of the Tem-ple. Workers are now buildingbomb shelters around thesetablets to preserve them fromthe expected attack.The tortoise' as a symbol ap-pears very often in Vietnam. I tis a symbol of longevity. In theLake of the Redeemed Sword itis said that many centuries agoa tortoise appeared with a sword,and a prince was able to use thissword to lead the people againstthe Chinese feudal mandarinwho then occupied Vietnam.28

No such tortoise appears now.Instead the Vietnamese who arelocked in this grim war receivethe wherewithal to defend them-selves from its brother countriesin the socialist world. And withthese weapons fight and success-fully fight again for their nation-al independence and salvation.Yet one is constantly madeaware of history in Vietnam to-day. I t is part of the present.The Van Mieu Temple is usedagain as a school, and while theworkers erect the walls overthe tables, students mingle be-tween the pond and close beyondthe walls mobile anti-aircraftunits are hurriedly brought intoplace.The teacher who guided mearound the temple said, "Eco-nomic development should notbe the sole criterion for deter-mining the cultural level andcivilization of any people."Earlier that morning I inter-viewed an army officer and wediscussed the conditions of cap-tured American pilots. Heseemed apologetic when he saidthat they try their best to keepthem well. "They are given abigger ration than we are, but


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even this is not an adequate dietfor a westerner, and their liv-ing conditions are certainly notwhat they were accustomed toin the airforce.""Guess what they would doto you, if the American militarygot their hands on you," I said.The officer shrugged. "Ofcourse," he said, "but then wefeel we are civilized people here.There is no point or satisfactionin taking physical vengeance onone or another individual whomay fall into our hands."

With all other impressionsaside. the war is a tragedy forall involved. Nobody ca n gaugethe sorrow in Vietnam. The in-dividual and collective tragedyof the people, the dilemma ofthe American captives, the deadand maimed American soldiersin the south, all this is part ofthe picture.In the rubble that is Vietnamnow, one wonders of the life

that could have been for thesepeople. In 1965 we visited a vil-lage outside of Hanoi. Than we

were told of the progress of thisone cooperative farm. Almost allhouses then were built of brick,and even the poorest farmercould afford a mosquito nettingaround his pallet. There was aprimary school in the village,and a kindergarten. All this isgone n o w - a n d so much more.Still there is optimism in VIet-nam, an optimism which is basedon the tangible results of theair war in which they are prov-ing capable of w it hs ta nd in g a nyAmerican assult. They knowthey can survive and win, as theair war increases their confi-dence increases for they viewescalation as an act of despera-tion. Thus they make plans forafter the war, and above all theschools continue to operate,young people are taught in shelt-ers and underground bunkers incaves and jungles.

There is also the optimismwhich springs from the deep andrich history and traditions ofthe people. The long wars of na-tional liberation and the firm


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roots of the people, steeped inculture and in the soil of thatlovely land cannot be obliterated by bombs. There is a historyhere that no computer in thePentagon can cancel. Each inchof that land has been nourishedby centuries of toil, and it willnot be surrendered now. Perhaps this optimism is also reflected in a small way in thelove of beauty one sees in Vietnam. On bomb shelters shrubsand floral arrangements areplanted. At an anti-aircraft battery I visited, I saw the wholearea was cultivated and thedykes which enclosed the gunswere all landscaped.

My last evening in Vietnamwas spent at the airport, andmuch of that night in a bombshelter. At last the plane arrived, and literally between airraids we hurried without formality to the plane. So our parting was brief."Good-bye, we will meetagain." And they gave me abunch of gladiolas.In the darkened airplane I felta bit sheepish clutching thoseflowers.


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Documents

Vietnam- Impressions of a People's War