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Vietnam Interlude
In Search of the Vietnam of Yesterday.
VIETNAM. The war. 1965-1975
Cashflowbot
Monday, 30 January 2012
The young leading the blind: Vietnam memories 1965 1975
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Students take over the Cambodian Embassy. Saigon. Vietnam
Post 125
Students take over the Cambodian Embassy, Saigon.
During the South Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia there was a lot of ill feeling. The students occupied the Cambodian Embassy which was just around the corner from the school. At first I was often there with other journalists seeing if the police would assault it. As I knew some of the students I took to visiting them inside and discussing the situation. The government appeared to be keeping everything low key and avoiding a direct confrontation.
One day at twelve o'clock as our classes were leaving the school a mob of students surged out of the end of the lane and, mixed with our pupils. Suddenly the riot police appeared at the other end and charged the students. Both sides must have been expecting each other and our hapless pupils got caught up in the middle. The students and pupils took refuge in the school and shut the iron gates. The police then bombarded us with tear gas. As we couldn't get away the situation became very uncomfortable. The teachers managed to maintain the gates closed whilst trying to calm the police down. The students generally tried to avoid a physical combat with the police if possible and were now pretending to be pupils at the school. Eventually order was restored. I closed the school down for the rest of the day. Mrs Contento, the directrice, was not happy about that but she had not been there in the morning.
A day or two later the police stormed the embassy at three o'clock in the morning and put an end to the occupation.
Students take over the Cambodian Embassy, Saigon.
During the South Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia there was a lot of ill feeling. The students occupied the Cambodian Embassy which was just around the corner from the school. At first I was often there with other journalists seeing if the police would assault it. As I knew some of the students I took to visiting them inside and discussing the situation. The government appeared to be keeping everything low key and avoiding a direct confrontation.
One day at twelve o'clock as our classes were leaving the school a mob of students surged out of the end of the lane and, mixed with our pupils. Suddenly the riot police appeared at the other end and charged the students. Both sides must have been expecting each other and our hapless pupils got caught up in the middle. The students and pupils took refuge in the school and shut the iron gates. The police then bombarded us with tear gas. As we couldn't get away the situation became very uncomfortable. The teachers managed to maintain the gates closed whilst trying to calm the police down. The students generally tried to avoid a physical combat with the police if possible and were now pretending to be pupils at the school. Eventually order was restored. I closed the school down for the rest of the day. Mrs Contento, the directrice, was not happy about that but she had not been there in the morning.
A day or two later the police stormed the embassy at three o'clock in the morning and put an end to the occupation.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Friday, 27 January 2012
Ao Dai On Saigon Street in 1968
Photo courtesy of Lance & Cromwell from my Vietnam memories Flickr group
Thursday, 26 January 2012
America, Australian & British members of Decca Navigator: memories of Vietnam 1965 1975
Sunday, 22 January 2012
A seat at the theatre. Saigon. Vietnam memories 1965 1975
A seat at the theatre. Saigon.
From time to time riots took place. There were always power struggles going on between the President, Thieu, and his Vice-President, Ky. Whenever there were rumours of a coup d'état somebody in the house would go out and by a fifty pound sack of rice.
At one time the students were rioting against something or other, I forget what. They often tried to parade in front of the National Assembly. This was the old French theatre in front of the terrace bar of the Hôtel Continental. I would go down and find a comfortable chair, order a cold beer, and have a front seat to watch some real live theatre.
The students would arrive and unfurl there banderolles demanding this, that or the other. About fifteen or twenty minutes later the riot police would arrive armed with their batons and bamboo wicker-work shields. Battle would be joined. If the wind was in the right direction I would be spared the tear gas that started to cover the square. There was also frequent use of stun grenades, the noise of which could deafen quite a few observers as well.
The authorities were very allergic to any form of protest and relatively brutal in their repression. Once, following a demonstration in some other street I found myself in front of the students when the police appeared out of a side street and charged. I was caught in the middle. Apart from nearly being overcome with tear gas or some kind of vomit gas they used I managed to get myself out of that. I was not over worried as I had my press card if the authorities asked what I was doing, and the students were not the mobs of crazed rabble that were sometimes active in certain countries.
I would never have done this had the mob been Indonesian or Chinese workers. The Vietnamese students were on the whole very decent civilized people and I knew a good many of them. Doubtless there were communist agents infiltrated amongst them but the powers that be tended to over react. Some of the police were decent also. One evening I came across a lone civil policeman, a tear gas grenade in one hand, an MI carbine in the other, holding off a mob of several hundred people. What the devil he was doing there alone I don't know, tempers were up on both sides, but nobody went over the brink.
From time to time riots took place. There were always power struggles going on between the President, Thieu, and his Vice-President, Ky. Whenever there were rumours of a coup d'état somebody in the house would go out and by a fifty pound sack of rice.
At one time the students were rioting against something or other, I forget what. They often tried to parade in front of the National Assembly. This was the old French theatre in front of the terrace bar of the Hôtel Continental. I would go down and find a comfortable chair, order a cold beer, and have a front seat to watch some real live theatre.
The students would arrive and unfurl there banderolles demanding this, that or the other. About fifteen or twenty minutes later the riot police would arrive armed with their batons and bamboo wicker-work shields. Battle would be joined. If the wind was in the right direction I would be spared the tear gas that started to cover the square. There was also frequent use of stun grenades, the noise of which could deafen quite a few observers as well.
The authorities were very allergic to any form of protest and relatively brutal in their repression. Once, following a demonstration in some other street I found myself in front of the students when the police appeared out of a side street and charged. I was caught in the middle. Apart from nearly being overcome with tear gas or some kind of vomit gas they used I managed to get myself out of that. I was not over worried as I had my press card if the authorities asked what I was doing, and the students were not the mobs of crazed rabble that were sometimes active in certain countries.
I would never have done this had the mob been Indonesian or Chinese workers. The Vietnamese students were on the whole very decent civilized people and I knew a good many of them. Doubtless there were communist agents infiltrated amongst them but the powers that be tended to over react. Some of the police were decent also. One evening I came across a lone civil policeman, a tear gas grenade in one hand, an MI carbine in the other, holding off a mob of several hundred people. What the devil he was doing there alone I don't know, tempers were up on both sides, but nobody went over the brink.
Saturday, 21 January 2012
Village scene in Vietnam 1966 by Dr James Hughes
Village scene in Vietnam 1966 by Dr James Hughes, a photo by 7th Surgical Hospital (MA) Vietnam on Flickr.
Friday, 20 January 2012
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Pitched battle over Vietnam farmland
The BBC's Nga Pham looks at how a violent stand-off over farmland
repossession has focused attention on the issue across Vietnam.
Source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16571102
One might wonder what the war was fought for?
What will the land be used for?
Poor Vietnam
Source
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16571102
One might wonder what the war was fought for?
What will the land be used for?
Poor Vietnam
Monday, 16 January 2012
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