Precursor to the Mỹ Lai Massacre: 1968 Phong Nhị, Phong Nhất_15(1)
Chapter 15 (1); Nguyễn Xu and Trần Văn Tha’s Attempt at Revenge
His daughter was gone.
Phan Xuân Liện(38) had heard the urgent message. That evening, two village women were taken away by the Korean marines near the number one national highway. It was his daughter, Phan Thi Xuyên(18), and his daughter’s friend, Trịnh Thị Xuân. Phan Xuân Liện could feel his heart drop at the news. What had they done to arouse suspicion? He tried to reassure himself that it probably wasn’t a big deal, but there were no guarantees of that. They were at war after all. It was the afternoon of February 11 in Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất, one day before the incident that would take place on February 12, 1968.
According to an issue of『Korean Warriors Dispatched in Vietnam』, the ROK Marines 2nd Brigade, 1st Battalion, 1st Company, 1st Platoon were near Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất on the 11th as well. 26 year-old lieutenant, Choi Young-Un, was leading the platoon. The first platoon, which was scouting the number one national highway to meet with the 2nd and 3rd platoons, was given the task of protecting a US military vehicle that had been damaged by a landmine. They were located near the base of the Cap Platoon of the US Army (a unit that was smaller than the platoon for information gathering and observations, also known as the minus platoon), 500m southwest and adjacent to Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất. If the marines from the first battalion, first company, first platoon were reconnaising or patroling that day, then Phan Thi Xuyên and Trịnh Thị Xuân would have easily been arrested by either the first company, first platoon, or the members of the second and third platoons, who were operating jointly with the former.
A 1963 family picture of Nguyễn Xu (standing back row, right). Photograph taken by the US troops for maintaining residential information. To his right is his wife, Võ Thị Trí, and his twin sisters, Nguyễn Thị Nga (left) and Nguyễn Thị Liên. In the front row is Nguyễn Thanh Cơ and Nguyễn Thanh cường to his right. Võ Thị Trí was shot to death in 1973 by a South Vietnamese soldier. Nguyễn Thanh cường who was a Viet Cong, died from a gun explosion in 1974, when he was 20 years old. He was the senior officer of Trần Văn Tha(pictured below), who happened to be from the same village.
Phan Thi Xuyên was soon released. Her friend, Trịnh Thị Xuân, was safe as well. Phan Xuân Liện’s face regained its usual color. Thi Xuyên was in fact working within the Viet Cong medical unit, but fortunately enough, she managed to remain under cover.
The second brigade of the Korean marines estimated the Quangnam area to be about 28 km2, and the population to be 165,014. The brigade consisted of 4,800 soldiers. They were supported by the US Marine LTV Squadron, Tank Squadron, the US Marine First Flight Division, and the US Navy 7th Fleet. The enemy forces came out to around 8,700. The statistics indicated that 1,300 members of the Viet Cong were added to the 7,400 troops of the 2nd Division of the North Vietnamese Army near the Truong Son mountain range, west of Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất . The South Vietnamese government analyzed the antagonistic population here to be 30%, and the “gray” population (middle zone) to be 50%. The friendly population only amounted to 20%, meaning that the enemy held predominance.
Nguyễn Xu, who was looking out the window at Phong Nhị the next day was among the antagonistic population. He was blacklisted by the South Vietnamese government. After graduating from a French-style elementary and middle school, he participated in communist activities. From 1945, when he was 16 years old, to 1954, when he was 25 years old, he fought as a member of the Viet Cong, as part of the Indochina Communist Party. His mission was to infiltrate villages and carry out group and propaganda activities. More than ten times within a span of ten years, he was taken away and imprisoned by the French troops.
After the South Vietnamese government was established in 1955, most of his comrades went up north, but he stayed back. He took on the task of connecting the revolutionary forces and supporting them on the outskirts. Not long after, however, communication was cut off. He spent his days quietly farming, but he was nonetheless an avid supporter of the Viet Cong. Because of his influence, his eldest son, Nguyễn Thanh Cường(14), also joined the Viet Cong. Even on that day, Thanh Cường was the only family member not home. The South Vietnamese government officials did not come harassing them, however, as they were aware of Nguyễn Xu’s influence and leadership among the villagers.
There was a sound of a single gunshot following a loud burst. The burst was the sound of the mine that damaged the US military LTV, and the sound of the gunshot thereafter was someone sniping at the ROK marines. The ROK marines shot back several times. Then there was a momentary silence. About an hour later, there were sounds of continuous gunshots that reverberated throughout Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất. Nguyễn Xu and his wife, Võ Thị Trí, curled up, plugging their ears. Võ Thị Trí held their second son, Nguyễn Thanh Cơ(11), and their twin daughters, Nguyễn Thị Liên and Nguyễn Thị Nga (5). They could sense that this was a huge ordeal, as was foreshadowed by the arresting of the two young women the night before.
The villages were covered with flames. Screaming and yelling resounded within. Everything was taking place merely a few hundred meters before his eyes. Nguyễn Xu felt his energy draining. There was nothing he could do. If he went out in the open without much of a plan, he would simply be shot to death. His best bet was to remain in hiding.
In that very hour, 11-year-old boy, Trần Văn Tha, remained inside a home at the entrance of Phong Nhị, not knowing what to do. His family had rented the place thinking it would be safer than their original home. His father, Trần Bổn(38), who was a tenant farmer, was out in the fields. Only the old landlady and the three siblings remained home. The village was filled with flames. He could hear the sound of footsteps growing louder. There were already a few villagers hiding in their bomb shelter. He debated whether he should join them inside the shelter but decided against it and hid in the kitchen instead. Trần Văn Tha held his two sisters, Trần Thị Thiêt(8), and Trần Thị Chua(6) close. Their hearts were beating rapidly, and their teeth were chattering. Their landlady, who was also with them, closed her eyes shut as she held her hands to her ears. They were extremely fortunate not to have entered the shelter, as the Korean troops found the entrance way to the shelter as soon as they charged in. They yelled as they fired their guns. Figuring people were hiding inside the bomb shelter, they began throwing in hand grenades. Amidst the detonation, they could make out the faint sounds of people screaming as they were being slaughtered en masse. Trần Văn Tha did not dare move as he continued holding fast to his two younger sisters.
Trần Văn Tha’s original home was located in Nhất Giáp, Phong Nhất. A year ago, he narrowly escaped death there as well. It was on March 30, 1967 (February 19 according to the lunar calendar). The villains at the time were the U.S. troops. Based on what the「Korean Warriors Dispatched in Vietnam」says, it is highly likely that it was the soldiers under the command of the 5th US Marine Corps, Division 1. They infiltrated the village, shooting everything in sight and throwing hand grenades everywhere. Ten villagers lost their lives as a result. Nobody understood their motives. Fortunately at the time, he had gone to visit his grandmother, who lived a kilometer west in Chín Chủ. His mother, Đào Thị Lự(35 at the time), and his youngest sister, Trần Thị Mua(1 at the time), lost their lives. The U.S troops sexually assaulted his mother, killed her, and threw her corpse into a well. Resentment filled Trần Văn Tha’s heart. A year later, he felt that same resentment towards the ROK troops. But he made it out alive, both this year and the year before that.
About an hour had passed before the Korean troops who were searching Trần Văn Tha‘s home left. Although the sound of shooting had subsided, they could still hear smoldering flames here and there. Nguyễn Xu, who had been waiting helplessly at home, also realized that the massacre had drawn to an end. Through his window, he could make out the U.S. and South Vietnamese soldiers entering the villages. They were allies with the ROK troops, but on that day, they appeared to be of completely different worlds. Nguyễn Xu hurried toward the villages himself with his wife. The survivors of the massacre came piling out. It was a gruesome sight. They could see corpses lying everywhere with occasional glimpses of those who made it our alive. The U.S. and South Vietnamese troops were treating them or transporting them out of the villages. They also put out the remaining fires. There was a stack of more than ten dead bodies, appearing to have been killed en masse, and a few more stacks just like it. There were bodies that were blistered in fire as well as those that were dumped into wells. In total, about 70 dead bodies were collected.
Trần Văn Tha, who enlisted in the Viet Cong at age 15 in 1972, worked as a freedom fighter against the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam in the Quang nam region as of January 1973, after the Paris Peace Conference. He mostly fought against the South Vietnamese Army, and in 1986, retired as a captain. The photograph is from 1975, of him and his comrades celebrating liberation in Hoi An. Trần Văn Tha is standing in the front row, second person from the left.
Most of the houses, which had thatched roofs, burned down from the incident. There was no room to properly take care of the corpses. They intended to take the corpses to the shrine near the number one national highway, but they didn’t have any means to transport them. They therefore loaded the bodies onto round wicker trays used for drying food. There was an empty house next to the shrine, but it was too small to fit all the corpses. With the exception of a few, all of the corpses had to be laid outside in the open. The district head of the Dien Ban came upon hearing the news of the incident. The villagers raised their voices and pointed their fingers at him, criticizing those in administrative power for not having been of aid during such a fiasco. They didn’t even have enough coffins for the mounds of corpses. There weren’t enough people to bury the coffins either. The villagers had no way of orchestrating a funeral for their old friends and neighbors.
Early next day, on February 13, the residents of Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất laid the corpses along the number one National Highway. It was sort of a demonstration. The troops of the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Battalion, who had entered the villages the previous day, also circled around Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất. The 1st company made its way up north from the highway, where they had been reconnaising from 7:50 in the morning of the previous day.
They were on their way to work together with U.S. mechanics to complete the repair work of the western bridge. They could see several dozen people on the national highway near Phong Nhị. They were on the opposite side of the road. The residents looked toward the troops, who felt a strange aura, as if they might be shot at at any minute. Taking a closer look, they could make out human bodies lying next to the villagers. Only when then inched closer were they able to see vividly that they were in fact corpses.
The villagers came toward Ryu Jin-seong, who was at the front of the second platoon, raising their voices, their facial expressions ferocious. They could not understand the Vietnamese language that they were speaking in, but there was no doubt that they were enraged. Ryu was overcome with fear, but in order to survive, he couldn’t back down. He gripped his M16 with both hands, brandishing his gun to clear a way ahead of himself. The residents shuddered as they retreated. Behind the procession was also Lieutenant Choi Young-un, whose head spun as he looked at the residents and the corpses. “They must be the victims of yesterday’s gunshots,” he thought to himself. He could see resentment in their eyes. He had to get out of there fast. Nguyễn Xu was among the throng of villagers, but there is no telling whether Nguyễn Xu and Choi Young-un made eye contact in that tense moment.
Trần Văn Tha’s father was all there to help collect the dead bodies. The South Vietnamese soldiers took Trần Văn Tha to a safe place and fed and took care of him. He was thankful, but secretly vowed not to become one of them. They were allies with the Americans that killed his mother and sister. They fought alongside the Korean troops who threw hand grenades into their bomb shelter. He vowed instead to seek revenge, which is why four years later, in 1972 when he became 15 years old, he volunteered to join the commando unit and went into the mountains to fight as a Viet Cong.
- Written by humank (Journalist; Seoul, Korea)
- Translated and revised as necessary by April Kim (Tokyo, Japan)
The numbers in parentheses indicate the respective ages of the people at the time in 1968.
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