A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot in An American War

Review Written By Bernie Weisz, Historian & Book Reviewer, Vietnam War Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Title of REVIEW "A South Vietnamese Fighter Pilots' Memoir: Just Walk a Mile in my Shoes Before you Abuse, Criticize and Accuse! AUTHOR: Hoi B. Tran December 10, 2011 Terms like the "Dien Bien Phu, South Vietnamese Air Force, Vietnamization and Reeducation Camps for the most part mean nothing to the average American Vietnam Veteran. However, they mean everything to an individual who was born in Hanoi, Vietnam and came of age after the end of W.W. II. This would be a person who would witness French Colonial rule end, welcome a man named Ho Chi Minh until shown his criminalizing, brutal version of Communism. He would learn about General Giap's victory at Dien Bien Phu. Based on what was resolved in Geneva, Switzerland, a decision would have to be made as to whether he would live North or South of a geographic parallel that would split ideologies and families into two separate countries. This person would know what the South Vietnamese Air Force would be as he would go South and be a member of it. He would watch the Soviets and Chinese fund and supply his Northern Vietnamese nemesis from the sidelines while the Americans would back his Southern brethren with a fighting presence. The Americans would come, fight and die and eventually leave. Between the American press incorrectly interpreting the Tet Offensive, 58,000 plus casualties and a promise to back the South no matter what made by a U.S. president that would resign within a year, the Northern Communists would prevail in 1975. Once again a decision similar to 1954 had to be made; between accepting a brutal regime and incarceration in a Communist "Reeducation Camp" or freedom 10,000 miles away in America. The spectator of these events would choose the latter. His name is Hoi B. Tran and he is the author of "A Vietnamese Fighter Pilot in an American War." The importance of this book is not to publish a lackluster historical recitation of Southeast Asian history with the author's life serving as a reference point. Instead it details the ordeal Tran faced as an individual who was born in a colonial society that ultimately lapsed into dictatorial communism. A valiant twenty one year fight to preserve democracy was made but ultimately the author was forced to flee South Vietnam fearing retribution from the impending Communist takeover. Nevertheless, this book reveals much more; the author conveys to readers his strong belief in filial commitment by virtue of taking his wife and three children as political refugees to the United States. Once in America, Tran proves that anyone can start over at any age and with perseverance and determination succeed. He quickly secured housing, transportation and gainful employment to provide for his family and become an asset to this country. Never again reentering the field of aviation despite an offer, the author had two successful careers; a four year stint as a state employee and twenty four year run as a claims adjuster. This is Hoi Tran's recapitulation of his life; the Vietnam War as he saw it, contributing to fight Communism as a fighter pilot in the South Vietnamese Air Force as well as a commercial airline pilot for Air Viet Nam. Being a participant of all of the aforementioned and coming out unscathed is one thing, writing a book about it in a second language with energetic vigor is another. In both cases, Mr. Tran excelled with flying colors. A multitude of rare lessons are learned by Americans from this memoir, among them the desperation and fear the South Vietnamese perceived should they lose the war. Other issues are their great disappointment from the results of the Paris Peace talks as well as what the American media did to influence American politicians as well as the course of the war. The author's personal reaction to President Nixon's "Vietnamization" was that he knew in his heart what the inevitable outcome of this war would be as a consequence. Also revealed is the deceiving, barbarous brand of Communistic treachery Ho Chi Minh and his band of miscreant flunkeys perpetuated on Vietnam that is guaranteed to make the most stoic reader cringe. Exposed within this memoir is the sheer, inhumane terror an inmate of the "Reeducation Camps" experienced, as well as the brutal conditions that existed for South Vietnamese citizens after the Fall of Saigon. The reader of this book will approach all future American Vietnam War memoirs with a different perspective, knowing that much of the anti South Vietnamese rhetoric that exists is based on ethnocentric prejudice, half truths or ignorance, rather than fact. There is a poignant "Advance Praise" written by Vietnam Veteran and author Phil Jennings within this memoir, asserting the following: "People like Major Tran are why America went to South Vietnam's aid, and why we should have stayed the course to their ultimate victory." Upon conclusion, the reader of this book will readily comprehend this statement. The numbers of people that were affected by the Vietnam War is staggering. The blame for the origins of this strife according to the author is singular: Ho Chi Minh. In a scathing diatribe, Tran labels the former Northern dictator as a dishonest, unprincipled mass murderer and a con artist of the worst kind who in the guise of Communism turned Vietnam into a country of abject suffering as well as one of the poorest nations on earth. From 1945 and the period ending with W.W. II to the climatic confrontation of the first Indochina War at Dien Bien Phu, close to 200,000 people were murdered at the direction of Ho Chi Minh. Tran explains that in the guise of Communistic redistribution of wealth, Ho's "Land Reform Campaign" abolished private land ownership. According to his "people's tribunals" of 1953-1956, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese land owners were accused and unjustly found guilty of being "evil landlords" in kangaroo courts. In the guise of Communist redistribution, these innocents were robbed of their legally acquired property and summarily executed in a genocidal massacre. The author's father would indirectly fall prey to this holocaust. Because of Ho Chi Minh's bellicosity, casualties and war would follow, at an even higher human toll. In the upcoming bloodshed starting with the first "Indochina War" against the French, followed by the Vietnam War (called the "American War" by the Ho's lackeys) approximately 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers were killed, 58, 178 Americans and 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers lost their lives. In addition, an estimated 2,000,000 civilians on both sides perished from warfare, as well as 200,000 people after the 1975 fall of Saigon in the punitive, retaliatory "Reeducation Camps." The lethal aftereffects of Communism swallowing up the South resulted in 500,000 freedom seeking "Boat People" perishing out at sea, 100,000 South Vietnamese executed for various offenses, another 95,000 succumbed in Communist Death Camps, and 50,000 were liquidated in Ho's "Forced Labor" camps. Sadly, one of the casualties amongst the Boat People was the author's best friend. Another shameful consequence both Indochina wars, albeit not mentioned in this memoir, is those still missing in action. In his book "Unwanted Dead or Alive," Robert Pelton supported Hoi Tran’s memoir by confirming the shiftiness of the Communists. Pelton stated in regard to the disposition of French POW's following Dien Bien Phu; "The defeat of the French Army at Dien Bien Phu came on May 7th, 1954 after a 56 day siege. General de Castries and 16,000 of his men surrendered. They were marched off to brutal POW camps and abandoned by their government. When the French Forces surrendered to the Viet Minh, French troops included French regulars, Foreign Legionnaires, as well as colonial troops from North Africa that were taken prisoner by the Viet Minh. Only a very small number were able to escape after the siege, with 78 recorded as having successfully making it back to French custody by traveling onwards to Laos. " During the entire war, 39,000 French Force POW's were taken by the Viet Minh, with approximately 11,000 returned during repatriations." Where are the rest of these men? Pelton also wrote; "Robert Garwood, the U.S. POW who returned from North Vietnam in 1979 stated that during the mid 1970's he saw French prisoners being used as forced laborers in a North Vietnamese dairy farm not far from Hanoi." Going back to Dien Bien Phu, 8,280 French POW's died while in Viet Minh custody. Pelton adds: None of France's war dead from Dien Bien Phu or other battle sites in North Vietnam, and none of its war dead from Viet Minh prison camps or military hospitals were repatriated." Another issue America sought to disengage from the Viet Nam war was over its POW's. A major issue of contention at the Paris Peace Talks, aside from the absurd distraction of the shape of the table as well as the North insisting the National Liberation Front was a legitimate self entity in the South, was the return of captured American POW's. After President Johnson refused to run for reelection because of Walter Cronkite's inaccurate interpretation of the January, 1968 Tet Offensive portrayed falsely as a defeat, Nixon ran under his pledge of bringing an end to American involvement under the slogan "peace and honor," as well as the revelation of a "secret plan" to end the war. This revelation turned out to be his infamous "Vietnamization," a catch all term for turning the war over to the South Vietnamese, giving them massive equipment, training, funding, while simultaneously extracting all American troops." At this time, Tran was now flying a 727 commercially for "Air Viet Nam." He was the actual pilot that transported Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky from South Vietnam to Paris and back. The final treaty ending American involvement in Vietnam occurred in late January, 1973. Under the terms of the accord, North Vietnamese Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, along with South Vietnamese President Thieu who Hoi Tran explains how he was browbeaten into signing, U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and prisoners were exchanged. In Febuary of 1973 "Operation Homecoming," the repatriation of POW's took place. A total of 591 POW's were returned. However, Hoi Tran nor any of his countrymen were celebrating. With deep consternation, the author lamented;"While America was celebrating the homecoming of American POW's and the end of U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam conflict, in the RVN nationalist Vietnamese began to worry for their families, their lives and their future. Those of us Northerners who had fled our birthplace right after our country was divided in 1954 were even more worried because we knew the Communists too well." He had reason to worry, as author Robert Pelton commented about Hanoi's treachery in releasing the POW's; "The 591 figure represented a miniscule 12% the figure of 5,000 POW's held by the North Vietnamese as reported in the N.Y. Times. The number of POW's the U.S. Government demanded from the North Vietnamese-5000, correlates with the statement of a former employee of the National Security Agency. He gave a sworn affidavit that the North Vietnamese repatriated only 15%. In other words, according to this source, the North Vietnamese kept 85% of American POW's who were still alive after March 28, 1973. The U.S. Government officially acknowledged some 2,500 Americans lost in action, another 2,000 lost on covert "black" operations in Thailand, China, Cambodia , Burma, etc/ This is a total of at least 5,000 MIA's between the ages of 18 to 30. None of these 2,500 men were ever officially counted as MIA's, Why? Because as silly as it may seem America's leaders couldn't bring themselves to publically admit the U.S. had men in areas they weren't supposed to be in. Not one U.S. president-J.F.K, L.B.J., Nixon, Ford, Carter, Bush or Clinton made any substantive effort to solve the missing POW problem. Only once did an offer surface a few weeks after Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. Word was received that the Vietnamese wanted to sell all the remaining POW's for 4 billion dollars. The number of POW's wasn’t specified. The President's staff advised him against taking this offer. Their absurd excuse? They said that buying U.S. POW's would make it appear that the U.S. was being blackmailed." As the reader of this amazing memoir will discover, Mr. Tran gives concrete examples of why feared the Communists from the North. As the aforementioned example lends testimony, the author refers to the current rulers as "Red Capitalists," citing the current epidemic of prostitution, drugs and exportation of women to neighboring countries as "sex slaves." Returning twice to his homeland to visit his family, Mr. Tran made this startling observation; "Never in the former Republic of Viet Nam did I see politicians and high ranking generals have multimillion dollar mansions or vacation houses like today's Red Capitalists. Mr. Tran, upon seeing children of high ranking NVA generals driving Rolls Royces, Ferrari's and Maserati's wonders why the U.S. press, the same people that told such distortions during the war to alter public opinion doesn't say anything now; "Why don't they come out to criticize the current cruel Communist dictators, the corrupt and immoral red Capitalists like they did during the Ngo Dinh Diem or Nguyen Van Thieu government?" It seems fitting that integrity is an important attribute to the author; "Hoi" means "boar" in Chinese, and people born in 1935, the year of the Boar, tend to be brave, giving, unpretentious, are incredibly enduring and especially trustworthy. And when it comes to Mr. Tran’s trustworthiness, he passionately warns all about the veracity of the North Vietnamese Communists; "Never trust them! They have been proven to be the worst kind evildoers through the last half of the twentieth century to present. They have transformed themselves from poor peasants before April 1975 to millionaires and billionaires through plundering and stealing after 1975. In the bottom of their souls, they are still the inhumane, immoral, deceptive , cruel, dangerous, traitorous and unpredictable communists. Do ever not trust them regardless of how sweet or conciliatory they may sound! The aforementioned explains why Hoi Tran made his decision in 1954 to go South rather than live under Ho's Communism. Specifically because of Communistic actions, Mr. Tran would be involved in a two decade long proxy war subsidized by some heavy hitters; the North by the Soviet Union and Communist China, the South by the U.S. The stakes were heavy: if Ho's henchmen were victorious, unless you were an insider within the Communist gang's elite you'd live like a slave r