Ngo Vinh Long: War's End Means Release and Relief for Vietnamese

What do you think about the refugees--will they be, able to assimilate into U.S. society?

We at the center have received a few dozen or so phone calls in the last week from Vietnamese refugees who want to know how they can get back to Vietnam. Some thought conditions in Vietnam would be worse than they apparently are, others were fleeing the war in order to protect their families. The majority of the refugees are women and children who wanted to escape the war, not communism. And many of the men were officers in the South Vietnamese army or businessmen who had some money and wanted to get out to keep it.

Also, a lot of people left because they feared that under communism they would not be permitted to practice their religion. This is completely false. In North Vietnam, the people are allowed to maintain their religious beliefs. They have priests who are recognized by the Vatican, and who meet with the Pope every year. So I think quite a number of refugees will go back as soon as they can. Many of these people will have terrible problems adjusting to life in this country. They will go on welfare, and it may take years before they are fluent in the language. It will be hard for them, much harder than adjusting to life in a communist society in their own homeland.

What about the fear of reprisals, wasn't that a motivating force behind the evacuation?

It is the upper classes only who were fearful, but even so there have been no reports of reprisals or executions in Vietnam. I don't think there will be much killing. The communists are in power now completely and they want to reorganize the society peacefully. All the messages we have received in this country say that the changes are proceeding well and the people seem happy. People hear of executions in Cambodia, but you cannot apply what happens there to Vietnam. It is a different situation altogether. And none of these supposed killings there are based on eyewitness reports. They are rumors, second and third-hand accounts. You remember the French doctor who said he saw 300 bodies. The next day he retracted his statement and admitted it was only hearsay. All the reporters are confined to special quarters, and they are perhaps angry at their containment so they jump on rumors.

American press accounts showed the countryside filled with peasants fleeing to the cities. They said they were running from the ensuing communist bloodbath. But in fact, forced evacuation of the people by the South Vietnamese army was taking place. In the countryside around the town of Quang-ngai, many families were herded into helicopters by the South Vietnamese who set their houses on fire, shot their animals, and destroyed their crops. Then they were left stranded outside Quang-ngai, perhaps intended to block the advance of the communist troops. Other areas received similar treatment by the South Vietnamese army. The Washington Post reported as early as March that officials in Saigon had ordered civilians in the central highlands to evacuate, so that Saigon could destroy these areas, through air strikes without regard for the civilian population.

We received reports soon after from a missionary in the Quang-ngai province that much of the city of Ban Me Thuot, the capital of Darlac province, had been destroyed by South Vietnamese bombing. The Provisional Revolutionary Government news agency reported that about 200 people were killed or wounded in this attack, some of them former Saigon soldiers and officers. The Saigon regime defended itself by saying they were only bombing to destroy military equipment and installations their troops left behind. The soldiers used scoreched-earth tactics as well to destroy the area before the communists reached it and to drive the populace into the cities. People were also going to the cities because they feared being separated from their families. But I will say that most of the soldiers in the Saigon regime chose to surrender to the PRG, rather than flee as refugees. Half of the armed forces in the South are still in Vietnam with their families and will try to adapt to a communist way of life.

Will you go back when you finish your schooling, and if so, what will you do in Vietnam?

I want to go back to Vietnam again and work for the country's development. We Vietnamese feel very close to our country. But I think there is much work to be done in this country as far as improving U.S. Vietnamese relations in the future. I will probably direct my efforts in that: line, working for more cooperation and understanding in the future.