Vietnam, An Epic Tragedy

by Max Hastings

  ‘With all the’ Abrams Tapes 22.4.72 p.826

  ‘By God’ Palmer p.122

  ‘It was clear that’ AI Pribbenow 9.11.16

  ‘I tried to do’ USAHEC Advisers’ Oral Histories Box 18 Folder 9

  Chapter 25 – Big Ugly Fat Fellers

  ‘If a year’ Hughes p.85. This narrative relies heavily on extracts from the White House tapes, transcribed and collated by Ken Hughes for his 2015 Fatal Politics University of Virginia Press

  ‘You see, Mr President’ ibid. p.87

  ‘Thieu is right’ ibid. p.91

  ‘I’d get the commitment’ ibid. p.94

  ‘I don’t think we should dignify’ ibid. p.97

  ‘You don’t understand’ Hersh, Seymour The Price of Power Summit Books 1985 p.584

  ‘The deal we’ve got’ Hughes p.104

  ‘Give ’em ten billion’ ibid. p.105

  ‘Basically, you’ve got to brutalize him’ ibid.

  ‘cadres agreed that a settlement’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘It is the judgement’ Hughes p.113

  ‘Tay Ninh source’ Ahern, Thomas CIA and the Generals: Covert Support to the Military Government in South Vietnam https://www.cia.gov.library/readingroom/docs/1

  ‘I believe there is’ Hughes p.116

  ‘[Hanoi] may think’ ibid. p.120

  ‘I have come to’ ibid. p.123 23.10.72

  ‘He was told’ ibid. p.126

  ‘Without aid, you’ ibid. p.149

  ‘I’m sure cheering’ much of the narrative below is taken from Mark Clodfelter’s study Fifty Shades of Friction: Combat Climate, B-52 Crews, and the Vietnam War National War College 2016

  ‘I almost thought’ History of 307th Strategic Wing quoted Clodfelter Limits p.186

  ‘Nobody wanted to be’ Nichols & Tillman p.42

  ‘Hey, wait a minute’ ibid. p.43

  ‘Unlike a high-performance’ McCarthy, James Linebacker II: A View From the Rock Air University 1976 p.158

  ‘I was ready’ Clodfelter Friction p.25

  ‘scared out of’ ibid. p.18

  ‘The whole time’ ibid. p.20

  ‘How far out’ McCarthy p.61

  ‘KABOOM!’ ibid. pp.62–3

  ‘On Linebacker II’s’ Clodfelter Friction p.17

  ‘Started to see [flak]’ McCarthy p.152

  ‘We were watching Liberation’ AI Miroshinchenko 14.3.16

  ‘Some people whispered’ Kien memoir p.184

  ‘Two or three seconds later’ ibid. p.212

  ‘hoping for a few’ ibid. p.234

  ‘we had endured’ ibid. p.246

  ‘an erupting volcano’ AI Binh 5.10.16

  ‘B-52s seemed to cover’ AI Phuong 6.10.16

  ‘an evil [you] had’ Blaufuss narrative 3.9.77 McCarthy p.140

  ‘They’ve got us!’ ibid. p.152

  ‘All of the sightings’ Oral narrative to Col. Allison USAF 24.10.1977

  ‘He somehow clung’ Clodfelter Friction p.8

  ‘The US Air Force’ Kien memoir p.243

  ‘We were like ducks’ Clodfelter Friction p.19

  ‘described his path’ Conlee narrative to McCarthy 12.7.77

  ‘you could smell’ Clodfelter Friction p.19

  ‘If you’re a prisoner’ ibid. p.29

  ‘her husband would not’ ibid. p.26

  ‘went on strike’ ibid. p.27

  ‘Here was one of the most’ ibid. p.30

  ‘the most savage’ Washington Post 28.12.72

  ‘Shame on Earth’ New York Times 26.12.72

  ‘In the post-World War II’ Papers of Gen. John P. McConnell quoted Clodfelter Limits p.145

  Chapter 26 – A Kiss Before Dying

  ‘He was a highly’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘led to a table’ Ramsey MS IV C56

  ‘Now you are on’ ibid. IV C18

  ‘deputy camp commandant’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘Each of us had’ Ramsey MS IA 43

  ‘I managed to’ ibid. IV C65

  ‘Most PoWs who have’ ibid. IV D7

  ‘pax hominibus’ ibid. IV D5

  ‘I would sometimes’ ibid. p.31

  ‘Since I could not’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘the most impressive’ Ramsey MS IV F-11

  ‘All of which is’ White House Tapes, Conversation 366-006, quoted Hughes

  ‘The first point’ Henry Kissinger: The Complete Memoirs E-Book Boxed Set 2013

  ‘he was terrified’ 14.3.73 Hughes Fatal Politics p.160

  ‘almost eight years’ Snepp Interval pp.43–9 & Ahern pp.105–6

  ‘Mrs Cherry had squandered’ Terry p.280

  ‘America treated us PoWs’ AI McDaniel 14.11.16

  ‘a period of bitterness’ Ramsey MS VII A31

  ‘Most Americans’ AI Ramsey 16.9.16

  ‘the president made’ Hughes Fatal Politics p.162

  ‘On Cambodia, we’ve’ ibid. p.167

  ‘Look, we’re willing’ ibid. p.187

  ‘He was both’ Schlesinger Journals 27.1.75

  ‘His job was simply’ AI Phong 22.1.17

  ‘They walked and talked’ AI Khiem 13.9.16

  ‘morale was sky-high’ AI Ngo Dang Tri 5.10.16

  ‘It was as if someone’ An memoir p.184

  ‘though these were all’ AI Ninh 7.10.16

  ‘Soldiers, let us put aside’ Young p.63

  ‘There was a brief spasm’ AI Mai Elliott 23.9.16

  ‘Virtually all of us agreed’ AI Pribbenow 9.11.16

  ‘The Vietnamese never’ Santoli p.205

  ‘The communists did not’ AI Tri 16.9.16

  ‘I know these people’ Abrams Tapes 17.1.70 p.345

  ‘could never admit’ Ky p.332

  ‘It was a death sentence’ Dao Truong PBS Vietnam: A Television History

  ‘The overwhelming majority’ Vann in a Jan. 1972 speech in Kentucky, Vann Papers quoted Sorley Better War p.348

  ‘had brought [South Vietnam]’ Nguyen Duy Hinh in Sorley Generals pp.742, 734

  ‘Most of our ordinary soldiers’ AI Trach Gam 15.9.16

  ‘The air was loud’ Swain p.80

  ‘The argument against’ Young p.55

  ‘no amount of additional’ AI Elliott 23.9.16 & Leslie, Jacques The Mark: A War Correspondent’s Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia Four Walls 1995 p.194 et seq.

  ‘It was a divided’ AI Meinheit 21.1.17

  ‘Many fence-sitters’ Luan p.425

  ‘was not strong enough’ ibid. p.394

  ‘an estimated twelve thousand’ for Adams’s wider role in disputing MACV’s errors and falsehoods about communist strength, see his posthumously published book War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir Steerforth 1994

  ‘I am so sorry’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘We concluded that’ AI Meinheit 21.1.17

  ‘with an almost obsessive’ Tang p.229

  ‘Brother Ba’ Quynh Memories

  ‘was dispatched to’ AI Si 21.5.16

  ‘She was not a supporter’ AI Hien 5.10.16

  ‘I was convinced’ AI Pribbenow 9.11.16

  ‘He knew stuff’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘We knew things’ AI Nghiem Khiem 13.9.16

  ‘the only debate’ Scotton p.419

  ‘The communists are not’ AI Destatte 12.9.16

  Chapter 27 – The Last Act

  ‘There was mud’ An memoir p.195

  ‘On 9 March NVA infantry’ this account relies heavily upon Pribbenow, Merle L. ‘North Vietnam’s Final Offensive: Strategic Endgame Nonpareil’ Parameters Winter 1999–2000, pp.58–71 & Veith, George J. Black April: The Fall of South Vietnam 1973–75 Encounter 2012 passim

  ‘Almost all our fighting’ AI Ninh 7.10.16

  ‘Yet ARVN troops continued’ this account derives from Armor Command (Bo Tu Lenh Thiet Giap)

  ‘This was the most’ Vien in Sorley Generals p.804

  ‘he was simply’ AI Snepp 10.9.16

  ‘neither he nor South Vietnam’ Veith p.178
r />   ‘I will never forget’ Robbins Air America p.266

  ‘estimated that three-quarters’ Vien in Sorley Generals p.809

  ‘“ignominious”, reflecting’ ibid. p.307

  ‘who now have nothing’ Veith p.231

  ‘the regime still possessed’ AI Phong 22.1.17

  ‘shown themselves stunningly’ AI Snepp 10.9.16

  ‘The situation changed’ An memoir p.208

  ‘She sought help’ ibid. p.214

  ‘were swallowed up’ Veith p.329

  ‘It didn’t fall’ Robbins Air America pp.266–7

  ‘This was the first’ An memoir p.233

  ‘We cannot promote’ Congressional Quarterly 15.2.75

  ‘I don’t think South Vietnam’ US Policy Pt. II #1552

  ‘they weren’t there’ AI Snepp 10.9.16

  ‘It was so thrilling’ AI Tho 11.10.16

  ‘I’ll go back with you’ AI Livingston 3.3.16

  ‘disappeared into a house’ Veith p.347

  ‘The most significant’ Veith, George J. & Pribbenow, Merle L. ‘“Fighting is an Art”: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam’s Defense of Xuan Loc 9–21 April 1975’ Journal of Military History Vol. LXVIII No. I January 2004 pp.163–213

  ‘Scotton ensured that’ AI Scotton 11.9.16

  ‘Senior officer students’ AI Nguyen Van Uc 11.9.16

  ‘It was wrong’ AI Kieu Chinh 14.9.16

  ‘We understood that’ AI Khiem 13.9.16

  ‘Everything is lost’ Young p.69

  ‘If the South Vietnamese’ AI Parks 13.3.16

  ‘The hard truth lingers’ Palmer p.150

  ‘I just felt so bad’ AI Breen 7.3.16

  ‘It is not true’ West p.179

  ‘met a friend’ Bong-Wright, Jackie Autumn Cloud: From Vietnamese War Widow to American Activist Capital Books 2001 p.200

  ‘Van and her children’ ibid. p.201

  ‘Don’t worry, Mom’ Hoi Tran e-memoir loc.411

  ‘they settled to endure’ AI Tom and Danh Quach 21.9.16

  ‘Thieu would have made’ AI Scotton 11.9.16

  ‘As soon as we didn’t’ AI Snepp 10.9.16

  ‘And so, when’ AI Nguyen Van Uc 13.9.16

  ‘simply could not’ Tang p.137

  ‘The president shook’ Snepp Interval p.344

  ‘in 2016 in Orange County’ private information to the author 16.9.16

  ‘You’d better leave’ AI Khiem 13.9.16

  ‘The fighting grew more’ An memoir p.253

  ‘Chivvied relentlessly’ this account derives from Armor Command (Bo Tu Lenh Thiet Giap) Vol. IV

  ‘My eyes filled’ Ky p.344

  ‘I was stupid’ AI Tran 21.9.16

  ‘I’m Mr Han’ Snepp Irreparable Harm p.29

  ‘obviously in great’ Santoli p.237

  ‘increasingly dogged’ Armor Command p.22

  ‘like many fellow countrymen’ Al Dinh 9.7.16

  ‘because I loved Vietnam’ AI Si 21.5.16

  ‘If they had known how’ AI Nguyen Tri 16.9.16

  ‘Hey, too bad’ Santoli p.17

  ‘They briefly took’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘All the couple’s property’ AI Thuy 13.9.16

  ‘Don’t do that please’ Luan p.456

  ‘Dear neighbours, my family’ ibid. p.458

  ‘I wanted to return’ AI Nguyen Chieu 7.10.16

  ‘The march to victory’ Ho De in People’s Army newspaper 29.4.2006

  Chapter 28 – Afterwards

  ‘The Northerners found’ AI Phat 11.9.16

  ‘Unification Train’ Ninh pp.72–3

  ‘The Hanoi Communist Party’ Tang p.206

  ‘At least under Diem’ ibid. p.288

  ‘We left behind’ Snepp Irreparable Harm p.23

  ‘I became Canada’s’ AI Kieu Chinh 14.9.16

  ‘They knew the communists’ AI Thanh 14.7.16

  ‘Because I know the communists’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘a grey totalitarian pall’ Encounter May 1979 p.25

  ‘You have too much’ AI Tran 9.7.16

  ‘Ly had unquestioningly’ Bong-Wright p.45

  ‘Some of the emperors’ AI Thanh 21.5.16

  ‘The Soviets took’ USSR Committee of State Security document No.3240-A of 31.12.75

  ‘she was present’ Goscha p.371

  ‘Since 1954, we have’ Luan p.512

  ‘An army doctor’ AI Si 16.7.16

  ‘That night I felt’ AI Ly Van Quy 15.9.16

  ‘the destitute widow’ AI 6.7.16 Minh-Ha

  ‘she was rashly’ AI Ly Van Quy 15.9.16

  ‘To my father’ ibid.

  ‘I am very’ Santoli p.333

  ‘Even now their’ Tang p.279

  ‘He found that’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘Each night I prayed’ AI Phuong 22.1.17

  ‘If anything, I was’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘It was asking’ AI Ninh 7.10.16

  ‘He told them they’ AI Scotton 18.9.16

  ‘In 1979 China’ Elliott, David W.P. Changing Worlds: Vietnam’s Transition from Cold War to Globalization Oxford 2012 p.241, on which the account below is largely based

  ‘Nobody had reason’ AI Phat 11.9.16

  ‘Today I am simply’ AI Tri 16.9.16

  ‘almost two million’ Thach (ed.) Vol. VIII p.463

  ‘Our entire Party’ ibid.

  ‘The people’ MP interview Col. Tran Trong Trung

  ‘a horrible debacle’ Lind pp.282 & 284

  ‘John said that we had’ AI Scotton 11.9.16

  ‘lack of a viable’ Pentagon Papers IV pp.294–5

  ‘There never was’ AI Elliott 23.9.16

  ‘If a village is’ Gavin, James Crisis Now Random House 1968 p.62

  ‘The communists could’ AI Phat 11.9.16

  ‘In South Vietnam, too’ AI Sheehan 5.3.16

  ‘That’s what a fucked-up’ Herr, Michael Dispatches Picador 1979 p.31

  ‘The Vietnam war did more’ AI Boomer 2.3.16

  ‘I wonder if it has’ Charlton & Moncrieff p.179

  ‘Though I’m proud’ Clodfelter Friction p.34

  ‘When many American’ AI Scotton 18.9.16

  ‘It seemed a good’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘We are the same’ AI Khiem13.9.16

  ‘Sometimes I still’ AI Hung 8.10.16

  ‘They thought they’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 18

  ‘People are re-evaluating’ AI Spencer 8.3.16

  ‘Let’s see. That would’ Shapley p.415

  ‘until I’m sure’ AI Gray 10.9.16

  ‘We left no one behind’ AI Destatte 12.9.16

  ‘as an alternative’ Brown, Archie The Rise and Fall of Communism Bodley Head 2009 p.609

  ‘a time of simplicity’ AI Elliott 23.9.16

  ‘He returns’ Ninh p.217

  ‘The vision of humanity’ AI Ninh 7.10.16

  ‘According to what’ Huy Duc p.xi

  ‘Many people who have’ ibid. p.xii

  ‘What was it’ AI Boomer 2.3.16

  Bibliography

  The literature of the Vietnam war is immense. I have listed below only titles that have had direct influence on my narrative, albeit often modest or even negative. Failure to include titles, even well-known ones, should not imply lack of respect for a writer – it is merely that some outstanding books have not been directly relevant to my own work. The Vietnamese material has been translated by Merle Pribbenow, unless otherwise stated.

  Articles and Online Sources

  Ahern, Thomas ‘CIA and the Generals: Covert Support to the Military Government in South Vietnam’ FOIA CIA website

  Andrew, Rod ‘The First Fight: US Marines in Operation Starlite’ Quantico 2015

  Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Oral History Project, online archive, interview Ambassador Allan Wendt 20.5.98

  Clemis, Martin ‘The Control War: Communist Revolutionary Warfare, Pacification and the Struggle for South Vietnam, 19
68–1975’ Temple University dissertation Proquest 2015

  Clodfelter, Mark ‘Violating Reality: The Lavelle Affair, Nixon and Parsing the Truth’ NWC 2016

  — ‘Fifty Shades of Friction: Combat Climate, B-52 Crews and the Vietnam War’ NWC 2016

  Combat Operations Department [Cục Tác Chiến] History of the Combat Operations Department 1945–2000 [Lịch Sử Cục Tác Chiến 1945–2000] 2005 internet on http://www.quansuvn.net/ website

  Daddis, Gregory ‘On Lewis Sorley’s Westmoreland: The General Who Lost Vietnam’ review essay, Parameters Autumn 2011

  Dang, Tran Bach ‘Tet 68: A Strategic Exercise’ Military History [Tạp Chí Lịch Sử Quân Sự] Issue 2 (26) 1988

  Elliott, David P. & Mai Documents of an Elite Viet Cong Delta Unit: The Demolition Platoon of the 514th Battalion RAND Corporation 1969, available online

  Fall, Bernard ‘The Political-Religious Sects of Vietnam’ Pacific Affairs 28, No. 3 September 1955

  Finlayson, Andrew R. ‘Vietnam Strategies’ Marine Corps Gazette August 1988 pp.90–4

  — ‘The Tay Ninh PRU and its Role in the Phoenix Programme 1969’ CIA website Studies in Intelligence Vol. 15 No. 2

  Grossheim, Martin ‘The Democratic Republic of Vietnam Before the Second Indochina War’ Journal of Vietnamese Studies Vol. 8 No. 1 (Fall 2012) pp.80–129

  Hanyok, Robert ‘Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery 2–4 August 1964’ Cryptologic Quarterly Spring 2005

  Harkins, Michael ‘Medals of Honor at Dai Do’ Vietnam magazine Summer 1989 pp.42–59

  Haun, Phil & Jackson, Colin ‘Breaker of Armies: Air Power in the Easter Offensive’ International Security Vol. 40 No. 3 Winter 2015/16 pp.139–78

  Hồ Đê, Gen. ‘Victory was Not Achieved Down a Red Carpet’ People’s Army [Quân đội Nhân dân] newspaper 29.4.2006

  Hoàng Đan et al. The Spring–Summer 1968 Route 9–Khe Sanh Offensive [Chiến dịch tiến công Đường 9-Khe Sanh Xuân Hè 1968] Military History Institute of Vietnam 1987

  Hoang Van Thai ‘A Few Strategic Issues in the Spring 1968 Tet Offensive’ [Mấy Vấn Đề về Chiến Lược trong Cuộc Tiến Công và Nổi Dậy Xuân 1968] Address to March 1986 Ho Chi Minh City conference, Military History [Tạp Chí Lịch Sử Quân Sự] Issue 2 (26) 1988

  Hoeffding, Oleg ‘Bombing North Vietnam: An Appraisal of the Economic and Political Effects’ RAND Corporation publication RM5213 available online

  Hoffman, George ‘The Path to War: US Marine Corps Operations 1961–65’ Quantico 2014

  Howard, Michael ‘“Many Reasons” for Vietnam’ Encounter May 1979