Hwang Sok-Yong - The Shadow of Arms

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A novel of the black markets of the South Vietnamese city of Danang during the Vietnam War, based on the author’s experiences as a self-described South Korean mercenary on the side of the South Vietnamese, this is a Vietnam War novel like no other, truly one that sees the war from all sides. Scenes of battle are breathtakingly well told. The plot is thick with intrigue and complex subplots. But ultimately
is a novel of the human condition rather than of the exploits and losses of one side or the other in war.

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He slept. The sun rose the next day. The midnight attack was all over. Villagers and troops were in the streets clearing away the corpses of dead guerrillas.

Yong Kyu had emptied his pockets for the girl. It must have been his whole month’s allowance. She grinned brightly, flashing her crooked teeth. Then she gave him a mound of red-bean rice cakes wrapped up in a banana leaf. He had flung them into a rice paddy from the back of a speeding truck. He visited Tam Ky once more after that. There was a barbed wire fence and a long traffic sign where the girl’s place had been. The campside village had evaporated, for the defensive front had pushed closer to the city and the Vietnamese forces had been replaced by the American army.

The girl in the red miniskirt sitting beside Yong Kyu said, “I’m Lou.”

“Where are you from?”

“Singapore.”

The other woman was Malaysian. Both were of Chinese descent.

“If you prefer, they also have a half-blooded French woman,” said Major Pham.

“Where’s your woman?”

“I like Dai Hans,” said Pham Quyen with a broad grin. “Miss Oh said she’d come here to meet you guys.”

“Should we buy them some Saigon Tea? But we have no tickets.”

Major Pham chuckled and said, “The Sports Club doesn’t sell tickets. Ladies and gentlemen prefer cash.”

15

Report Regarding Misconduct Committed in the Course of an Operation by Company C, 1st Battalion, 20th Division

The geographical situation of Quang Ngai Province, encircled by a mountain shield and only ten miles inland, made it one of the best Viet Cong strongholds. As far back as the 16th century, the region had been a spawning ground for anti-government rebels. During the period of French rule on through the Second World War, these highlands had been a sanctuary for guerrillas.

At the time of the Geneva Accords of 1954, when the nation was partitioned along the seventeenth parallel into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, almost 90 percent of the ninety thousand Communist sympathizers who moved from south to north were from Quang Ngai. The NLF guerrilla units in this area had the reputation of being the most formidable fighters in the south. Their commanders were seasoned by extensive combat experience.

In order to purify the water for other fish, the Viet Cong were exterminated along with their suspected sympathizers. The Vietnamese government had designated the entire province of Quang Ngai as a “free-fire zone.” Artillery units were at liberty to deliver heavy “neutralization fire” wherever they wanted to.

In the spring of 1967 the Allied Forces commenced “Operation Oregon:” orchestrated search-and-destroy missions that killed 3300 Viet Cong captured 5000 suspected VC, and seized 800 weapons; and a troupe — code-named “Zippo” for the lighter — burned down all the houses in a free-fire zone that covered almost half the province. In September of 1967, operational command of forces in Quang Ngai was transferred to a newly organized unit called the “Americal Division.” The new unit was composed of the 196th Brigade that had participated in Operation Oregon, the 198th Brigade dispatched from Fort Hood, Texas, and the 11th Brigade from Hawaii.

The infantry forces in the Americal Division were mostly army newbies. They had received two hours of training on prisoner treatment. Due to cultural gaps and racism, the operations were at times counterproductive. Battalion J Commander had the nickname “Gook Killer” painted on his helicopter gunship, broadcasting his open disdain for the Vietnamese people. Every time a VC was killed, a triangular-shaped peasant’s hat was added to the side of the helicopter. Some of the gunship pilots who enjoyed air-to-ground attacks in free-fire zones took to calling their helicopters “Slope Hunters.”

A certain brigade commander, X, accepted bets on which unit would bag the ten-thousandth Viet Cong. It was said that the soldier who killed the ten-thousandth VC would be rewarded with a week’s vacation at the private retreat of the commanding general.

Among the officers who showed great valor in the 1967-68 period was Colonel George Patton III, son of the famous World War II tank commander. The motto of Colonel P’s 11th Armored Brigade stationed in the south of Quang Ngai was “Locate the Human Trash and Shoot Them.” The colonel reportedly sent out Christmas cards bearing color photographs of a heap of Viet Cong corpses. A minor scandal arose when the New York Times reported that Colonel P was seen at a farewell party carrying a polished skull, said to be of a Viet Cong, with a bullet hole over its left eye socket. The following is from a letter written by Major General R to a US congressman interviewed for the newspaper article:

Colonel P was a commander of combat troops. In conducting operations, he always put the safety of his men first. And the commander’s concern can easily be seen in the fact that his brigade, which engaged the enemy eight to ten times per week, brought the heaviest losses to the enemy and the least loss to friendly forces. In a situation where one must kill or be killed, the motto he established was quite proper. It is true that he was presented at the farewell party with an old skull found in the jungle.

The fighting spirit of American soldiers was enhanced by their wrath when they experienced casualties from the sniping and booby traps commonly used in unconventional warfare. A third of the casualties in the Americal Division resulted from mines, sniping, and booby traps in and around the Vietnamese hamlets. So, the annihilation strategy of search-and-destroy became the operative policy for the region, and the goal was to reduce an entire sector to ashes. A letter from one of the privates in the division contained the following:

Today we went out on operations. I don’t feel so proud of myself, and I don’t feel proud of my friends or my country anymore. We torched all the houses in sight. They were thatched huts built with palm branches, almost like cattle pens, where the families lived. Our commander said he didn’t like the walls and roofs, so we burned everything to ashes. There’s a popular joke among the men: “Whatever is dead, and doesn’t have white skin, is Viet Cong.”

Company C arrived in Vietnam the previous year after one year of training in Hawaii. Most troops in the company were volunteers, ranging in age from eighteen to twenty-two. Ten of them had the educational level of first-year college dropouts. Thirteen of the 130 soldiers in the company scored in the upper range when given the army I.Q. test. Excellent health. Good appetite. Won a trophy in a football tournament. The atmosphere in Company C quarters was optimistic and docile; the men were partial to comic books.

Commander, Company C, Captain Ernest L. Medina: Age 33. Born 1936 in Springer, New Mexico. Lost his mother at an early age. Until age sixteen, worked as a day laborer on a big ranch on the slopes of the southern Rockies in Colorado. Falsified his age to enlist. Began as common infantryman. Nicknamed “Mad Dog,” not for malicious behavior but as a term of endearment reflecting enthusiasm and courage during basic training. Officer training school at Fort Benning in 1964, graduated with honors and commissioned as second lieutenant. Promoted to captain in 1966. Volunteered to serve in Vietnam as field commander hoping for battlefield promotion to major. Gave priority to rations and other supplies for his unit to uphold company morale. Typical American professional officer, taking initiative in all activities.

Leader, 1st Platoon, Company C, Second Lieutenant William C. Calley: Age 21. Born in Palm Beach, Florida. Enlisted after flunking out of Palm Beach Junior College. Employed as a busboy in restaurant and as a railroad-crossing gateman. Fired for his negligence in letting a 47-car freight train pass during rush hour, causing traffic to stop for thirty minutes. Thereafter unemployed until July 1966, when entered Officer Candidate School in New Mexico. To impress subordinates, bragged about having worked as a private detective in Miami. Nickname: Surfside Six, after TV suspense show. Dreams of being a hero.

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